Te Whanake - Our Blog
Wakatu Wananga
Our development manager Ivan Tava was delighted to be invited to take part in a recent rangatahi wananga run by our sister organisation, Wakatu Incorporation. The week-long event was designed to advance the personal and cultural development of rangatahi through self-motivation, outdoor pursuits and traditional values. Alongside visits to homelands associated with Ngati Tama, Ngati Koata, Ngati Rarua and Te Atiawa, it was a great opportunity for participants to get to know their tupuna and cousins and learn about their history against the wonderful backdrop of the Abel Tasman National Park and our Motueka homelands.
Of the 16 young men who attended the wananga, 12 were descendents of NRAIT, along with adults Bentham Ohia, Jarrod Buchanan, Kapahau Matthews and Eru Morrison. We were proud to be able to provide the group with our very own basketball-style reversable singlets that feature our homelands Te Maatu and Motueka. A special honour for NRAIT was having the wananga led by Ropata Taylor, a member of our Board and a prominent leader among NRAIT people.
Update on our superstar Tailah Love
Left to right: Tailah, Trish and Ivan
I had the pleasure of hearing about one of recent grant recipients Tailah Love and his achievements in the States. His mother, and biggest supporter Trish informed me that he is doing really well and has 11 offers to attend university in America that include top universities Harvard and Stanford. NRAIT proudly supported Tailah to travel to the US and attend scouting camps and we are so happy to see our investment in his future has led to even more success for our talent Tailah.
Tailah has recently been nominated as a finalist for the Tasman Secondary school sportsman of the year. Unfortunately missed out on this award however I'm sure he is satisfied with the 12 awards he has recieved including Marlborough Boys College Sportsman of the Year and the Marlborough District Council Youth Civic award that is presented by the Mayor Alistair Sowman.
We are very happy that our financial support has helped Tailah achieve his goals and very excited to watch him succeed even further. Good luck Tailah from all of us and your NRAIT whanau!
Read our first story about Tailah here.
iPad Winner
Congratulations to Marama Takao from Wellington who was the winner of our iPad draw offered to everyone who sent back their email address to us. We are still really eager to get your email addresses so rally the whanau and send your email addresses to info@nrait.co.nz.
