Waitara kauma¯tua grateful to get grant
Elsie Kearns retired at the age of 70 from a career in teaching 16 years ago, and now she’s working on her first art show.
The New Plymouth District Council’s community fund will help Elsie with it.
Elsie is one of about a dozen kauma¯tua who gather twice a week at Waitara’s Mahia Mai A Whai Tara Trust to exercise, practise traditional crafts and help their community.
As well as learning how to grow their own veges, they also help those in need by sewing sheets and blankets for kids, and soon they’ll be running up curtains to keep local homes warm.
The group has also been learning traditional weaving so Elsie’s made play mats for her grandkids, and now the group is working on tukutuku panels to show in next year’s Puanga exhibition by the Waitara Artists Cooperative.
Elsie says when you live alone, it’s good to get out: “With Covid going around I could build a shell around myself and never go out, but I really look forward to coming here every Tuesday and Thursday.”
Mana Hodgetts (Nga¯ti Mutunga) says the collective experience of the group keeps them engaged and opens up new opportunities.
“We’re planning something all the time; we discuss things and sometimes we go for a trip somewhere. It’s amazing how many activities the
kauma¯tua are engaged in and they come here and share their experiences,”
Trust co-ordinator Che Tamati says the $8000 grant from the district council’s Community Programme and Services Fund this year keeps kauma¯tua active and benefits flow through to the whole community.
“We do keep busy in the community and we’re a destination where kauma¯tua and the elderly can exercise their individuality, self-reliance, and tino rangatiratanga or selfdetermination, and the NPDC grant helps keep the doors open and the lights on.”
Applications are now open for NPDC’s Community Programmes and Services Fund, which supports projects and programmes that benefit the community. Apply through the council’s website here by August 24 or call us 06 759 6060 to find out more.