Kei nga ihoiho o nga maunga whakahi, kei nga wai whakatere taniwha, nau mai, tahuti mai ki Te Hui. Ko Mihingarangi tenei e mihi atu nei ki a koutou katoa. Welcome to The Hui ` Maori current affairs for all New Zealanders. E taro ake nei... Mums doing time in jail and losing precious time with their children. When a mother is imprisoned, children serve those sentences as well. But now, a new initiative is offering hope to jailed mums who want to reconnect with their kids,... They helped me get in touch with the caregivers that are looking after him at the moment for me, and they also printed out photos for me. ...and that's helping to change lives. That was my last chapter. This is a new chapter that I'm making of my life now. And spreading the word about Te Reo across Te Waipounamu. We meet the folks dishing up kai to capture the hearts of new reo speakers. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2019 Karahuihui mai. There are currently 700 women serving time in New Zealand prisons and its estimated that 87% of them are mothers. Around 20,000 New Zealand kids are affected by parental imprisonment. But a programme being run in prisons aims to reconnect jailed mothers with their tamariki. Its hoped that re-establishing whanau bonds will help reintegrate these mums back into society and give them a reason to stay out of jail. Kei a Ruwani Perera te roanga ake o nga korero. Behind bars and locked out of the lives they once lived. 'To my beautiful son, I miss you so much. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think of you.' Cut off from their tamariki, jailed mums are reaching out to get the help they need to keep their connection to their kids. It gives me the will to want to strive to be a better parent at the end of the day. When a mother is imprisoned, children serve those sentences as well. Reconnection ` an important step on their road to rehabilitation. Once you help those women as mothers, you help children. and you help families. And you help families, you help communities. You help communities, you help the country. It's easy stuff. Once a month, lawyer Stacey Shortall pays a visit to one of four women's prisons around the country,... It's not an easy experience. It's not an easy place to go into, a prison, and to walk around the units and to engage with women who have often developed quite a veneer and a way of talking and a toughness around them ` a resilience that they've needed to survive. Today, she's at Arohata Women's Prison in Wellington, meeting face-to-face with female inmates who are also mums. So how many kids have you got? Could you tell me that? Six. Six kids. OK. And have you got questions around all six of them, or are there just some of them that you need help with? Just some of them I need help with. OK. It's mainly just contact. Yeah. OK. Stacey and a team of volunteer lawyers run the Mothers Project, which provides support services to imprisoned mums, such as navigating the complexities of the Family Court and Oranga Tamariki. The initiative has helped more than 500 jailed mums in the last four years. Mothers like Heeni. I've always found it hard to ask for help myself, but I've also learned being in here that asking for help is OK. Because I've always been this independent woman, surviving by myself. Heeni, which is not her real name, has two kids. She served her first sentence at the age of 25. Heeni's now 33 and serving her third sentence. And for the sake of her kids, she's determined to make it her last. You know, when you are sober in here and you have a lot of time to think and get your act together in here, it makes you want to strive to do better for your kids out there, and to be a better mother for them. For Heeni, being locked up meant being kept in the dark about her kids' lives. She had no idea where her 4-year-old son was until Stacey and her team managed to track down his caregivers. It was after the Mothers Project and working with the social worker, who was wonderful as well. Was it an easy thing for you to trust someone with, you know, what you're going through? Well, do you know what? The fact that they were volunteers willing to come and help us. I think that said a lot for us ladies, because it is a trust thing, especially when it concerns our kids. Over the past 20 years, Stacey has helped many women like Heeni who have been estranged from their children while in jail. It started when she was a litigator in New York in the 90s, doing pro bono work for The Incarcerated Mothers Project. They sent lawyers once a month into the medium security facility, which at that time was based in Manhattan, and they were looking for volunteers. I didn't have any experience whatsoever with dealing with prisoners. I'm not a criminal lawyer. I'm a commercial, white collar lawyer by background, but I thought I could at least turn up, interview a mother, understand what her issues were, and then find someone who could help her. Now back home, she wanted to provide the same support to women here in Aotearoa ` a world away from New York, but the struggles are no different. The demographic has changed. It's predominantly Maori as opposed to African American, but the same challenges are certainly prevalent around education, joblessness, literacy, or illiteracy, financial constraints. Same challenges around not being able to make contact, not being able to access easily a lawyer who can help them. Did you ever think what you saw in New York, you'd see here in New Zealand? I didn't expect to see the drug addiction as strong. That was a huge, huge part of what I grappled with in New York, working in some of the prisons there. The extent to which P seems to just be a strong component of these women's experience of life, and what may well be part of their exposure when they're released. New Zealand's female prison population has increased more than 150% since 2002. More than half of all women inmates are Maori, and it's that alarming rise that's forced prisons to take a different tack. This is the Department of Corrections women's strategy. Their 5-year plan on improving women's wellbeing and the impact of being separated from their families. Part of that has been providing women access to social workers and mental health professionals while they're in jail, recognising the high levels of trauma many of these women have faced. 65% of our women have suffered some kind of trauma in their life, whether it be family violence or sexual violence. What we can do is we can take more of a trauma-informed approach with our women that makes our women more well, so they can go on and they can be released, and they can be good mothers and role models for their children, because we're really mindful that they're raising that next generation. Sue Abraham is Arohata's Deputy Prison Director, and says The Mothers Project has been transformational for the women here. They're mothers and they're grandmothers, so for them to be able to maintain that connection with their whanau and their children and the wider community is a real asset. It's a gift. Where previously jailed mums like Heeni had little or no contact with their tamariki, the Mothers Project has given them a second chance. They helped me get in touch with the caregivers that are looking after him at the moment for me, and they also printed out photos for me, so I can see him every day. So my son, he's 4-years-old, gorgeous little boy, quite intelligent, and, um... Yeah. Love him dearly. (LAUGHS) Do you miss him while you're in here? Yes, I do. I do. I miss him a lot. Angela Te Rangimarie has missed her kids too. She's just finished serving a two-year sentence for burglary. What drove me while I was in prison was my daughter. She sent me a letter, and yeah, that letter, I used to hang up on my wall and read it every day. Angela's youngest son had been placed in foster care while she was in jail. Through the Mothers Project, the 40-year-old was able to locate and reconnect with him. His real family still loves him. That's the message I wanted to give to him ` that I still love him. Doesn't stop when you're in prison? No. Most definitely. No, it doesn't. My children hurt as well. Nou hoki te rangatiratanga. Nou hoki te rangatiratanga. Angela's now working with Orongomai Marae's Teresa Thompson in a reintegration programme that places a strong focus on building whakapapa and whanau links. It's hard to reintegrate on the outside if you don't have that support, and there is a likeliness that they will reoffend because they don't have those support networks, and whanau is crucial to that point of just helping them, supporting them through the process and living back out in the community. We don't want these women to come back into our community and not re-offend. We want them to come back in and have good lives! We want them to contribute. We want them to parent. We want them to, you know, really be part of the success of our country. Stacey Shortall is adamant that our corrections system must do better for these women, giving mums like Angela the support they need while in jail, to help shape a brighter future when they're released. That was my last chapter. This is a new chapter that I'm making of my life now. I love it where I am, and yes, things will get better. Kia kaha, koutou. Na Ruwani Perera tera ripoata. After the break, we buckle up for a reo roadie around Te Wai Pounamu. Auraki mai ano. Ko te kai a te rangatira he korero. It started with fish and chips, and grew into whakatauki and kiwaha. Christchurch eatery FUSH has been serving up kai with a side of Te Reo Maori to Cantabrians. Their bilingual menu became a hit, so its owners decided to offer reo classes too. They've proved so popular, FUSH is now hitting the road, spreading the word about Te Reo Maori throughout Te Wai Pounamu. Rewa Harriman went along for a ride and a feed. It's a road trip with a difference. Anton Matthews and his FUSH crew serving up kai with a side of Te Reo all around Te Waipounamu. I have serious empathy and compassion for non-Maori who are wanting to learn Te Reo Maori. I think that's choice. His sister, Maia, just as passionate about sharing the language. FUSH is running one-off Reo Maori classes to normalise the language across the South Island. 'Tena koe' is also one way that you can thank somebody for giving you something ` one person. Whether it's the kai, the company, or the korero, Anton seems to have the recipe for success. I think it's unique and it's exciting and it's new, and there's no better way of getting people interested than introducing food into lessons. Nothing like a bit of kai. We need more people like him. He's a great speaker. He's really encompassing and embracing to us all. 30-year-old Anton Matthews and his whanau opened their restaurant, FUSH, in 2016. It was their way to normalise Te Reo during business hours. While Te Reo classes weren't initially on the menu, it wasn't long before they became a priority. In fact, so many people wanted to order in Te Reo, they decided to run a class. Close to 3000 people registered on Facebook. With their reo classes being so successful, FUSH decided to take their kai and their reo on the road. This month, it's a tour of the top of the South Island, Nelson, Blenheim and Kaikoura. Whether it's the start of their reo journey or further down the road, the students are encouraged by the class. I'm always whakama to speak Maori in the supermarket, or wherever, and this just helped me to, like, just to try it. Give it a go? Yeah, give it a go. Last year, South Island iwi Rangitane ki Wairau launched their culture and language strategy, named 'Tangata Rau, Reo Kotahi'. Chairman Nick Chin says having the FUSH crew here adds to their reo vision for the iwi. Tonight's a great night, because we also invite the locals and the public, and it's part of the process of normalising Te Reo in our community. Despite the weather, the community is coming out in force. So I'm gonna leave you there. Po marie. Tena koutou. (APPLAUSE) And it's another group of satisfied reo consumers. That's what I really love about New Zealand compared to Australia. We don't get a lot of Aboriginal teaching at all in Australia, which is really unfortunate, and it's great to come to a country that really does embrace the culture, and I really love it. It's absolutely awesome. It's back on the road for the FUSH crew ` their last stop, Kaikoura. It's an intimate setting for the last class of their reo roadie. Like I said, the common goal is to normalise Te Reo Maori ` to try and create pockets of the community where speaking Te Reo Maori is normal. The FUSH crew are not only normalising Te Reo Maori; they're making it accessible to everyone. FUSH will continue to promote Te Reo throughout Te Waipounamu, hoping the next generation of New Zealanders will value it. Kia ora. Na Rewa Harriman tera korero. Next on The Hui, why are there so few statues or monuments dedicated to Maori in Wellington? That take next. E matakitaki ana koutou i a Te Hui. An open letter to the mayor of Wellington, Justin Lester, has questioned the imbalance of public statues celebrating Pakeha and tauiwi historical figures, while Maori are ignored. The letter was penned by 18-year-old Rangitane/Kahungunu law student Safari Hynes. While Hynes isn't calling for the removal of statues of people such as Queen Victoria, and Edward Wakefield, he asks why Maori figures such as Te Whiti o Rongomai, Honiana Te Puni, and Potatau Te Wherowhero are also not memorialised. Safari joins me now. Tena koe. Nau mai, haere mai, and welcome to you and your gumboots, as well. Kia ka tika ngo ira. What's the purpose of the gumboots? Tena koe. Ko te kaupapa waku kamuputu e a hoa hangai ana ki to a kaupapa a Gumboot Friday i tu i nga marama ko a taka. E ha ngai a na ki te kokiri tanga o te hau are hine aro. Me te whakamoe hi a tu a nga hua tanga o te mate whakamoe mo i nga nau hoki. Tena koe mo tira. This letter you` an open letter that you sent to the mayor of Wellington, what were you asking for? Um, I really wanted everyone to know that there is an unequal recognition of Maori stories compared to that of Pakeha stories, and it's quite a simple letter. It's very basic. It offers a Pakeha narrative, and the recognition that that has received, and a Maori narrative, and the lack of recognition for it. What I am hoping out of it is just more discussion and conversation about the kaupapa itself, and more awareness around the unequal recognition, because we live our day-to-day lives, and we live in this unequal society, and we take it as normal, and we deal with it, as opposed to getting up and saying 'it's not good enough'. It hasn't been good enough for 179 years, and it's still not. You grew up in the Hutt ` Petone. Who would you have liked to have seen? Oh, I would have liked to have seen many people, really. I was lucky enough to go to Petone Central and learn about the rich korero from there, which included the likes of Whatonga, who sailed from Hawaiki on the Kurahaupo. Mm. The likes of Te Whanganui-A-Tara, Tara Niho Niho, whose iwi here occupied the whenua here. I would have loved to have learned those in the mainstream kura that I was at. Do you think these monuments, and these memorials that we have, divide us or unite us? Um... Tena pea ka iti tangata, e nga re ki au he tai a tanga to a aua whakarewa tanga ki te whaka ko tahi ki te whaka wehe ranei e i nga tangata. There is the potential for both. I think, when we live in this unequal society where we only raise the Pakeha narratives, we create an unequal society, and it does divide our people. However, if we were to bring them together and actually put Pakeha and Maori narratives on an equal pegging, then that brings people together, because it represents both narratives in the bi-cultural history of this country. E ha re te mi ka` ka no koe hei he te whaka kore ki a au nei tohu mau mahara. You want to just have a conversation. How would you like that conversation to look, to be? Yeah. It's a new level, and very high level of ignorance that we've gotten to as a country to allow for this unequal society, and I don't want to let colonial imperialists forget how we got here, and forget that they're the reason why we are here, and I feel like, by removing them, we end up there. I think the conversation involves government, but not in a decision making role. I think they should have a facilitative role. They should be doing three things ` sitting down, listening, and facilitating the resourcing of Maori to self-determine their lives, and in this context, that is sitting down and it's ensuring that there are relationships built between Maori and those who have the resources to get what Maori need, not coming in and imposing on Maori, or not making Maori reliant on the Crown to go and then get outcomes. It's about supporting Maori communities to go and be self-determining. And have you had a response from the mayor? I have had a few responses from the mayor to my multiple messages, and I do appreciate and thank his multiple responses. He referred me to the Te Tauihu ` Te Reo policy of the Wellington City Council. What I do have to say to that is thank you, Justin, for you courage and the courage of your council, but I look forward to the day where we can see a policy for the rest of the waka, because, as we know, the Tauihu is only the front, and Te Reo Maori is only one part of the Maori culture. So I do look forward to the day where we can have social policy across all of the Maori culture. And you'll be free to help facilitate that hui if the mayor's interested in holding one? Of course. What have you heard? What have family said? What's Mum said about what you're doing? Um, Mum's been really good, but she's also been very real and very straight up with me. She's always letting me know where the holes in my arguments might be, or where I might not have put something out there, like the whakaaro about Kupe's statue. So that's a nice monument, but let us not forget that that slept in the base of Te Papa for a very long time, and it's nice, and it's a very good beginning, I'd like to think, and a nice step to something greater. Ka pai. Tena rawa atu koe for coming on with us this morning. Ka pai. Kua hikina Te Hui mo tenei ra. Before we sign off this morning, we want to acknowledge our Hawaiian whanaunga who are fighting to protect their ancestral mountain Mauna Kea ` the site of a proposed billion dollar telescopic facility. Anei he kiriata na te ropu Hulanesian Fitness. No reira e te ohana ` kia kaha, kia maia. Kia manawanui. (GENTLE HAWAIIAN MUSIC) Captions by Cameron Grigg. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2019 ALL: He mea tautoko na Te Mangai Paho. The Hui is made with support from New Zealand On Air.