Kapiti Community: Working together for Health9 March 2006
Kapiti Community Health Group Trust: Working together forHealth
Tariana Turia, Member of Parliament for Te TaiHauauru
E nga iwi, e nga reo, e nga karanga maha o nga haue wha, tenei te mihi atu ki a koutou katoa. Tena koutou engā iwi o Ati Awa ki Whakarongotai.
Ko tenei te mihiki a koutou mo ngā kuia me ngā koroheke o teneikaupapa. Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.
Over the Christmas holidays a most miraculous eventoccurred in my life. I found Google. And suddenly I wassurfing the net, hitting 'I feel lucky and discovering newsites courtesy of my search engine.
It was all veryexciting - so much so that my husband George, immediatelyjoined up to a computer course, so that he too, could sharethe wonderful world of the web.
It has not only opened myeyes to immense opportunities for new learnings - it hasalso given me another connection across the generations. Irealised I was getting left behind when one day I turned upto work and I had to ask my five year old mokopuna how toremove barbie.com from my screensaver.
Fresh with mynew-found skills, I was so pleased to be able to come heretoday, and to celebrate the wonder of whānau, and howtogether, we can best achieve glowing health and well-being.
For I believe the enduring hauora of our whānau willbe in the opportunities we take to upskill, to keep healthyand active, and where necessary, to have the courage to makethe behavioural changes needed to make the difference. Andit will only be possible with the ongoing support andmotivation of our loved ones around us.
We need to retainand revitalize those taonga which feed the spirit, whichremind us of the essence of who we are.
The skills andknowledge of rāranga; the nurturing of whakapapathrough our retelling of stories to our tamariki, ourmokopuna; learning the art of making korowai are all ways ofmaintaining wellness for our whānau, hapū and iwi.
These are the health outcomes we can all haveresponsibility for. Health does not reside exclusively inthe domain of Te Kete Hauora, Hora te Pai Health Services,the Kapiti Community Health Group Trust or any of the otherhealth providers gathered here today - no matter howsensational your services.
For the true acquisition oftino rangatiratanga will be when our spiritual, physical,mental, social, cultural health is determined by our ownplans and people. When we design our own solutions,solutions which reflect our health and well-beingpriorities.
Central to this, will be the understanding ofour collective identity as mana whenua, - or asPākehā, as tangata Pasifika, as Asian. It will beour pride in responding to question 15 next Tuesday, Censusnight, by identifying as Ati Awa ki Whakarongotai, as NgätiTama, Ngäti Mutunga, Ngäti Maru Wharanui; as Ngāti Apa.
It will also be expressed a couple of weeks away, inthe choice we can make to 'GO MĀORI - to getinterested, to get involved and to get enrolled. TheMāori option campaign opens on 3 April and provides the'once in every five years opportunity to sign on theMāori Roll.
Getting 'on the roll gives us thepossibility of thirteen Māori seats in the House; itgives us all the change to determine the type of politicalrepresentation we want.
I want to share a few ideas aboutthis concept of politics. Thirteen years ago, Ngāti Kahungunu man, Ross Himona, wrote a piece for Te KarereIpurangi which raised some ideas about Māoripolitics.
"Maori politics are not an appendage of theParliamentary system, or a brown imitation of it.
Maoripolitics are practised with great gusto, much noise, goodhumour, and sometimes too with considerable acrimony, justlike the other variety, up and down the country every day,on almost every marae.
Maori politics are also practisedby the wise and respected, exerting quiet influence over themore visible noise makers, just like the othervariety .
Maori politics are very effectively practisedby our womenfolk quietly getting on with the real businesswhile the men prance and bluster; just like the othervariety".
Contrary perhaps to conventional expectationthat the Māori Party would take some time to learn theparliamentary protocols, we have hit the ground running. And it has been our kaupapa, our tikanga, our experiencesgained on marae such as this one, that have given us a solidgrounding to understand Standing Orders.
MāoriPolitics is really just another name for life as we knowit.
Life in its rich splendour.
It s about
§ Runanga dynamics,
§ line dancing and tai chi,
§ looking after your feet,
§ eating five or moreservings of fresh fruit and vegetables a day;
§ touch rugby or waka ama;
§ inter marae pā wars;
§ saying our karakia;
§ going to ourriver, our moana, our maunga when we need to;
§ taking our medication;
§ spending time with ourmokopuna, our nannies, our koro, our whānau;
§ and it s about laughing a little, laughing a lot everyday.
Talking about laughter, did you know that up toeighty muscles are used during a hearty laugh, the bloodpressure rises, the heart beats faster and blood oxygenlevels increase. It s got to be good for you.
In fact, astudy released last year by German gelotologist (they studylaughter) Professor Gunther Sickl, revealed that aone-minute guffaw has the same health benefits as a45-minute gym workout!
That will be something to bear inmind today when we enjoy the thrill of watching theten-minute blockbuster of Paekakariki twin octogenarians,Pearl Mills and Florrie Ward, who were attacked by a bull inRaumati, and then next minute became glamorous animatedcartoon characters of the big screen.
Perhaps mostinteresting of all the laughter facts found on Google, wasthe fact that while children laugh an average of 400 times aday, adults laugh only about 17 times a day. I m going tomake it my personal ambition to try to make up the missing383 laughs today!
That last fact is another great reasonfor ensuring we have as much focus on our young as we do ourkaumatua and kuia. We need to learn from each other - it sgood for our souls, our hearts, our health.
We need toshare our stories -
§ I ll teach you how to use acrochet hook if you tell me what to do with an Ipod;
§ we can listen to the DVD and the LP;
§ swap talesof cod-liver oil, maltexo, and rescue remedy;
§ compare the treasures from the Singer Sewing Machine to thebrand-labels of today;
§ or contrast the box browniewith the digital cameras so small they fit in yourpocket.
Many of you will be familiar with the_expression:
Ko te amorangi ki mua; Ko te hapa i o kimuri.
It is generally applied as guidance for performanceon the marae - If all goes well in the background, all willbe presented well in the front.
But what I believe it alsotells us is that when we are all working purposefullytowards the common goal, based on the same beliefs andvalues, the desired outcomes will be achieved. We can eachhave our different roles and responsibilities in whānauand hapū affairs - and we should maintain these nomatter what life stage.
We can each have distinctive rolesin health promotion or health and social services, whilestill working together for health in Kapiti.
This is whathealth is all about. It is not just about disease treatmentplans, or wound management, but it is also about exercisingour minds, healing our spirits, restoring our sense of prideas whānau.
Our biggest challenge today and every day,is about what works in keeping us well. This may take boldaction - challenging our families to alter their eatinghabits and establish exercise routines in order to confrontdiabetes. Or it may mean, like my friend Hone, beingupfront and politicizing our people about smoking.
It isnot just about saying NO - say no to smoking, to teenagesex, to 'P , to foods that aren t good for you. We alsoneed other approaches to achieve the same end.
It is aboutsaying YES to new and innovative ways, to taking the risk,making the change, facing ourselves.
I know we can doit. Occasions like the Kapiti Healthfest just make me evenmore convinced of our immense potential as whānau andfamilies to manage our health and well-being in a way whichenhances all of our lives.
It takes persistence. It takescommitment. And it takes people. Finally, I want to honourthe devotion of a huge amount of volunteers who promotecommunity health; the whānau and family members whoreinforce healthy lifestyles, and all the agencies andcommunity groups doing everything in your power to make thedifference.
Rapua te huarahi whanui, Hei arawhakapiri i nga iwi i runga i te whakaaro kotahi
Seek thebroad highway that will unite the people towards a commongoal
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