Thanks for your support!
6 November 2021
"Nā tō rourou, nā taku rourou, ka ora ai te iwi."
"With your food basket and my food basket, the people will thrive."
Tēnā tātou katoa e te whānau. We started our give-a-little campaign back in May, and we are proud of all the effort and hard-work that everyone contributed. Sadly, we didn’t make our goal. We set out to raise funds to buy back our whenua and, while we may not have been successful with this mahi, we still have plenty of opportunities to resist and win.
At times, this kaupapa is heavy and difficult to sustain. And yet we persist. For the past 547 days, we persist because in the words of Sir Hemi Henare of Ngāti Hine: We have come too far not to go further, we have done too much not to do more.
And we are not done yet. We still need your help to spread our message on social media. We still need koha to keep our noho whenua going. We still need people to answer our call-to-actions. We still need you!
Recently, the developer offered to sell the whenua back to us. We have until 31st December to raise the necessary funds. This is a game changer for us. Why? In July, the Office for Māori Crown Relations (Te ArawhitI) responded to our petition, stating: The Crown may purchase land that is FOR SALE, if it has high cultural significance. We have asked our local MP to push our case with Te Arawhiti and eagerly await a response.
Yesterday, while many New Zealanders enjoyed fireworks for Guy Fawkes Day, we remembered Parihaka - the ‘Day of Plunder” when the Taranaki settlement was brutally invaded by armed troops. We remembered their stance of peace, kotahitanga and mana motuhake. And it reminded us why we continue to resist.
#protectpukeiāhua