On the 25th of March, Te Mahia School was preparing for the School Gala and the students decided to make clay products, such as fridge magnets and small pots, that would reflect the nature of Mahia. Jenny helped them to, create, using correct techniques, successful saleable items. The Room 2 items were colored and subsequently bisque fired in the kiln in town.
We also checked out how our Predator Free plan was progressing and the Landscape Survey results to date. Well done Te Mahia school.
Representatives of the Whangawehi who attended the Asia Pacific International River Prize awards dinner last Tuesday evening in Sydney were ecstatic to win the Pacific category. The group was grateful just to have been chosen as a finalist but was blown out of the water when they were announced as winners. The judges were very impressed with just how well the group collaborated with tangata whenua, the community and it’s sponsors along with it’s on the ground work which is diligently monitored.
This Awards has allowed the group to be part of the Alumni network, a network of river practitioners who operate all around the world. This will certainly help the group raise its profile and extend its ability to operate at a higher level.
As the winner of the Awards, the WCMG has also been encouraged by the International River Foundation to develop a relationship with a sister project in a foreign country. Passing on the knowledge was a consistent theme during the evening ceremony and several twin projects were presented during the symposium. This support offers an opportunity for the WCMG to influence one of it’s pacific neighbours.
A big thank you to all involved.
Media release :
AsiaPacificRiverAwardsWairoaStarOctober2018
A big thank you to all who have been involved, it is a wonderful achievement.
On Saturday the 8th of October, a small group of hard core Whangawehi members gathered at the Whangawehi bridge to finish off building the new railing fence which was started on the day of the working bee. The work involved digging several holes in solid hard ground and it’s no wonder that the beer afterwards was well received. Well done to you all and thank you for your commitment.
The last day of May was the day for our workshop previously planned for earlier in the term and related to astronomy. However to fit with the current programme we shifted the focus to Science and technology. Juniors made kites and we related this to traditional use of kites. Seniors were interested in inventions – A group of students realised that a sustainable way to cook without power is with a homemade solar oven. They created one and warmed some food despite the cloudy winter weather. Sunny Whangawehi is a great place to use solar ovens for kai.
With some careful planning & preparation, the senior class finally set off for there first visit to the Whangawehi shelter on the 28th February 2018. Initially this visit was planned for November 2017 but had to be postponed as it was rained out. The weather was perfect for an hour’s hike over O’Brien’s farm this time round, with two vehicles bringing up the rear, carrying SHMAKs and other resources. At the shelter we split into two groups. The boys headed down to the stream with Arthur and Jenni and two dads. Testing the stream was interesting, though few creatures were found – plenty of snails in the algae and a few worms were.
The water was clear. Meanwhile the girls were investigating the difference in the 8 cultivars of harakeke growing around the shelter. The groups then exchanged places but this time the stream group went to a stonier site and found at least 15 inanga hungrily feeding on grasshoppers who had leapt to their death into the stream. More invertebrates were discovered there under the stones.
The hike back was a challenge for some, but we all arrived back at school cheerful and with a great experience to share. We look forward to the Rocky Shore field trip planned for March.
Please find attached the longest article ever written on the project, enjoy the reading : GisborneHeraldSeptember2017
Te Mahia school students came along the Whangawehi to continue their planting project initiated 3 years ago. They established 150 trees and laid out their Blue Penguin nesting boxes built earlier on in August. A korero on pest control was given before returning to school. A big thank you to Jenny Scothern, the parents, teachers and Whangawehi volunteers for their help and support. The small forest (600 trees) is growing and it is nice to see our tamariki grow and learn at the same time. Well done to you all.
Predator free NZ put up the Whangawehi story on their website. If you want to know more about the article, please follow the links :
http://predatorfreenz.org/local-marae-community-inspires-environmental-change/
or facebook page https://www.facebook.com/PFNewZealand/
Enjoy the reading
On Thursday the 19th of May, Patricia Taumata-Albert and Hineira Hooper-Kawana, students at Te Mahia School, gave their pepeha and introduced themselves to the members of the catchment committee. Both students displayed their completed logo’s and explained their perspective of how the logo should look and the process that it took to achieve their end result. A clear file of some of the children’s attempts at the logo was left for the members to peruse.
We thank you Te Mahia School for their help and support. It is great to have the students involved in all the different aspects of our work including the design of our logo.
Nga mihi nui kia koutou
Please click on the different sketches : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
From Te Mahia blog : http://room3temahiaschool.blogspot.co.nz/2016/03/maara-kai.html
On Tuesday we headed on down to Ruawharo Marae to have our Master Chef Maara Kai competition. We were all very excited and couldn’t wait to get started on our planned menu. To start with we watched Nanny Sophie demonstrate how to make a bull kelp steam bag. Some of us were lucky enough to do this with Nanny Sophie at the end of last year. We sliced open the kelp and stuffed it with our onion, potato, kumara and carrot. We then watched a demonstration by Chef Shaun, on how to make a delicious warm caramelised onion dip! We all agreed it tasted amazing and Whaea Jenni has agreed to share it with us all on the Te Mahia School facebook page! After that we began the prep on our own menus of a salad and a nutritious drink. It was awesome to see the teamwork involved, and the discussions between team members. It was an amazing day full of fun and food. The winning team was Mokotahi!
And we have a very awesome team of amazing Chefs heading into town next Wednesday to compete against other Wairoa Schools. The team is Patricia D, Anthony, Violet and Azure.
Kia Kaha Te Mahia Chefs!
Whangawehi Catchment Management Group 