Te Whānau o Waipareira Management Lead Voted Onto Hoani Waititi Marae Board

Congratulations Jason Paahi (Rereahu ki Maniapoto, Ngāti Tuwhakahekeao and Ngāti Whakamarurangi) one of our Management Leads at Te Whānau o Waipareira who was voted onto the board of Hoani Waititi Marae last evening at their Annual General Meeting.

Jason was one of three new candidates who were voted in by the crowd of 220 attendees and he admits this is a long time coming.

“It’s accelerating the aspirations of kaumātua from the 80’s – some are still around but sadly most of them have passed on. The marae was really pumping in the 90’s but when you look at the marae it doesn’t have any carvings as they can’t afford a qualified carver; we have kaumātua flats that are falling apart, so we have some work to do in putting together a fit-for-purpose board. The analogy of a house with no carvings means there’s a lot of things that need to change in the marae”.

Jason is born and bred in West Auckland and while at Kelston High School he was introduced to Hoani Waititi Marae by kamātua Dennis Hansen with a rangatahi leadership programme.

“It was pretty raw and a big move to ensure rangatahi Māori didn’t end up in prisons. Basically they locked us in a room with ex-convict Zach Wallace of Utu who scared the heck out of us. Then I reconnected again to the marae through Te Whare Tu Taua and then returned to learn te reo, as back then non-speaking Māori could become totally immersed. I stayed for 18 months and became fluent”.

These days as a Management Lead Jason heads incubation and innovation for programmes that facilitate overall whānau wellbeing.