National Award for Māori health champion provides funding for new programme
Paraire Huata Health and Wellbeing Award recipient Rameka Te Rahui is dedicating the $5,000 Award to a new wānanga to help young Māori to follow the right path in life, and is calling for sponsors to match the funding, so he can deliver a high impact programme that will change lives.
Rameka Te Rahui says he was delighted to receive the Te Rau Ora Paraire Huata Award in May this year, especially as the award will provide base funding to run a new wānanga targeting at-risk young Māori men.
The Te Rau Ora He Tohu Hiranga: Excellence and Innovation awards acknowledge and recognise excellence and innovation in the Māori health, mental health, addiction sectors. Paraire Huata was best known for his focus on the health and social service sector, and for his commitment to Māori mental health and addiction services. Te Rau Ora is a national organisation dedicated to strengthening Māori Health.
“I want to acknowledge the honour of being the recipient of the Paraire Huata Award, it was a wonderful surprise and truly appreciated. A big thank you to the team at Te Rau Ora,” says Rameka.
Rameka has been in Nelson for two years, working in addiction services for Māori health and wellness organisation Te Piki Oranga. Prior to that, his career in Māori community wellbeing has spanned 39 years and included working in probation services, alongside the New Zealand Police, family violence and Children, Youth and Families Service, and most recently as a Team Leader delivering kaupapa services in the Bay of Plenty.
The Paraire Huata Award recognises contributions towards Māori health and wellbeing. The award is in the form of funds to facilitate local wānanga, to share and raise the standards of practice regarding Māori models of practice.
Rameka says the award holds special meaning for him because of his friendship with Paraire Hauta.
”Paraire Huata, of Ngati Kahungungu ki Heretaunga, was a dear friend, colleague and teacher whom I had the privilege of working with under the kaupapa he co-developed, which was well known across Aotearoa, not only for his work with Māori but with the world’s indigenous people.’’
Rameka is currently facilitating the Kia Taumata Te Oranga Methamphetamine MatrixPprogramme –a successful addiction programme developed in the US and adapted for New Zealand. The programme launched in October 2019 and is already making strides in helping people break the cycle of drug use and addiction.
“We’ve found that people who stay with the learning and complete three or four blocks of the programme are able to make lasting changes in their lives. Many of our clients are self-referred or come through people who have successfully completed the course and are making real progress,” says Rameka.
Rameka is using the award money to facilitate a wānanga for 20 young Māori males (taiohi, rangatahi tamatāne,) aged 14 to 20 years old which will run in October this year and will be Marae-based within Te Tauihu.
“We are hoping to target many of our local young tane who have fallen through the gaps and are likely to be an adult tane ‘Māori statistic’ within the next 3-8 years,” says Rameka. “Our aim is to try to break this cycle and to expose these young tāne to good role models and a variety of activities and opportunities that provide an alternative to a life of drug use, gang violence and crime.”
To support the programme, Rameka is calling for sponsorship from other agencies to help build a programme that will make a long-term difference to young men and their whānau.
“I am dedicating the Paraire Huata award as part of my role with Te Piki Oranga, and I challenge the appropriate services and community of Nelson, to either match or better this contribution.”
