Aroha Community Clinic

03/12/2025

Thank you to the amazing Janelle for offering to pick the beautiful flowers for our table arrangements at Tihei Mauri Ora Graduation dinner 2025. Massive shout out to the team at Massey Community Hub - for always supporting us🌱

Dear Garden whanau
As we approach the end of the year we can say that its been a totally epic year for us. From helping to create new kai gardens at Te Piringatahi O Te Maungaarongo Marae to attending specialist workshops with Dan Kelly for the exciting new Food forest in 2026 . All the while taking care of our own incredible gardens which enable us grow fresh food for distribution through the Massey Community Hub 💚

Huge thanks to all the new friends we have made along the way and thanks our old faithfuls and also to this amazing wahine toa who steers the waka. Nga mihi mahana to our dear friend Janelle Blackmoore 💚
We need more hands on wheelbarrows, so please consider this your invitation to jump on board our waka and become a part of something truly worthwhile in the new year 💚

03/12/2025

Where do I start!

I am SO incredibly proud of Isabella from Tihei Mauri Ora Ltd & ALL our wāhine🥹 - thank you all for always engaging, offering to help or always remaining respectful & humble. (Humble peeps are my type of peeps😅)!

Thank you to all our ngā manuhiri & those that travelled afar - it was great to see the tautoko for our wāhine toa! Thanks to dad & our cooks behind the scenes - also Zion Tarawa, Lucius & hubby for cooking our meat (unfortunately I didn't get to eat at our graduation dinner😁, let alone all day lol too busy juggling māmā life while cooking the kai in bulk - the potato/bacon bake, chopsuey, making stuffing etc then it was straight to set up the venue after picking up my kids from kura) - aroha mai for being a little late e te whānau!

Thank you to my husband Joshua for gifting Isabella & I some flowers & some treats. Definitely wasn't expected but truly always grateful for you darling for always helping me with any kaupapa I'm involved with❤️ I wouldn't be able to wear so many hats & juggle everything if it wasn't for you.

Huge acknowledgement to our Rangatira who attended as well as our tūpuna - your māmā is so proud of you Isabella 🥹

Love you, Love us!

Bring on Rarotonga!! 1 more sleep & I'll be able to put my feet up 🇨🇰🏖🌴🌺🍸

- Practitioner Natasha

03/12/2025

02/12/2025

✨ WEEK 8 – Tihei Mauri Ora Program in association with Aroha Community Clinic ✨

Facilitated by: Isabella Tane
Guest Speaker: Awhina Murupaenga

Week 8 Focus: Tukutuku

🧵 What is “Tukutuku”?

Tukutuku is the traditional Māori art form of lattice-style weaving used for decorative wall panels, especially inside meeting houses (wharenui) or ngā marae.

Materials used traditionally include plants/fibres like harakeke (flax), kiekie, pīngao, toetoe - woven around vertical rods (kākaho) and horizontal supports to form striking geometric patterns.

The resulting panel isn’t just decorative: the patterns often carry symbolic meanings, representing ancestry, stories, environment, values, identity or community narratives.

Founder and director of Whatu Creative Ltd is Awhina Murupaenga - with heritage links to Ngāpuhi!

Whatu Creative’s signature initiative is the Tukutuku Toi Kit: a modern, “DIY craft-kit” version of traditional tukutuku weaving, designed to let people learn and practice tukutuku at home — even if they don’t have access to a marae or weaving classes.

The kits include tools/materials (e.g. pegboards, coloured threads/“aho”, peg-tool) and instructions, offering patterns like traditional tukutuku motifs (e.g. “Poutama”, “Niho Taniwha”, “Pātikitiki”) so users can “weave their own story”.

For Whatu Creative, the aim isn’t to replace traditional craftsmanship, but to inspire interest in Māori weaving, help revive matauranga Māori (knowledge), and make the artform accessible to more people — including younger generations, people living far from marae, or those new to weaving.

Tukutuku is a traditional weaving art, part of a broader Māori weaving or fibre-arts tradition! It acts as a visual storytelling medium, embedding whakapapa and meaning into spaces.

Beyond craft, Whatu Creative also frames tukutuku — through weaving and storytelling — as a practice that supports wellbeing, community, connection to culture and identity and even healing.

02/12/2025

✨ WEEK 7 – Tihei Mauri Ora Program in association with Aroha Community Clinic ✨

Facilitated by: Isabella Tane

Week 7 Focus: Rōpū Discussion & Learning of TMO haka composed by Isabella Tane

In Māori culture, when a woman composes a haka specifically for women, it carries several layers of cultural, social, and spiritual meaning. Here’s what it generally signifies:

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1. Cultural Authority and Leadership (Mana Wāhine)

Traditionally, composing haka is an act tied to mana (authority, prestige).
When a woman composes a haka, especially for other women, it expresses mana wahine—the distinct strength, status, and leadership of Māori women.

It means she is:

Stepping into a role of cultural authority

Contributing to the continuation of ancestral knowledge

Empowering wāhine to express their collective voice

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2. Expression of a Specifically Female Perspective

A haka written by a woman for women often reflects experiences, struggles, triumphs, and identities unique to Māori women.

It may address:

Protection of whānau (family)

Strength and resilience of wāhine

Sacred roles in whakapapa (genealogy)

Rights, leadership, or social issues affecting women

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3. Affirmation of Tapu (Sacredness) and Whakapapa

Women hold essential roles in Māori cosmology and lineage.
A haka composed by a wāhine acknowledges:

The sacredness of women

Their connection to creation narratives

Their role as carriers of whakapapa

This gives the haka deep spiritual resonance.

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4. Challenging Old Stereotypes About Hakawāhine

For a long time, haka were popularly (and incorrectly) thought of as primarily male. But historically, women have always participated in haka and occasionally composed them.

A contemporary haka for women can signify:

- Reassertion of traditional women’s roles

- Breaking down colonial-era misconceptions

- Reclaiming space in cultural performance

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5. A Call to Action or Unity Among Women

Many modern haka composed by wāhine serve as:

Rallying cries

Forms of protest

Expressions of solidarity

They can be used in:

Political movements

Ceremonies

Empowerment gatherings

School or iwi (tribal) performances

01/12/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/1BuZvHTN5w/

🚨 TOMORROW — 11am
My next limited edition art print Te Wheke a Muturangi drops.

The store is locked until tomorrow’s public release…
unless you’re on my email list.

Email subscribers have early access RIGHT NOW with a private password.
(If you want in early, jump on the list via my website.)

Here’s the story that inspired the artwork:

Te Wheke a Muturangi

At last, the foamy trail of the Wheke turned in towards land at one of the many entrances to a wilderness of inlets. The Wheke had made a mistake: she was trapped in the sound known to this day as Whekenui.

She whipped around to face her enemies. With shouts and screams, the crew closed in, beating, chopping and stabbing at the tentacles, trying to reach the head of the wheke. The magic power of the wheke enabled her to heal quickly. She lifted people out of the waka and flung them far off onto the rocks or held them under the water to choke and drown. The sea frothed with a mixture of human and wheke blood. (Excerpt from First Flight)

$5 from every print goes to KidsCan, supporting tamariki across Aotearoa.

🔥 Public launches tomorrow at 11am.

28/11/2025

Welcome home from Tahiti 🫶🌱💚

We also have the ātaahua Awhina coming into be a guest speaker for the Tihei Mauri Ora Program next week.

27/11/2025

I have 1 Mirimiri booking that's just become available āpōpō at 12:30pm - please PM me if you would like to book this spot at Aroha Community Clinic 🌱

26/11/2025

Tihei Mauri Ora + Aroha Community Clinic are looking forward to hosting our wāhine and their whānau next Wednesday at the Graduation dinner🌿