Te Hana and Marae experience

Last weekend (March 14-15), the 3rd yr students of the BPlan programme from the University of Auckland went on a fieldtrip to Te Hana. It was actually my first time visiting Te Hana (never even heard of that place before prior to the trip) and sleeping inside a Marae. To be honest, I wasn't really looking forward to the trip since I don't like staying overnight on a place new to me and the fact that it was on a Sunday morning (I could have been catching up on my lack of sleep!). However, I'm really honoured that we got given a chance to be part of this trip or you can say journey. The trip for me was very educational. I learned a lot of new things about the Maori customs, beliefs, traditions and protocol. I also did my first Hongi in this trip. A Hongi "is a traditional Māori greeting in New Zealand. It is done by pressing one's nose to another person at an encounter" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hongi) in case any of you guys reading this do not know.

The main focus of the trip is to experience first hand Maori culture and traditions and work on the Te Hana Project for our studio assessment this semester. Our journey began during the Powhiri/Speeches of Welcome in the Marae in West Harbour (not quite sure what the Marae is called, will find out and update this post later). Then, we travelled for about 1hr to 1 1/2hr to Te Hana where we were welcomed by the Te Hana Trust and Marae community. In Te Hana, we learned more about the history of the people, the Te Hana Trust and the project. We are fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to go on a village tour where we learned more about the project (the big picture). Quoting the website http://www.tehana.org.nz/:

"Te Hana will be a beautiful, culturally and socially vibrant place of opportunity with all people working together cooperatively to achieve the shared vision."

Through creating a Maori Community Village and establishing an educational Marae and Cultural Tourist Village in Te Hana, the main goals of this project is hoping to address the community needs of adequate infrastructure, social needs, cultural vitality or the lack of it, economic development and kaitiakitanga (environment); and at the same time forming the gateway to Auckland, Rodney, Northland and Kaipara District.

To conclude this post, I am very grateful and thankful that our class was given the opportunity to get to know the Maori culture better and the hospitality shown by Whia, Matua, Lena and the Te Hana community. It is important that we apply everything we have learnt in this trip in our everyday lives and the work that we do/are going to do as future planners of New Zealand. As what Bruce Hucker said, the key to community development is to work with people rather than working for them. Most communities have the answers within them. They are the experts hence we can’t substitute local knowledge, ideas, traditions, beliefs and customs with plans and policies that don’t take into account all of these. Consultation and Public Participation are really important in preserving communities. I believe that it is our empathy towards the local communities that can make us effective and efficient planners in the future.