26 | REGIONAL Wharariki Trust - Manzis Build Your local First Windows & Doors manufacturer Contact us today for all your window and door requirements Ph: 06 878 0160 | E: info@twincity.co.nz | 121 Elwood Rd, Hastings Beautiful bespoke custom exterior and interior joinery. Tailored to perfectly match your needs. Hand crafted, Interior and Exterior Joinery Timber Mouldings, Heritage Restoration and Kitchens Please contact Shane O’Connor 06 877 7621 or email info@parkhilljoinery.co.nz 813B Caroline Road, Mayfair, Hastings 4122 T T Sue Russell Joining forces to improve families’ lives The trust receives referrals into the programme, from the Child Health Team, then sets about creating a budget for the work, accessing the necessary funding, and engaging the builders to undertake the work. “When a child lives in a warm, secure and healthy home, then they’re much more likely to attend school regularly, find meaningful employment when they leave school, their parents are more likely to attend work, and often the whānau’s whole sense of worth increases.” Recognising how powerful it is to support whānau living in poor housing conditions, Hastings-based Wharariki Trust was established in 2009 to help whānau in Te Matau a Māui (Hawke’s Bay) by facilitating meaningful home improvements, knowing that by doing this, the health of children living in these conditions would improve. Ana Apatu, the trust’s chief executive, knows first-hand the impact creating a healthy home has and the subsequent positive outcomes it brings. It’s why she and the small team that work for the trust, strive each day to create change for a families living in living in cold, damp, often overcrowded homes. “It might surprise many to hear that here in Hastings we had the highest rate of rheumatic fever in New Zealand,” says Ana. “Our purpose is to identify and address these housing conditions, and we do this by working with agencies such as the Child Health Team of Health NZ, and builders who carry the necessary understandings to work well with our families.” The trust receives referrals into the programme, from the Child Health Team, then sets about creating a budget for the work, accessing the necessary funding, and engaging the builders to undertake the work. It’s work, Ana says, that literally changes lives for the better. “When a child lives in a warm, secure and healthy home, then they’re much more likely to attend school regularly, find meaningful employment when they leave school, their parents are more likely to attend work, and often the whānau’s whole sense of worth increases. That’s why we see healthy housing as critical.” And the good work Wharariki Trust does wouldn’t be possible without the support of empathetic skilled tradespeople, such as the team at Manzis Build. As Ana says, working in often senstive situations with families experiencing stress is not something that every capable builder is necessarily equipped for. “Henare Waapu, who leads Manzis Build, is from this region. He has the skills to assess the existing conditions of a home and determine what must be done to improve it in a prioritised way, and to work alongside whānau to get the job done. In the process, he also plays a role in educating them to help maintain the home’s condition into the future,” says Ana. It has been a huge source of joy to have seen Manzis Build itself flourish over the years, Ana says. “It’s wonderful to see this business grow out of their engagement with our work. “Only good has come from our joint working relationship, and I take my hat off to Henare and Arana for the hard work they have put into growing their business in ways that deliver direct benefits to the community.” Arana agrees that their work for Wharariki Trust has been central to their success and growth since establishing the business in 2019. “Relocating from Auckland to Henare’s hometown Hastings in 2020, we didn’t have the business connections set up yet. At a networking event, Henare was invited to undertake the critical repairs needed to bring better health outcomes to its residents. “That’s how we really got started here, and this mahi alongside Wharariki has been instrumental in what Manzis has become today, “ says Arana. Certainly, Arana acknowledges that being involved in the ‘critical repairs’ space has given the business plenty of work in those founding years. She estimates that since joining hands with the trust, Manzis Build has upgraded over 115 homes. “While we work on a variety of construction projects, one of our most valuable lessons has stemmed from our involvement with the critical repairs programme, which is the importance of a holistic approach to construction and the value of kaupapa-led delivery,” she says. Key to the relationship and Manzis Build’s capability, in what could be described as challenging situations, is a high level of cultural competence and the strong ethos of ‘For Maori, by Maori’. “We are very engaged in the work we do with the trust, and we know it brings significant and far-reaching benefits for whānau.”
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