This article was first published by RNZ
New Zealand’s only Māori-owned airport business - and its mirimiri clinic - has brought in extra hands to prepare for the Matatini mayhem.
Mihi’s Place on Airport Drive in New Plymouth is normally open four days a week but due to high demand, it will open on Friday 28 February to accommodate for the influx of thousands.
Owner Mihi Henry-Hatcher said it had taken a lot of preparation to host the biggest Matatini ever.
“It’s taken us a few months to make sure we’ve got enough stock, because we make all our own rongoā and it’s all made in my home.”
She had also had to make sure they had got the numbers to practice the traditional Māori healing methods.
“So I’ve got staff coming up from Wellington to help me, because I don’t want to close my clinic because of it and the staff coming from Wellington are all students of mine who have said they’ll be there, they’ll come and support, so I’m really lucky to have them on board.
“Some of my colleagues that have worked with me in this realm forever have said we’re free if you need us as well, so that’s pretty cool.”
As well as the clinic and the shop inside the New Plymouth airport terminal staying open, Henry-Hatcher will take six kaimahi and two electric tables to the Bowl of Brooklands for mirimiri - offering 30 minute sessions at about $65 - $75.
Right next to her 6x6 metre stall at Te Matatini o te Kāhui Maunga will be her two children doing hair cuts - her daughter the only wāhine barber at this year’s event.
But three months ago, she temporarily left Mihi’s Place in the hands of her workers after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“I realized that a lot of our wāhine aren’t aware of what breast cancer is so I put my journey on my Facebook page, from going in for pre-ops to the surgery to showing people everything.
“And that was the beginning of me realising that I need to share more about health issues, especially my own, and to be [completely] real with people”
She could not work, so she followed her granddaughter’s vocal group around the world, seeing Los Angeles, New York, and Australia ‘through the eyes of a 14-year-old. Henry-Hatcher only returned to mahi last week.
A roundabout road to doing mirimiri
Henry-Hatcher has been doing mirimiri since she was little, and ’40 plus' years as a professional. She has similar tohu, such as being a reiki master, that enhanced her contemporary Māori massage techniques.
“I learnt what doesn’t work, what needs to be changed, and I always vowed that when the opportunity come to own my own place, I would do it how I want to do it.”
Although she owned her own place now, she was destined to be sitting behind a computer screen.
“My dream was to be an administration area, be a PA. I got my degree, got a job working in that area and I hated it.
“But it set me up to be a business owner, especially behind the scenes doing all the admin stuff, policies and procedures, documents and all that.”
While on her navigation period, she joined the ambulance force and became a first responder to thoroughly learn the anatomy, physiology of people, and the impact of injuries.
She took her 10-years of front-line experience into doing mirimiri, and then was given the opportunity to sign up to do a Massage New Zealand degree.
She passed the degree without ever stepping into a single class.
“It was presented to me on a marae and that’s when I found out I was the first Māori woman ever in New Zealand to be given a degree without working in a classroom,” she said.
When she first started, she said no one wanted traditional healing.
“People would go see a therapeutic healer before they even [went to] a Māori. But over time, everyone wants Māori healing.
“It always has worked. It’s like a rongoā.”
What is mirimiri?
Henry-Hatcher said it less about tuning into tūpuna to allow for healing.
“It’s about asking [tūpuna] to come forth with the best of the best and only the best, to channel through us.”
“[As a practitioner] we have a mini pōwhiri at our heads with the person on the table’s tūpuna and ours so that they can get to know each other, so that the boundaries are broken down so we can actually do some work.”
There are different methods of mirimiri. The practitioners at Mihi’s Place do it the ‘Taranaki way’.
“It’s worked for centuries, so I don’t want to change it. It’s a real safe way of dealing with trauma.”
During a session, the kaimahi interact with the person on the table to ensure they feel comfortable and safe. They get ACC referrals, EAP (employee assistance programme) clients, and a big array of people that walk through the doors.
“Because we all do working with trauma different. But here in Taranaki we have a specific way of doing it.”
Even the prices are not too bad.
“I used to be on a benefit, I used to see our kaumātua struggling and it’s like, we’ll come here for a mirimiri, 20 bucks, we’ll bring a cake, we still take koha, but they can sit here and have a cup of tea and eat their cake.
“That makes us Māori.”
Bookings are essential at the Airport Drive clinic.
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By Emma Andrews and Henare te Ua RNZ
