This week’s reminder on Instagram was the whakatauki - he waka eke noa, a waka we are all in together. The Instagram post focused on internal evaluation and PGC but I want to also think about this whakatauki in a more global, or Aotearoa context rather than just individual settings. Last month I started working alongside settings in the Gisborne and Wairoa areas, this is a SELO contract focusing on manaakitanga. Knowing I was heading into an area where the cyclone had heavily impacted, huge losses and disruptions to many settings, I asked my local ECE community if they had resources they could share with their ECE colleagues in Te Tairāwhiti. A huge thanks goes out to ACG Tauranga, Kids on 19 - Marlene, Shalom Kindergarten, Liberty Montessori, Bethlem College Kindergarten, Whangamata Kindergarten and Rita Smit who all gave so generously to the mokopuna in the Gisborne/Wairoa settings.

My first trip to Gisborne/Wairoa was all about whakawhanaungatanga and listening to their stories of course it was also about getting all the amazing resources to the MoE office so they could distribute these to the worst affected settings. The week before leaving my garage was full of boxes ready to go, I had been overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone and needless to say my little Swift was not going to be able to carry everything. So I hired a much much larger vehicle to transport everything to the MoE office in Gisborne. Esthie who greeted me, and thankfully helped get everything out of the car, was very impressed with how every nook and cranny had been filled…..such a great maths problem to face.

It has been almost a month since delivering the resources and listening to the stories, so what has prompted me to write about it now? Well, I have just spent the last few days in Napier which has been really impactful. The drive through the Esk Valley brought tears to my eyes. The sight of houses which are now just abandoned shells still covered in silt and debris, the tractor that had come to rest high and dry entangled in a wire fence, the orchards still choked in mud and the stories of the people all continue to move me. Of course, I am not alone in my thoughts, many of you have supported through Give a Little Pages, resource drives and more. While visiting one of the centres they received a parcel of letters and drawings from the mokopuna at Lil Pumpkins in Hamilton. I don’t think Lil Pumpkins knew that this centre had only just returned home after spending many weeks sharing a space with another centre while their building was repaired. What a wonderfully kind gesture and way of saying we are standing with you. The mokopuna at Whangamata Kindergarten also wrote and gave resources, they talked this through with their kaiako thinking about what they would like to give, what a great way to embed the notion of ‘we are all in this together’ and to instil the value of kindness in their community.

The kindness of each of the settings was amazing, kaiako spent their Saturdays filling container after container with amazing resources to be collected, one centre manager bought many new resources to send, and my dear friend and colleague Rita Smit who has recently retired donated many many natural resources all of which were gratefully accepted by centres and of course the other centres mentioned above who took the time to gather and gift to the ECE community.

Willie Apiata recently talked about the fact that we are still not ALL ok and we should not forget that there are places on the East Coast that are in real hardship. Until we are all back to life as it should be we should not forget, part of the waka on which we are all travelling needs repair, needs kindness, and encouragement.

During the wānanga with the kaiako and leaders, during the conversations in the retail stores and cafes, the stories are sitting just below the surface. Stories of trauma, loss, grief, and guilt for surviving when the people just down the road lost so much, these stories will be in their minds for a long time to come. The stories will continue to surface when the rain starts, when the tides are high, and when the weather person says there is a severe weather warning for their area. We cannot forget that those in the waka with us are still hurting, still scared and uncertain, still living with the trauma.. These amazing kaiako and communities who are there for each other and most importantly there for the mokopuna are digging deep into resilience to ensure that their communities start to rebuild a sense of normal. It is important for them to have a sense of not being in this alone but are supported practically, in thoughts and kind gestures as we travel together back to wellbeing.

Ahakoa, he iti he pounamu — Although it is small it is precious.