Waikare Community Development & Research Trust received Tū Manawa funding with the aim of establishing their Te Puna Atawhai (TPA) Kaupapa.

Rangatahi and tamariki wanted an after-school sports and holiday programme held on their whenua at Waikare Marae, and this Kaupapa has been a focus of Te Puna Atawhai.

The Kaupapa worked with rangatahi/tamariki from Te Kura o Waikare (where children from Waikare, Moerewa, Kawakawa and Rawhiti attend) and the local College who were dropped at the marae weekly to play a range of sports such as tee ball and softball. The rangatahi loved shooting hoops as well, so that was usually one of the activities they were able to play most weeks. When the weather was wet, the indoor games came out like table tennis, as well as art and craft activities.

Holding it at the marae helped to create a safe environment where the physical, educational, emotional, and cultural needs of the rangatahi within their Waikare community were nurtured and developed, with their people. The desire to create such a space stemmed from conversations they had with their tamariki/rangatahi from their community over the past four years.

It is through the after-school sports and holiday programmes that they could instil in their tamariki/rangatahi the importance of active recreation as a health benefit, but also to draw from the knowledge and expertise that exists within the Waikare people and community.

The Waikare community is very isolated, and most families experience income issues which presents barriers to participate in various activities including extra-curricular.  This programme builds on the wider hauora and community development programmes that the Te Kapotai hāpu in Waikare community are currently undertaking, and they see this initiative as another strand of the activities designed to weave themselves together as a hapū and community.

There were some challenges that popped up, with the likes of COVID-19, staffing shortages and flooding. However, that didn’t dampen their spirits because they easily managed to regroup and let things settle down as they had the support from committed locals who believed in what they were trying to achieve.  Lily George, who is the chairperson on the Waikare Community Development & Research Trust mentions part of the success is “seeing the pleasure on the children’s faces as they run off the bus at the marae, and the joy in their voices when they call out to the aunties and nannies waiting there to awhi them, and their contentment in being involved in the wide variety of activities we are now able to provide them”.

With the support of the Waikare Marae Trustees, the Waikare Community Development & Research Trust, and the community, they are determined to ensure this project remains a success, thereby helping to shape the future of Te Kapotai hāpu with aroha, awhi, marae, and tinana activities. The main goal is supporting their tamariki and rangatahi to move confidently into their futures, strong in their knowledge of who they are as Te Kapotai, with a strong support system around them.

What an awesome Kaupapa for rangatahi and tamariki to be a part of! If you want to know more about Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa funding, check out the Sport Northland website here