MUMA Brings Community Together to Celebrate Matariki

 Mike Tukahi, interum Chief Executive (left) and Johnathan Kukutai (right).

Manukau Urban Māori Authority brought the community together to celebrate Matariki, marking the Māori New Year with a day of performances, kai and manaaki for whānau across Māngere.

Interim Chief Executive Mike Tukaki says the celebration was as much about gratitude as it was about the new year. 

"It was an opportunity for us to give back and say thank you to our community who have had a really rough time over the last 12 months," he says. 

"It's been hard for everybody with the cost of living and all of those sorts of things that have impacted on them."

Ngati Tawhiao (left) and Janice Panoho (right) from MUMA. (Photo: MUMA media team)

Tukaki says MUMA works alongside whānau every day, offering support that goes far beyond the day's celebrations.

"We offer opportunities through, whether it's training, whether it's free support, whether it's making sure they're in healthy, safe, warm places to live, whether or not they've got enough kai, whether their tamariki have been educated."

The organisation is also extending its reach beyond Māngere. 

Students from Waatea School performing on stage. (Photo: MUMA Media Team)

"We're spreading out, we're actually taking services out to the community too, so we go out to Ōtara, we're starting an employment service in Papatoetoe," Tukaki says.

Event organiser Johnathan Kukutai says the day was designed to bring the whole community in, from kaumātua to tamariki. 

"The successful thing about it is the comms with the community, making sure that the comms are clear and inviting, not just the community but our ECEs, our wharekura, our schools," he says.

Local schools took part with performances throughout the day, while younger visitors enjoyed bouncy castles, games and activities. 

Event stallholders. (Photo: MUMA Media Team)

"It's about everybody," Kukutai says.

For Kukutai, Matariki carries personal meaning. 

"Matariki to me is about reflecting, acknowledging our whānau that have passed on, and just moving forward and celebrating as an entity and also as a whānau."

Tukaki says the celebration reflects MUMA's long-standing commitment to South Auckland.

Performers, including Annie Crummer (back centre left). (Photo: MUMA Media Team)

"We've been here for 40 years. We'll be here for another 40 years. This is the community that binds us."

He encouraged whānau across Māngere to take the chance to rest and reset. 

"Enjoy Matariki, enjoy and refocus and replenish, because that's what it's all about."

To contact MUMA, head to https://www.muma.co.nz/