Renee loves regeneration mahi

A desire to always be in the forest has subtly inspired Renee Raroa’s mahi. After making headlines for speaking at the United Nations, she caught up with kaupapa Māori reporter Matai O’Connor.

I was blessed to grow up in a place where the hills meet the ocean,” Renee (Ngāti Porou) says about being born and raised in Rangitukia on the East Coast.

She grew up at Te Kautuku Station, a Māori land block that was converted into a beef and sheep farm, managed by her papa Petuere, then her father Rangi Raroa carried on the mahi.

Te Kautuku is now naturally regenerating, with mānuka honey production as one of its main operations. There is a vision for large amounts of the land to be restored into native forest.

Through her mahi with Toha, Renee is working to support Te Kautuku to be one of the first land blocks to show that native reforestation can be a financially viable option for landowners.

Renee went to one of the first kōhanga reo back in the early 1980s at Rāhui Marae in Tikitiki, then went to Taperenui a Whātonga, Rangitukia School.

Renee did her intermediate years at Tolaga Bay Area School, after moving there with her sister Dayna and mum, Jo Smith. Then she went to the rectory — a boarding space — for students going to Gisborne Girls’ High and Gisborne Boys’ High schools.

Renee found her interest for science at school and decided to pursue it further at the University of Otago. She did a bachelor of science in neuroscience, but felt she needed to do something to balance it out and so did a bachelor of arts in psychology and Māori studies.

Renee spent a few years after uni working in Otago where she opened one of New Zealand’s first all vegan cafés called Circadian Rhythm.

It was a café, bar and music venue.

“It was my early 20s and I was having fun, but then I felt the call to come home. It was almost an overnight decision to come back to Tūranga, but I had to do it.”

She ended up rekindling an old romance with her partner Nick Richardson, found mahi in local cafés and also the laboratory at Pultron. But soon they decided to start a family.

Renee has a daughter named Amity and a son Awatere. After having the kids, she decided to pursue teacher training as a way to help her confidence when speaking publicly and also as a way to share what she knows.

Renee taught at GGHS and Lytton High School in the science and maths departments, also in the whānau Māori class at Lytton.

She then became a facilitator working for CORE Education which she enjoyed. However, a need to connect and help community came to the fore.

Renee started doing mahi with Cain Kerehoma and Renay Charteris and co-founded the first Startup Weekend in Tairāwhiti — a space where people create a business within a weekend.

Together this team went to San Fransisco where they toured all different co-working spaces to get ideas for Tairāwhiti.

When they came back, the seed was sown to set up Tāiki E! in Treble Court.

Renee is still a trustee of Taike E! which she says continues to kickstart a range of opportunities for the community.

Then she met Nathalie Whitaker who created Givealittle. Nathalie was working with a team on Toha to create a concept that would provide solutions for taking climate action at pace and scale.

“Toha its about bringing resources to climate action. Wē can enable economic prosperity through the regeneration of our environment,” Renee said.

In the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle, the Toha team launched the East Coast Exchange, which allows funds to flow directly into the hands of those taking action for recovery mahi, resilience building and regeneration across Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay.

“Tairāwhiti could be known as a beacon of hope for community-led climate action globally” Renee said.

The East Coast Exchange connects to a collaborative initiative “Exchange Café”, which facilitates and livestreams regional discussions for climate solutions.

Renee says this is the beginning of major shifts in the way we work collectively to do better for our taiao. Related to her work in Toha, Renee does a few other things.

She is the board chair of Te Weu Charitable Trust, set up to promote climate awareness through community-based action research. She also sits in the regional Te Roopu Taiao leadership group and a number of other strategy groups in the region.

Renee has been involved with Mana Taiao Tairāwhiti, the group that petitioned for the Ministerial Inquiry into Land Use in the region.

It was through this group that, last month, Renee ended up at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York where she spoke about the impacts of pine forestry.

Renee wears many hats, but they all connect back to the whenua and tangata.

With all this mahi Renee has many hopes for the future.

“I can imagine a future where everyone has the opportunity to come and engage in kaitiaki activities without the barriers of employment. You might rock up and there’s a QR code on a post that lists all the mahi that needs to get done, carry it out and then get paid for it.

“People need to be able to make the choices but we need the tools to be able to actually do that. We will need more of us enabled to do mahi that makes us feel awesome. Then the whenua can be more alive and we will all feel the benefits of that.

“I believe there is a new wave coming through that has to push through, that is more guided by intuition and maramataka. And I think it’s time.”