At home in Ūawa

Thabiso Mashaba from Botswana in southern Africa moved with his whānau to Ūawa Tolaga Bay. He talked to kaupapa Māori reporter Matai O’Connor.

Moving to Tairāwhiti is one of the best decisions Thabiso has made in his life, he says.

Thabiso Mashaba, 38, moved to Ūawa on March 11, 2023 with his wife, Boitshoko Kebakile-Mashaba, and their two-year old son, Mika Mashaba, as part of being selected by the Edmund Hillary Fellowship to help with community development.

He decided to move to Ūawa as he met another EHF fellow, Lily Stender from Tolaga Bay Innovation, and felt his mahi aligned with hers.

He was meant to come in 2020, but because of Covid-19 restrictions and closed borders it was delayed by three years.

“My philosophy is when you work with communities, you really need to immerse yourself in them so that you can work harmoniously with them and not feel like you’re just there for a short time and leave,” he said.

“I want to go with them for the long term and at one stage let them take over (the project) when they feel comfortable with it.”

Ūawa wasn’t the first idea though.He originally thought of going to Wanaka, but, “the gods had a different plan for me nd I ended up here”.

He says Ūawa reminds him a lot of home in Botswana.

“It has a touch of Africa in it because there’s bush, not a big town, and there are gaps in development. For my work and my own personal belonging, it’s a perfect fit.”

As a self-confessed extrovert with introverted qualities, he said the calmness and peace in Ūawa is something that helps him think and create impactful projects.

“Having to think about grassroots solutions with the community is much better here than being in a big city like Wellington or Auckland.”

One of those solutions he has helped make happen is Slash For Cash, a project created during Startup Weekend Tairāwhiti. It works to fix the forestry slash issue the East Coast has experienced in the wake of severe weather events, by turning it into bio-char fertiliser and smokeless charcoal briquettes.

The project has progressed to having three investors and plans for the project are moving in a positive direction.

Thabiso has six children — a 14-year old daughter and two sets of twins from his first marriage  and Mika from his new marriage.

His wife Boitshoko is a Vogue-featured and award-winning jeweller from Botswana who makes “responsible” demi-fine jewellery out of her Ūawa-based atelier and sells it through her online store House of Divinity.

Mika goes to kōhanga reo in Tolaga Bay; he loves it and the whānau there love him.

Thabiso comes from two refugee settler families. His mother is from Namibia and his father is from Mozambique. He was born and raised in Botswana.

His mother was a social worker and father was a bylaw enforcement officer. Growing up around this type of work made him aware of developmental issues.

“I would ask my mum why some kids did not have a jersey but I do? Why aren’t the government or people helping? I saw myself growing up to be a voice for the voiceless.”

He wanted to become a human rights lawyer, but the University of Botswana (UOB) saw him more as a mercantilist so he did a double major in economics and accounting as his first degree.

After graduating, he became a strong advocate for the cultural and creative industries of Botswana to be recognised as an official sector of the economy.

He went on to do a post- graduate certificate in cultural economics in the Netherlands. Returning to Botswana he was able to keep advocating and eventually those cultural and creative industries were recognised as a sector of the economy.

He was appointed to the human resources development council and became the chair to help develop the human resources plan for the industry.

Thabiso also was working with the Ministry of Youth, Gender. Sports and Culture in developing the national arts council of Botswana.

He then did a Masters in sustainable development practice, at the University of Botswana, and decided to start a social enterprise called These Hands that works with grassroots communities.

“I wanted communities to be reminded of their own skills, materials and tools around them that they can tap into and come up with simple and appropriate solutions to their livelihood challenges.”

He has spread his mahi across the world, working in countries such as South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Thailand and Cambodia.

He was able to do this work by being a member of the International Development Innovation Network Global steering committee based at Massachusetts Institute of Technology D-Lab.

Soon EHF heard of him and he was contacted by the fellowship to apply which led him to Tairāwhiti.

During his time here he has run EIT courses about Slash for Cash and other self- sustainable ventures.

But being in Ūawa, working with tangata whenua, he feels at home and fulfilled.

“I have had the chance to stay in many parts of the world but I can say I feel quite at home on the East Coast, more than other places. Others places there have been issues with language barriers, cultural differences, and the landscapes.”

Being an African man in Gisborne, he says he hasn’t experienced any forms of racism, or attacks or feeling unwanted.

“It’s quite the opposite. People want to learn from me and have genuine conversations.

“I have noticed plenty of similarities between Māori and the San people, who are the indigenous peoples of Southern African. For example, we have our own karakia, called praise-poems which is very similar to what people do with karakia.

“Same with arts and music. I can see similarities between the ways they do things. The values are similar as well — they have their own papatūānuku and ranginui and they also used stars to navigate and the moon and sun.”

Thabiso and his whānau hope to become permanent residents of Aotearoa New Zealand and create a home for themselves here.

“Ūawa is us, we are Ūawa.”