A small but talented group has reinforced how important Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board funding is for the area’s diverse community groups.
Akatokamanava Mauke Enua was one of 43 organisations to receive funding in the board’s last grants round.
“I believe our own people know our community best. Council might put on the big festivals but our grants fund our smaller communities so they can cater to their own needs and aspirations”, board chair Apulu Reece Autagavaia says.
The group will buy tivaivai resources such as fabrics, sewing machines and embroidery items to allow their taunga or knowledge holders to pass their skills on to the wider south Auckland community.
"At the launch of this programme there was a beautiful discussion by elders around the meaning of the word tivaivai, or tivaevae, as spelt and pronounced elsewhere in the Pacific. These activities not only preserve handicraft skills but act as an opportunity to share oral history and language,” Autagavaia says.
Akatokamanava Mauke Enua is dedicated to fostering reo Māori, history, culture, and the traditions of the island of Mauke in the Cook Islands through language classes, arts and crafts, oil and medicine workshops, visits to heritage sites, participation at festivals such as Te Maeva Nui – the world’s largest Cook Islands celebration, and Gospel Day events.
Based in Ōtara, funds co-ordinator Lianne Bishoff-Towgood says numbers are growing.
“We’ve found more people are participating, perhaps because of the relaxed way in which sessions are delivered, as well as their being accessible. We’ve brought them closer to the people.”
Some of the group’s notable work includes an Auckland Museum partnership to promote Cook Islands culture through song and dance, assisting other local groups with funding, and regular promotional slots on 531PI and radio PMN Cook Islands.
The group has more than 600 members and is now preparing for Cook Islands language week from July 30 to August 5.
A collection of the wonderful works of Tivaivai
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