Tom Johnson - Whakauae summer student

 

Ko Tom Johnson tōku ingoa, and I am excited to join the Whakauae research team as part of the Whakauae Summer Scholarship 2020 -2021.

 

I whānau mai au i raro i te maru o te Koro o Ruapehu.
Ko au te taitama o te waiu oranga o Whanganui.
E mau ana au ki te kakī o te hoe o Takitimu.
He kākano ahau o Ngāti Kahungunu.
He uri ahau o Tamatea Pōkai Whenua.

 

I grew up with my Granny at Te Kaihau a Maui, playing scrabble in the sunroom, selling bags of feijoas and living a pretty joyous life. Then secondary school came and all that I thought was important in life was rebuked and so began a long period of un-wellness.

I did my postgraduate study at Victoria University on Rangatahi motivation and started to notice the dire statistics, which suggested we underperform yet there is a lack of cohesive sustainable solutions proposed. I began to wonder if there were lessons and tools from our tupuna in Maramataka, Taonga Puoro, and takaro.

As a 30 year old man I returned home to where I grew up and noticed the men in my life were actively trying to be well, yet this was largely unseen in the reports and statistics on the health and wellbeing of Māori men in Te ao Hurihuri. This did not match what I was seeing around me. Seeing all this has led to my interest in exploring how Māori men keep themselves well- what are the conditions for fostering self determination, efficacy and resilience. How do we as men move through obstacles toward wellbeing?

My studentship with Whakauae is helping me to explore some of these questions. I am undertaking a literature review, which will look for solutions in the academy as well as on the ground to find out what is happening in the space of tane wellbeing. 
When there is a movement of Māori men, who are experiencing wellness through their own activities outside of the mainstream health settings I wonder if their stories of success are being recorded? Mainstream services would need to engage their kōrero as all services designed are only effective when the user is involved in the creation of the service. This is the same for effective policy for government departments. 

‘Ngā manga iti, ngā manga nui e honohono kau ana, ka tupu hei Awa Tupua’ - The small and large streams that flow into one another form one river. The context of this whakatauki voiced by te awa tupua (the sacred waters of the river) of Whanganui and its people explains the natural lore and value systems reflected in the relationship between river and Iwi. The river is the source of our wellness - I therefore want to explore the small and large streams of wellness that contribute to our wellbeing, the streams that may sit within the small and the large tributaries that feed Te Awa Tupua.