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In a bid to break down barriers and promote a healthy
lifestyle the first known Māori health workers netball
tournament will take place at the weekend.
The
tournament will be hosted by Te Rūnanga o Aotearoa New
Zealand Nurses Organisation which has teamed up with its
Auckland branch and the South Auckland branch of Te
Kaunihera o nga neehi Māori. It will be held at the
Manurewa Netball courts in South Auckland on Saturday, 11
February and the public have been invited to come along and
enjoy a fun-filled day.
The tournament has been
developed to bring all Māori health workers together in a
“Pa wars” philosophy, tournament organiser and Tamaki
Makaurau NZNO representative, Dhyanne Hohepa
said.
Dhyanne said the recent floods in Auckland had
tested the resilience of the people of the city. But as an
example of coming together hauora providers, iwi providers,
marae, health workers, and neighbourhoods rallied to support
whanau devastated by the floods.
“There is a long road
to recovery – tagged on to the tail end of the Covid
pandemic, places a fresh perspective on the unity of our
Māori frontline health workers at this weekend’s
tournament.”
She said the day was organised to
strengthen whanaungatanga (kinship, relationship, sense of
family connection) among Māori nurses and other Māori
health workers including doctors, allied health, students,
and kaiawhina to promote healthy lifestyles.
“There is
a unique coming together of Māori that fosters
whanaungatanga, and we believe this is essentially important
for all Māori health workers.
“The key is we all
share a similar vision – to improve the health of our
whānau and working well together helps to achieve that. An
event such as this will promote Māori cultural identity.
Many of us are on a journey to rediscovering whakapapa, and
this fosters those connections further. It demonstrates, the
diversity of Māori in the health workforce, and highlights
we are in this TOGETHER.”
Dhyanne said health
workplaces are encouraged to enter their teams, which will
strengthen their own whanaungatanga, leading to unity, and
resilience to continue breaking barriers in the health
system and health workforce.
“Growing and sustaining
the Māori health workforce is crucial to achieving health
equity and reducing inequities. Teams are encouraged to
engage rangatahi (youth) to participate and play as well as
Pakeke (aged 50 and over).”
Eight to 10 teams are
expected to compete in the tournament, which is based on the
traditional “Pa Wars” or inter-marae sports festivals. These
occur in most iwi across Aotearoa, and netball is usually
the main event.
“Our event has a similarity where
different teams of Māori health workers and their whanau,
join together to celebrate being Māori and whanaungatanga
in the event of friendly sports competition,” Dhyanne
said.
She is expecting more than 100 spectators at the
event, and space is available for promotional tents for
health and education organisations at no cost.
“We are
also inviting Māori food vendors to sell their
kai.”
© Scoop Media
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