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Teresea Olsen receives the Queens Service Medal

Ms Teresea Olsen has founded, managed and supported community health projects for 35 years through her ongoing involvement with Kōkiri Marae Seaview, New Zealand’s first Kōkiri centre.

Ms Olsen established the Marae’s health services arm in 1992 and has since been the Marae’s Health and Social Services Manager. Within this role she has initiated and overseen programmes in women’s health and cervical screening, immunisation, diabetes outreach, sexual health, smoking cessation and lifestyle education. She has in addition supported the development of a range of affiliate projects including the Whai Oranga Health Centre, the Tu Kotahi Māori Asthma Trust, family support agency Naku Enei Tamariki, and the Kōkiri Marae Māori Women’s Refuge. She is a long-serving Trustee of the Marae. She is a Trustee of the Te Awakairangi Health Network and from 2004 has been Chair of the Whaiora Whanui trust, which oversees ‘by Māori for Māori’ community-based health serves in the Wairarapa region. She is General Manager of Takiri Mai Te Ata Whanau Ora Trust and Chair of Mana Wahine, a collective of Māori health providers whose focus is on Māori women’s health. Ms Olsen was a member of the Māori panel judging the 2003 Asthma and Respiratory Achievers Awards.

The Queen's Service Medal

https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/honours/lists/ny2018-qsm

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Tihei Rangatahi Holiday Programme Term 2 Recap

Over the past two weeks, we ran an amazing Tihei Rangatahi holiday programme filled with learning, fun, and unforgettable experiences.

We kicked things off with a station rotation day where the rangatahi learned how to make putiputi from harakeke, helped with hāngī prep for our lunch the next day, and enjoyed a round of sports. We wrapped up the day with a sausage sizzle and a hikoi down the Gumloop.

The next day we headed out to Brewtown, where the kids had a blast ice skating and jumping on trampolines. We ended that day by sharing the delicious hāngī we prepared together.

To finish off Week 1, we treated the kids to a movie day to watch The Karate Kid 3, complete with goodie bags for the full experience.

Week 2 started with a splash at H2O Pool, which the kids loved so much that we went again the next day — this time to Kilbirnie Pools.

On our final day, we spent the morning at Walter Nash, playing a range of sports, then celebrated our last afternoon at Taita Rocks with pizza. We closed the programme with a special Hautūku ceremony, where each rangatahi wrote down something they wanted to release and placed it in the fire. They also wrote a goal on a star to set intentions moving forward.

We ended with s’mores, laughter, and full hearts. The tamariki absolutely loved it — and we can’t wait for the next Tihei Rangatahi holiday programme!