On International Women’s Day I want to reflect on our mana wahine and wahine toa, the resilient fighters and survivors. The women who protect their hapū from darkness and evil. The women who through their connection to Papatūānuku, nurture babies and the whenua, holding the people in their whare tangata, whether they ever give birth or not. The women who pass down knowledge through hundreds of generations and uphold tikanga, and fight to reclaim what has been hidden through colonisation. The Tohunga who practiced rongoa, and healed with their hands and herbs and karakia and waiata. The Tohunga who practiced tā moko, especially those that kept moko kaue alive throughout the Tohunga Suppression Act. The warriors who defended their hapū in war. Those who were dispossessed, raped and murdered and whose mana we seek to restore. Those who have far less privilege than I do, who struggle with poverty, or as single mothers, who are targeted by systemic racism based on their identity and the colour of their skin, the women who do everything they can to protect their whānau from addiction or domestic violence. The women trying, who deserve more compassion and support. The women who embraced me as sisters when I was still learning how to embrace myself in healing from complex trauma. The women who feed and organise hundreds of people. The women who comfort in times of grief. The women who put their bodies on the line over and over again to protect us from environmental devastation. The women who fight for their land rights and to restore mana to their land. The women fighting for prison abolition and for their relatives in prison. The women supporting people deported or released from prison, who have nothing. The women who make art, sing, tell stories, and speak up against injustice. The women who kept te reo alive and spoke it to their children in secret. The women journeying to understand who they are and their whakapapa. The women who honour their tūpuna and listen to their ancient guidance to understand their purpose in Te Ao Mārama. The Kaikaranga who call the first and last breath of life.
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