London is home to around eight million people. An estimated 60,000 of which are from New Zealanders and a handful of those are Māori.
It might then be no surprise then that self-isolation on the far-side of the world has been difficult over the past few weeks as the UK battles to contain the Coronavirus pandemic.
"It's been hard for our whānau to stay connected so we have to look at other ways to join our selves together, and social media has been priceless in that aspect," Zia Jones (Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Haka Patuheuheu), chairperson of Ngāti Rānana told Te Ao Māori News.
When social gatherings became restricted after the March 23 Lockdown announcement, it meant Ngāti Rānana's weekly Wednesday night kapa haka practices were put on hold. That was until some of their kaiāwhina decided to test the waters of online practises.
One of those kaiāwhina May Lee Allen, says the weekly get-togethers have been great for keeping the connections strong.
Despite not being able to meet in person, she says seeing the faces of friends, relations and elders has been great for the soul.
She adds that their group is more than just pictures of a kapa haka. First and foremost, she says, they're about whanaungatanga.
For over 60 years Ngāti Rānana has been providing UK-based New Zealanders, and others, the chance to learn, enhance and maintain Māori culture. Their three guiding principles are whanaungatanga, manaakitanga and kōtahitanga.
Jones says, "It's one of the highlights of the week is zooming and catching up with everyone on the whānau. So from a mental wellbeing space, it’s really good for our whānau just to stay connected, and it goes with all our values that we abide by."
Jones describes London as being 'quite surreal.'
"It’s been a real change in what is a vibrant, normally high paced city. It’s slowed the city right down and it’s been interesting to see that dynamic of change going throughout that whole of London," he says.
He says however that the Ngāti Rānana committee and kaiāwhina have done a wonderful job keeping social connections strong during that period.
"Anything from a quiz night to kaiāwhina, actually they’re the ones organising the Wednesday practises.
"We just zoom in and have a kōrero and do regular checkups with our people, make sure they’re coping well, especially with our elderly."
Richard Keane (Ngāti Kahungunu) has been one of the organisers of the weekly kapa haka sessions. He says the lockdown came on suddenly and left people with no time to prepare.
"We didn’t really get a chance to plan it and so we were thinking what to do.
"May Lee came up with an idea just to have a quick kōrero on a Wednesday night, just to test out how Zoom worked. Everyone jumped on that, it was about 10-15 minutes and people got a lot out of it, so I decided to try a test on Facebook live just on our performers' page, just to see if the appetite was there for people to do kapa haka online.
"I was quite surprised with the response," he says.
However, trying to teach an item, or practise one is proving to be difficult over video-conferencing.
"Zoom’s a bit tricky to do online kapa haka because there’s that delay, so what we usually do is we mute everyone, and then we just go through with whatever item we’re teaching and people follow along.
"It’s a little bit hard with the haka because when I look at the screen the lads are about two or three moves behind me, but yeah we get through it and everyone gets a lot out of it, it’s been going pretty well."
It's not just kapa haka that Ngāti Rānana is using to stay connected.
Jones says a group of Ngāti Rānana members have created a fitness group, called the "Hundred Club". The aim is to complete a particular activity 100 times a day, such as five sets of 20 pushups, and then posting it to the page.
He does admit to falling off the wagon a few times but says it's another great way of keeping engaged with each other and having a bit of fun along the way.
"So not only do we do the kapa haka skills practise, we’ve also got the hauora and the fitness as well. So it’s been really great connecting in those domains.
"There's some really good sticklers, and seen some really good results. As opposed to me, a little wīwī wāwā with it, I'll go on, then get hōhā, or lazy or sore. But it's been good, but it's also just a good banter as well, just a really good way of connecting in that space."
Taking their gatherings online has also meant that former members of Ngāti Rānana who have moved away from London, and would not otherwise be able to attend the Wednesday practises, have re-joined their mates from afar, including those who've returned to Aotearoa, or moved off to other parts of the world.
"It's awesome to see some of the oldies, or people who have made the decision to go home early, to see them jumping on the chat or jumping on zoom and getting right into the kapa haka," says Keane.
May Lee Allen says encapsulates their philosophy of 'Once a member of Ngāti Rānana, always a member of Ngāti Rānana.'
She says it's great to see those who have returned home again, many had so due to COVID-19.
While they never got a chance to say goodbye in person, May Lee says it's great to see then all again (online).