Interview with Summer O’Sullivan
August 2023
Summer lives a “simple cabin life” with her 6 younger siblings and parents on their tūrangawaewae, Poroporo. She is one of the kaiārahi at Korehāhā Whakahau, a Ngāti Awa led pest eradication project. The project seeks to eradicate possums from 4700ha from the Whakatāne, Ōhope and Ōhiwa area. Korehāhā Whakahau isn’t just about pest eradication but building the capability and capacity for Ngāti Awa uri to be kaitiaki of their whenua. Here’s how Summer connects to the whenua.
Kia ora Summer, Ko wai koe?
Ko Ngāti Awa me Ngāti Pūkeko oku iwi. Ko Ngāti Rarawhati te hapū. No Poroporo ahau. Ko Summer toku ingoa.
Can you tell me about any whenua related childhood memories?
One of my memories as a kid was going down to the river with all our whānau and playing with the clay. We would put the clay all over our bodies, because it felt good I guess.
What colour was the clay and is it still there?
It's grey and I'm not too sure. We can do a mission to have a look.
What is your role in the Korehāhā Whakahau project?
My role in the project is interim kaiārahi which means I'm part of the leadership team in Korehāhā Whakahau. Our role is focused lots on the operations and planning.
How do you connect with the whenua within your mahi at Korehāhā Whakahau?
I feel like we are helping look after the rākau and the manu by getting rid of the possums. Since starting this mahi I feel more connected to te taiao and whenua. We lived in Australia for a while when I was a teenager and I didn’t know much about my taha Māori and so coming home and later having this job helped me connect to the whenua and my Māoritanga.
What does kaitiakitanga mean to you?
I think kaitiakitanga means we are guardians. People doing the mahi on the whenua makes them mana tangata.
What does it mean to you to work on Ngāti Awa whenua?
I reckon it means that you are walking in your tīpuna’s footsteps. It's cool seeing our taonga species come back to, like the kiwi, they pop up on our cameras often.
Working for somewhere like the Department of Conservation is more like working towards the crown with Kōrehāhā Whakahau, we are working for our taiao, whenua and people.
Have you had any colourful soils or stones make an appearance in your mahi?
I'm pretty certain I’ve seen kōkōwai before, like after you had done our mātauranga session and I saw the kōkōwai you brought in. I feel like I have a memory of it, I’m just not sure where.
Do you have any kōrero tuku iho/mātauranga you would like to share?
I have come across heaps of middens doing our mahi. Like heaps. It's sad though because we haven’t gps’ed the spots yet but it's cool going in with new kaimahi and I tell them that's a midden! And they ask what is that? And I tell them that's where our tīpuna would have a kai. There’s heaps of pīpī shells and I’ve seen obsidian at our moutere to.
Are there any other ways you connect with your whenua outside of Korehāhā Whakahau?
We didn’t do gardening as kids but as a whānau, we do it now. We all get in there now because the cost of kai is expensive and I have lots of siblings. We also have been building on our whenua.
Why did your whānau decide to do that?
Well our nan gifted us some land and because of the price of renting and prices of buying but also it was just about being in Poroporo with our whānau around. We are just living a simple cabin life, with cabins and caravans. We have working facilities but it's not a big house or anything. We have cows and pigs for homekill. Our dad also has been encouraging us to do things like having a rest during Matariki because you know in the olden days our tīpuna would rest during that time so work work work up until Matariki, so that's our resting time so we should rest! Also when my dad and mum started re-connecting to te ao Māori, they both went and studied te reo Māori more. It's hard to explain but when he has a vision of something he finds a way to go and do it. He puts the pressure on me to be like that as the eldest of 7 siblings.
We want to encourage our rangatahi to connect to the whenua. How do you think this can be done and why is it important?
Being a rangatahi myself because I'm not that old too. The opportunities that this mahi has given me to be on our whenua and its important for our rangatahi to know where they are going and what they are stepping on. I would encourage our rangatahi to do mahi like this.
For information about the Korehāhā Whakahau project and the amazing mahi they do for our taiao, check out their website here.