Welcome to our September 2021 Pānui
He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tāngata. He tāngata. He tāngata.
What is the most import thing in the world? The people. The people. The people.
Tēnā koutou. This past month has been a challenging time for us all. Foodbanks, community food organisations and social services throughout Aotearoa – especially our kaitautoko in Tāmaki Makaurau, experienced double, triple and quadruple increased need for Food Parcel support due to lockdown. We commend you all for being adaptive as you learnt to operate your services around the adjusted Delta variant frameworks!
Experiencing the temporary suspension of food support programmes such as healthy school lunches, breakfast and after school clubs, the loss of community meals, the ability to share food with wider whānau, and with bigger home bubbles has meant access to healthy kai has been much harder for many. We know that even with a return to Alert Level 2 (or level 1) many of these limitations will remain for whānau.
Te kōrerorero - Let’s talk and learn together
Kaitautoko (noun) - a term to address and acknowledge people who support others.
(Image sourced from Urban List)
Yet despite our challenges we continue to care for our people. Foodbanks have responded tirelessly with more intentional coalition. The government has dispensed some additional funding. While whānau have included vulnerable elderly neighbours, others with health issues or new-born babies needing support, and those without transport or no access to a vehicle into their bubbles, helping to source food on their behalf.
Kia ora rawa atu. Thank you for all you continue to do. We are finding our way through this - together!
Māori Language
Image sourced from Ngā kōrero a ipurangi o Aotearoa: New Zealand History
This year Māori Language Week is celebrated between 13 to 19 Mahuru (13-19 September). The Māori Language Commission says Māori Language Week has been celebrated every year from 1975. Māori Language Day is September 14 and commemorates the presentation of the 1972 Māori language petition to parliament. However it was only during 1987 that Māori language became an officially recognised language in Aotearoa New Zealand. This photo was taken in Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington) on 1 August 1980, during Māori Language Week, to demand that Māori language be given equal status with English. Seven years later tangata whenua native tongue was sanctioned by government. We are now in 181 years of Te Tiriti partnership.
New Zealand Food Network and the MSD Food Secure Communities Team
Over the last four weeks those distributing food to whānau have had a few challenges with food supply. With more resources from government now making a difference in Tāmaki Makaurau we have seen more flow in the system. A huge mihi to the New Zealand Food Network who were working a quadruple their usual capacity to get food out to their food hubs. Sometimes things had to get a little creative with hubs picking up kai directly from suppliers (& having to find trucks, vans & appropriately licenced drivers to do so) or people had to use alternate supply through their own networks but within it all we made it work.
It has been incredible to know the MSD Food Secure Communities team has been there to support community food groups. This made this a very different experience than the level 4 lockdown in 2020. They have been working tirelessly advocating and coordinating to make sure resource get where they are needed.
The amount of food that got to whānau over these last four weeks has been phenomenal – we have never done this before as a nation. So, thank you to all involved!! And a special ngā mihi nui NZFN and MSD Food Secure Communities Team for being the glue in the middle of it all.
Champion Story
This world is a much better place for all the good people who genuinely and authentically do good. Volunteers especially are often the extended threads in many of our champion stories. They are frequently woven into spaces where funding is constrained and resourcing limited. They genuinely help make an invaluable difference.
Barbara Annesley moved to the Ministry for the Environment on Monday 6 September 2021.
While the talents of volunteers vary, the Kore Hiakai Zero Hunger Collective’s space has been graced with a rare find – the quietly-spoken yet formidable force, Barbara Annesley, who has volunteered in a Kairangahau: Researcher role for the past six months.
“I believe that a key aspect of leadership is supporting others to succeed. While working in the Child Poverty Unit in the Department of the Prime and Cabinet, I became aware of the extent and impact of food insecurity in New Zealand. I wanted to continue working to address this issue, but also step outside my comfort zone as a career public servant. I’ve been volunteering with Kore Hiakai a couple of days a week since February 2021. It’s been a huge privilege to be embraced by this wonderful organisation, and to contribute to their important mahi.”
Kore Hiakai is invested in collaborative efforts that gently disrupt food systems in sustainable ways and create more equitable outcomes where everyone has dignified access to enough good food. Whilst we set out to address the root causes of food insecurity, we humbly acknowledge this can only be done through the cooperative efforts of a broad collective. Together our threads make much more of a difference.
“Kore Hiakai was formed to help realise the collective vision of a group of organisations for ‘a food secure Aotearoa’. In this sense, collaboration is woven into the kaupapa of Kore Hiakai - it’s front and centre of how we work together as a team and with our partners, how we engage and connect with others, and in our approach to researching and creating resources.”
Through giving time, her knowledge of how to navigate Government systems and understanding of policy frameworks, Barbara has invested her research and writing skills into the heart of Kore Hiakai collective’s mahi, contributing to strategy and actions to achieve a food secure Aotearoa. “One of the things I’ve loved most about working in Kore Hiakai has been being part of a team that brings together such rich, diverse and complementary knowledge and skills – I have definitely learned as much as I’ve contributed!”
Kore Hiakai are deeply grateful for the wisdom, clarity, challenge, laughter and joy Barbara has brought as a valued volunteer to our whanau. As she transitions back to government we send with her much aroha and hopefully a little bit of disruption for the system!!
Nga mihi aroha Whaea Barbara!
The Mana to Mana workshops planned for September 2021 have been postponed until October and November. We are currently finalising the new dates.
Having a voice
Kore Hiakai have an active and participatory role in making or influencing decisions about food security on a community and governance level. As a Collective, we consciously work together with stakeholders to reduce food insecurity and deliberately create a food secure Aotearoa.
Recently the Commerce Commission released a draft Market study into the grocery sector to determine whether competition is working well, and if not, what can be done to improve it. The preliminary finding is that competition is not working well for consumers in the retail grocery sector.
Kore Hiakai developed a response and a spectrum of remedial recommendations on behalf of the collective.
Infograph sourced from The Commerce Commission Te Komihana Tauhokohoko
Eat NZ Food Hui
The September hui, jointly scheduled and hosted by ‘eat new zealand’ with the Restaurant Association, has been postponed until 02 November 2021. This event will bring together leaders, thinkers and innovators to seek guidance and support to strengthen what has already been built, with the opportunity to come together to pave a more resilient food future for Aotearoa.
Thank you, Aotearoa, for continuing to look after our people.
And again, a huge mihi to Tāmaki Makaurau who continue in alert level 4 - we uphold you. We do this together and together we will find the longer term sustainable solutions!
As we endure with our efforts to make a difference, we remember the people, the people, the people.
He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tāngata. He tāngata. He tāngata.
Ngā manaakitanga,
The Kore Hiakai whānau
Pou Ārahi
korehiakai@nzccss.org.nz
M. 027 462 4377
Kaituitui Kōrero
tammie.korehiakai@nzccss.org.nz
M. 027 276 3605