Our Whānau Ora Navigators walk alongside whānau in Te Tai o Poutini - we believe in doing with our whānau, rather than for them. We know everybody has different needs and that each support system is different too, so we won’t try to put you in a box. We are trained to listen and respond to what we hear. Our support could look like anything from sharing seeds and planting māra kai, connecting you with the right social services, or advocating for you with other organisations.

This kaupapa is for whānau who are preparing for, or raising pēpi and nohinohi (toddlers, little kids). Our Hākui kaitautoko support whānau through wānanga in hapūtanga (pregnancy), whakawhānau (childbirth) and parenting through each stage and phase of the first 1000 days. They use a Whānau Ora approach to working with you and your whānau, which essentially means support right across the board during this time. We acknowledge how challenging it can be raising young kids - most of us have been there and done those hard yards too. So get in touch to add one more support to your whānau system!

This support is available for all parents, either in a group setting or one on one if group isn’t an option. Tupuna Parenting is our expression of a parenting programme with a mix of everything to support mātua: child development education, holding the baby while you sit down, connecting you with other helpful services and support and just having a kōrero.

Once a week, we hold space for parents and their young tamariki to come to Whare Manaaki and be together. It’s a chance to check in with us and one another, learn a bit about child development, read and listen to reo Māori pukapuka and simply play.

Like any Māori whānau, we are happy to share. We hold a regular community dinners and also have a community pātaka (pantry) and Māra kai (garden) which community members can access when they have a need.

We provide fortnightly Rongoā Māori clinics with our two partner providers, Te Manahua and Ora Tika Māori. These are an opportunity for people to gather together, share a kapu tī and receive some healing. Both of our providers offer mirimiri and romiromi, as well as rongoā from the ngahere. Māori healing practices are an opportunity to tap into a different kind of medicine from the GP or other Western medicines, and there is a lot of value in it for all of us, whether you are Māori or not.

Whare Manaaki offers an immursive te reo Māori lesson each week during term time. We hope to offer more opportunity for people to connect with the Māori language in Mawhera and normalise the reo in our community. We also offer pūrākau - Māori storytelling, waiata sessions and whakapapa histories - as a way of sharing and learning reo and aspects of te ao Māori.

Our kaupapa is all about working with our wāhine - all wāhine - and participating in safe circle to reflect in one another’s company. Our kaimahi are trained to support wāhine with reflection, communication and aspirations to kick start a woman’s reclamation of personal power and inner worth. This Woman of Worth programme runs twice a year for ten weeks.

Another of our Whānau Ora kaupapa, which is all about introducing and supporting whānau Māori on a pathway to food sovereignty. Growing and eating kai we’ve grown ourselves means we know what’s in it, we’ve worked for it, we’ve cared for it and we’ve harvested it. It can save a lot of money on the grocery bill! But there’s a whole lot to learn before we can reap the benefits, and we can help. Whare Manaaki runs community education on composting, seed propagation, seed collecting, planting, minimising waste and more.