Rima tekau mā waru ngā whānau o Rotorua, ā, e waru ngā kura kōhungahunga ka whai māra kai kore utu, ka whakaakohia ai ki te whakatipu kai. Ka kōrero tahi a Mere McLean ki a Te Rangikaheke Kiripatea tētahi o ngā pou o tēnei kaupapa.
Ko te whakaaro mō tēnei kaupapa i pū mai i Tāmaki Makaurau.
Hei tā Kiripatea, “This is a primary model of one of the backyard gardens that we have done and we did it over a weekend.”
'Ko taku pātaka kai' he kaupapa i takiri ake i tērā tau ki waenganui i ētahi hunga ngākau nui ki te tinaku māra. Hei tā Te Rangikaheke Kiripatea he kaupapa i runga i te aroha me te kore utu, ka mutu mā te huruhuru te manu ka rere.
“It's about engaging our whānau in having māra kai in their own backyards again the way our old people did and you know if we reach back into our history and that's not all that long ago a lot of our koroua and kuia had their own māra kai.”
Mo Rotorua, rua tekau ngā rōpū kua tautoko mai i te kaupapa. Ka noho te whare taiohi o Rotorua hei kainga mo 'taku pātaka kai'. He rākau hei whakatō kua tonoa e Te Arawa Whānau Ora me Tipu Ora.
Whā tekau ngā whānau i Tāmaki Makaurau i whai hua i tēnei kaupapa. Nō te putanga o te pānui ki Rotorua kotahi marama ki muri, e waru ngā kura kōhungahunga, rima tekau mā waru ngā whānau i waimarie kia uru mai ki te kaupapa, tekau mā waru ngā whānau i whakarārangihia ki te taha.
“The response has been absolutely tremendous and it's often hard to engage the community in something so physical but I think that people are starting to pick up that gardening and māra kai is one thing that people really want to start heading back into.”
Ka timata i tēnei Rātapu, hui ai te hunga tūao ki te whare taiohi o Rotorua ki reira hanga i ngā māra kai kia pai ai te tuku ki ngā whānau hei te wiki e tū mai nei mō te kore utu.