Te Rourou Aroha: Healing through raranga - Chapter 4

The following is a excerpt from my Masters thesis

Figure 1. The opening slide for my facilitators presentation

CHAPTER 4: Rāranga and what it means to me

Mā te tongo, ka mōhio, mā te mōhio, ka mārama; mā te mārama, ka mātau, ka ora

“Through resonance comes cognisance, through cognisance comes understanding, through understanding comes knowledge, through knowledge comes life and well-being”.

This whakatauki signifies how powerful a person can become when they have knowledge. I think that by sharing our knowledge with each other, beyond a formal setting we empower ourselves in a collective sense.

“Nau te rourou, naku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi”

“You have a rourou, I have a rourou, together we will all be well”.

This is the whakatauki that epitomises my entire body of research. It reveals the egalitarian nature of Māori society and how we work together to benefit our whanau, hapu and iwi. It explains that our ancestors understood the importance of collective belonging and power in numbers. The rourou is essentially a symbol for holding food – survival. We placed our hard earned harvest into our rourou, carried and served kai in rourou and some still do. Like many of our ancestors’ essential tools, the rourou is made from harakeke. Harakeke was used for kakahu (clothing), for kete (baskets), for rope that lashed our waka so that we could voyage further across the sea than any people before us. Harakeke can make rongoa for multiple ailments and just as our tupuna used harakeke to care for the iwi, I hope to utilise our ancient practice to care for mine.

Project

Figure 2. Harakeke diagram via teara.govt.nz

My project is a rāranga workshop that brings to attention culture, horticulture and art as therapy. Rāranga has always had these aspects, but my project uses these with intention. Mahi raranga naturally provides opportunities to have open discussion to; facilitate learning, encourage healing and growth. Every stage of learning about rāranga, from the harakeke that grows from the ground to the preparation of the whenu, to the weaving and finally completing of the kete; all reveal the way that we see the world around us and how we choose to deal with different challenges. Rāranga takes patience, persistence, focus, respect; for ourselves, each other, our tikanga and whenua. When a weaver is experiencing; grief, stress, is in a hurry or state of bliss it shows in the weaving. The weaving product that eventuates will tell a story on its own.

Community

Figure 3. A slide from my pp presentation outlining facilitator objectives

My first group of participants are raranga practitioners. Some are teachers of rāranga, some are practitioners, some do rāranga out of pure joy. Everyone in this first group has experienced the healing nature of rāranga. My objective with this first group is to conduct a qualitative study surrounding real experiences of trauma, hardship or illness and how rāranga can help holistically. The participants in this group are whānau, friends and peers of mine.

My second group of participants have experienced trauma in their lives and work their way through mental health challenges every day, in ways small and large. Because I know them personally there is already a level of trust and comfortability. They have shown interest in weaving, so it was not difficult to approach them to be a part of this research. We come together with the plan to weave and I teach them everything I can about rāranga and self-care. I have given them journals on which to write their feelings about their rāranga journey. Frustrations, skills, interests, thoughts and anything they can come up with is all relevant to the process of healing and growth. This is a qualitative study using formal and informal interviews. There is a quantitative aspect also which I am incorporating through questionnaire surveys. The surveys will ask questions to be answered on scales, this will give a numbered representation on well-being, which I hope to turn into graphs for my final presentation.

My research is targeting Māori women in mental health. “For Māori, health and culture are intricately linked so when a person identifies as Māori, there are vital aspects of te ao Māori that must be incorporated into her or his mental health experiences in order to provide safe and effective care” (Procter, Hamer, McGarry, Wilson & Froggatt, 2013).

Tangata whai ora, is a person who is seeking wellbeing. In consideration of te whare tapa wha, the alignment of wairua, hinengaro, tinana and whānau is a continuous balancing act.

Taonga Tuku Iho

To facilitate this programme requires knowledge of weaving and tikanga. The most vital aspect of this practice is manaaki. To properly conduct this programme the facilitator must have an open mind, heart, patience and flexibility. The condition of the environment must be conducive to healing. Participants must feel belonging, comfort, cared for and acknowledged. Manaakitanga is the essential ingredient, that makes mahi rāranga a tool for healing.

The programme is 9 days in total. 3 blocks of 3 day workshops. The separate blocks are there in consideration that participants have mahi, children, doctors appointments and commitments that come with life in general. This makes the completion of the 9 day programme a realistic goal for each person involved. The blocks are in 3 day lots because the first day is dedicated to prep, the second is dedicated to weaving and the third is for finishing and final touches. In their own time, participants are asked to write about their experience of weaving; what they have learned, what they found interesting and their feelings and thoughts. This is an ideal method to track progress (taha: whanau, wairua and hinengaro), the photographs of their process and their finished/unfinished kete are a physical representation of learned knowledge and acquisition of the programme.

[I have omitted the details of my arts therapy program until further notice]

Conclusion and Summary

In conclusion, the acquisition of knowledge is empowering. With it there comes enlightenment, and one has gained a new way to view the world. One has the option to choose their knowledge and where to seek it, what to accept or disregard. My project is a rāranga workshop that brings to attention culture, horticulture and art as therapy. Rāranga has always had these aspects, but my project uses these with intention. Mahi rāranga naturally provides opportunities to have open discussion to; facilitate learning, encourage healing and growth. Participants must feel belonging, comfort, cared for and acknowledged. Manaakitanga is the essential ingredient, that makes mahi rāranga a tool for healing. This taonga tuku iho is designed encourage healing in the four domains of health: wairua, hinengaro tinana and whanau. It is my hope that others can replicate this programme and achieve healing in other artforms, to benefit all tangata whenua.

Citation

Waru-Keelan, Z. 2018. Te rourou aroha: Healing through raranga.

In-text citation

(Waru-Keelan, 2018)