Stories & Pānui
Welcome to our February 2023 Pānui
He hono tangata e kore e motu; kāpā he taura waka e motu
Connections between people cannot be severed whereas those of a canoe-rope can
Welcome to the start of our journey for 2023! It is said invisible threads are often the strongest ties. This certainly bears truths for many of us at the start of this new year as we reconnect to champion food security together.
Welcome to our December 2022 Pānui
Kia tu nonu i te aroha.
To always stand in love.
As 2022 draws to a close we cast our thoughts and hearts back across the year and the journey we have made together. Our Kore Hiakai kaimahi whānau are struck by the number of inspiring individuals, thoughtful leaders, organisations, collaborations, innovations, mārae, iwi and hapū, funders, decision makers and producers deeply committed to a food secure Aotearoa. It is such a privilege to be a part of all your mahi!
Welcome to our November 2022 Pānui
Poipoia te kākano kia puāwai.
Nurture the seed and it will bloom
In Te Ao Māori, hauora – a holistic view of wellbeing, promotes a wide concept of total health. Our whakatauki this month speaks of the care and continued nurturing we all need to fully realise our potential and to flourish. Kai, and all the aspects of kai, is part of that cultivation. We invite you to explore the hauora realm with us – particularly through a nutritional lens, and the impacts good kai can have on our physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual well-being.
the importance of nutrition
He taonga te hauora.
Health is wealth.
Kore Hiakai Zero Hunger Collective has a vision of a healthy population where all people thrive and have access to enough nutritious food that not only nourishes our bodies but feeds our souls too.
Welcome to our October 2022 Pānui
Ma te Kotahitanga, e whai kaha ai tātau
In unity we have strength
Part of our mahi at Kore Hiakai is naming the current reality of what it means to be food insecure, giving witness to the incredible innovation and resilience of whānau doing it hard by amplifying their insights to those in power, as well as championing those working towards food secure solutions.
Nga mihi nui ki a koutou and welcome to our Mahuru 2022 Pānui
He kai kei āku ringaringa.
There is food at the end of my own hands.
Te Wiki o te Reo. 12-18 Mahuru 2022.
Back on the 1st of August 1980 many marched the Capital streets with a determined call for equality. As the hikoi in Te Whanganui-a-Tara unfolded, passionate pleas were heard across the motu, ultimately landing in a buzz at Beehive. Those who marched were fiercely advocating for Māori language to have equal status with English – although it would take another seven years before Te Reo Māori would become recognised as an official language of Aotearoa. (English does not have this status. There are two official languages in Aotearoa New Zealand – Māori and New Zealand Sign Language).
Championing Te Rēo over the weeks of Mahuru Māori
Te Wiki o te Reo. 12-18 Mahuru 2022.
Whakanuia ō tātou toa reo Māori, e 50 tau ki muri nei.
Honouring our Māori language champions, 50 years on.
Welcome to our August 2022 Pānui
Mā te whiritahi, ka whakatutuki ai ngā pūmanawa ā tāngata
Together weaving the realisation of potential
They say coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success. The strength of any collective is its individual members, and the strength of each member is the collective. Together WE weave the realisation of our country’s potential because we are more powerful when we empower each other.
what is food security?
Me te wai korari.
Like the nectar of the flax flower.
At the heart of any community in Aotearoa you will find a strong sense of hospitality and compassion – manaakitanga and arohatanga. When mishaps happen with our neighbours we tend to reach out and offer what we have to uphold them during their time of need. We might make a meal or soup; drop in kai or share from our gardens; or sometimes donate to a foodbank. This has always been evident in our nationwide DNA and collective sense of identity, and it was especially evident through our responses to COVID 19.
Welcome to our July 2022 Pānui
Ahakoa he iti, he pounamu.
Although it is small, it is precious.
On most week days the Kore Hiakai kaimahi gather for morning karakia at 9.30am. This is a special time for our mahi whānau – assembling for the ascent of each new day, because it’s a time to pause, share, and be present as our whole selves with each other (and sometimes with manuhiri too). A small, purposeful, act with big intent.
the sowing machine
Mā mua ka kite a muri, mā muri ka ora a mua
Those who lead give sight to those who follow,
those who follow give life to those who lead
There is more than one way to cook a potato – and there is more than one way to create a food resilient community.
Welcome to our June 2022 Pānui
Matariki hunga nui.
Matariki of many people.
Every year during this month, an open-star cluster rises in the north-eastern sky above Aotearoa. Made of many luminary siblings, all born about the same time, different cultures have different names for this celestial event around the world. In Aotearoa, when these stars become visible, we call this Matariki and along with Puanga – this is the beginning of the Māori New Year.
A small seed can sustain many
There is a whakatauki that speaks to kai production, ‘iti noa, he pito mata’, referring to a small uncooked portion of kumara replanted to produce many more.
In other words, with care, a small seed can sustain many people. From this whakatauki, we not only draw on the notion of potential from the seed – or kumara, but the fundamental interconnected relationship between our soils and people.
Welcome to our May 2022 Pānui
He kanohi kitea, he ringa hei awhi.
A face that is seen, a hand to be held
As we move into the second quarter of this year, we begin to reconnect across the motu, building a strong sense of whanaungatanga. Whanaungatanga speaks to our values of inclusiveness, of networks and connections, and of folding in the collective/tātou as well as the individual/takitahi.
Mā te wā e hoa
Waiho i te toipoto kaua i te toiroa.
Let us keep close together not wide apart.
As summer fades and autumn arrives, here at Kore Hiakai we begin a new season as Wayne Paaka, our Pou Māori, moves on with his sights set on new horizons. While we say our goodbyes, and support Wayne as he transitions into his new role, we take this opportunity to mihi him, and to champion all he has done in our space for Kai sovereignty.
Welcome to our April 2022 Pānui
Me hoki koe ki tōu ūkaipō. Return to your source of sustenance.
Sometimes there’s a climactic shift in our reflections; a culmination to a series of events. Having trudged through all of the turbulence these last couple of years, Kore Hiakai return to our foundation of hope and health, and ask: How do we create pathways towards a food secure Aotearoa?
Whenua Warriors Foster Kaitiakitanga
What started as an epiphany five years ago that the food systems in Aotearoa needed to change, in order for food security and food sovereignty to be actualised, is now a thriving manifestation for the Whenua Warriors. Committed to collaborating and growing kaitiaki capability that honours traditional food sources in order to create sustainable solutions, this is their vision to grow food security.
Welcome to our March 2022 Pānui
Heria te taura tangata. Weave the people.
As we learn to live in Phase Three of Red Level, with Omicron cases on the rise in our communities, we remind all to be safe and to follow the guidelines put out by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Development.
Welcome to our January 2022 Pānui
Heria te taura tangata. Weave the people.
Ngā mihi o te tau hou pākehā. As the new year dawns we stop to reflect, contemplate, and to think about the way ahead. We take this time to tally the lessons learnt and to think about how we can apply them to new, collaborative and innovative beginnings.
Christchurch City Mission pilots ASFPM
Since the worldwide COVID pandemic began during 2020, continuing its impact throughout 2021, it was evident from the beginning Aotearoa did not have a consistent way of counting the rising number of Food Parcels being distributed (or a standardised practice within the sector to quantify nutritional adequacy).