Iwi members of Ngaati Koroki Kahukura are being called to take part in a programme that will provide them with qualifications for horticulture, landscaping and arboriculture.

The programme, He Pukenga Wai, He Oranga Tangata, has been designed by Ngaati Koroki Kahukura and the Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec).

Programme kaiwhakahaere Zane Eramiha says members of the iwi came up with the idea of the programme in 2017 to restore whenua and waterways to create and regenerate taonga across the whenua.

“The programme is targeted toward iwi members of Ngaati Koroki Kahukura in an effort to bring people home, reconnect with the whenua, reconnect with whānau and just learn the historic background of where they come from,” Eramiha says.

He says it is an issue at the moment that a lot of Maaori don’t know where they belong, “so I think this is the perfect way to capture that and bring whaanau home and offer employment.”

Source – www.teaonews.co.nz