Waituhi Consultancy

23/05/2026

🌊 He waka wairua, he vaka tautua. We rise together 🌊

Kia ora, ia orana, mahalo, mālō e lelei, talofa lava e te whānau, ‘ohana, fanau, aiga 🌺

Waituhi Consultancy continues to shift.

What began as a management consultancy service grows into something bigger — an intergenerational kaupapa grounded in whakapapa, rangatiratanga, manaakitanga, collective wellbeing, and systems transformation.

Our mahi exists to strengthen whānau and aiga capability, restore wellbeing, and help create futures where tamariki, mokopuna, whānau, aiga and communities can thrive without disconnecting from identity, culture, or belonging.

Through kaupapa Māori, Pasefika, trauma-informed and neuro-inclusive approaches, we support transformation across:

🌿 Education
🌿 Holistic health and wellbeing
🌿 Community systems
🌿 Cultural capability
🌿 Trauma recovery pathways
🌿 Whānau and aiga capability building

At Waituhi, we believe healing and systems change belong together.

We believe mātauranga Māori matters.

We believe Indigenous knowledge deserves protection.

We believe future generations deserve systems built with dignity, inclusion, and restoration at their centre.

Our kaupapa weaves together:

🌊 Waituhi — collective waters, connection, belonging
💧 Waiora — restoration, wellbeing, flourishing
🛶 Matahourua — ancestral navigation and future-building
⚓ Hulk Marion — remembrance, truth-telling, and transforming inherited harm into restoration

Our focus:

✨ Strengthening whānau and aiga capability
✨ Rangatiratanga-led transformation
✨ Neuro-inclusive futures
✨ Takatāpui inclusion and belonging
✨ Trauma-informed systems design
✨ Indigenous knowledge sovranty
✨ Intergenerational wellbeing

This is not simply service delivery.

This is legacy building.

This is future building.

This is Waituhi.

Mō ngā uri whakatupu.

For future generations. 🌺

Nāku iti noa / Kind regards,
Fidelis et Constans

🐉⚜️🐉

30/04/2026

Opinion: Trust, Te Tiriti, and the Gap Between Commitment and Practice

Recent reporting on declining trust in policing highlights a growing concern within Aotearoa’s public institutions. For many Māori, however, this concern reflects a longer-standing pattern rather than a new development.

I write as a ira kore, wahine Māori mau moko kauae and māmā kotahi, whose experiences sit within the broader systemic issues identified through the WAI 2500, 2575, 2700, and 3060 kaupapa inquiries. These inquiries have consistently documented inequities across policing, health, and justice systems, alongside concerns about access, treatment, and outcomes for Māori.

In October 2023, I was apprehended by male police officers in Auckland during an interaction where I had already complied. I subsequently lodged a complaint with the Independent Police Conduct Authority. While individual incidents must be assessed on their own facts, it is also important to consider how they align with wider patterns already identified through public inquiry.

Over the past three years, I have also been involved in Family Court proceedings concerning my tamariki. The cumulative impact of this engagement has been significant, particularly in terms of mental and emotional wellbeing. This reflects concerns raised in the WAI 2575 Hauora inquiry, where system interaction itself can contribute to ongoing harm when it does not adequately support wellbeing.

At a structural level, Te Tiriti o Waitangi establishes an expectation that the Crown will actively protect Māori wellbeing and rangatiratanga. The challenge is not the absence of this principle, but the inconsistency of its application in practice.

When there is a gap between commitment and lived experience, trust becomes difficult to sustain.

This is particularly relevant in contexts where individuals are navigating multiple systems simultaneously — including policing, health, and family law — and where vulnerability may be heightened by factors such as trauma or marginalisation.

The concept of kaitiakitanga, often referenced within public sector frameworks, implies an active duty of care. Its meaningful application requires more than policy alignment; it requires consistent, relational, and culturally informed practice.

Without this, there is a risk that institutional responses will continue to fall short of both Tiriti obligations and public expectations.

If trust is to be rebuilt, it will require not only acknowledgement of inequities, but sustained alignment between what is stated, what is intended, and what is experienced.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/thedetail/579295/police-face-a-deepening-crisis-of-trust

🐉⚜️🐉

Government pressed for action as scandal over police handling of McSkimming complaints sparks national reckoning

19/04/2026

🌋 HE WERO KI TE KĀWANATANGA 🌋

Kua tae te wā kia kōrero tōtika.

Ko mātou Ngā Uri A Ihumātao ngā kaitiaki tūturu o te whenua, moana, awa, atea ki Ihumātao.

Arā, ka aukatihia mātou i a koutou.
Ka rāhuitia mātou i runga i te tika, te pono me te aroha.

He tohu wairua tēnei panui o te ara tika mō mātou.

🔥 He aha te tika o tēnei?
🔥 Mā wai te mana whakahoki whenua nā koutou i raupatu?

Mā mātou Ngā Uri a Ihumātao kē, i raro i te mana atua o te ihu o Mataoho.
Mataoho, te ahi tupua,
Mataoho, te ahi tawhito
ehara nō te Kāwanatanga.

He whenua ora.
He whenua tuku iho.
He whenua whakapapa.

E kore tātou e noho puku.

Ko te pātai nui ki a koutou, e te Kāwanatanga:
Kei te tū tika koutou?
rānei ka noho tonu hei kaiwhanako me te ringa raupatu?

This is a direct challenge to the NZ Government.

We, the Uri of Ihumātao, have been blocked from our own whenua, moana, awa and ātea.

This “trespass notice” is therefore justified.

Ihumātao is not yours to control.
It is whakapapa.
It is living whenua.

We are kaitiaki and we will not sit in silence.

✊🏽 KA WHAWHAI TONU MĀTOU, AKE, AKE, AKE ✊🏽

🐉🔱🐉

08/04/2026

🪶 He whakatūpato tēnei mō Ihumātao 🪶

24,000 signatures mobilised through SOUL
— including many tangata whenua in solidarity —
and approximately 900 registered hapū members of Te Ahiwaru

Kia mārama tātou:

Ehara tēnei i te whakataetae tau.
This is not a numbers game.

Tangata whenua — ahi kā — are the rightful kaitiaki and landholders through whakapapa, whatutoto, and native title.

That authority is inherent. Not granted. Not transferable.

⚖️ He whakamārama — structures vs whakapapa

A conglomerate — whether a charitable trust, corporate entity, or the Crown — is a constructed system designed to consolidate and control.

It is not whakapapa.
It is not ahi kā.
It does not hold native title.

🔥 Me kī ka tika — let’s be clear

Under current conditions, co-governance is often framed as partnership. But in practice, it can become:

⚠️ a pathway for Kāwanatanga to absorb kaupapa Māori
⚠️ a mechanism to shift authority from hapū to entities
⚠️ a dilution of tino rangatiratanga into shared control

As affirmed by Matike Mai Aotearoa:

✨ Hapū and iwi are inherent constitutional authorities
✨ Tikanga, He Whakaputanga, Te Tiriti uphold Māori decision-making
✨ True balance exists in separate but equal spheres — not absorption

❗ Nā reira — therefore

When:
– conglomerates speak for whenua
– governance structures override ahi kā
– “consultation” replaces decision-making

That is not partnership.
That is the quiet transfer of authority.

✊🏽 Kia ū ki te kaupapa

Yes — many of the 24,000 are our own people.

But still:

Support does not replace ahi kā.
Solidarity does not equal jurisdiction.

Because:

Whakapapa determines authority.
Whatutoto anchors responsibility.
Ahi kā holds the fire.

Ihumātao is not a development opportunity.
It is not a governance experiment.

It is whenua tuku iho.

Held by ahi kā.
Protected by whakapapa.
Exercised through tino rangatiratanga.

📍 He karanga ki te hui

There is a final opportunity to feed into these plans:
🗓️ Sunday 12 April
⏰ 10am
📌 Makaurau Marae — Ihumātao

Be present. Be heard. Hold the line.

Tangata whenua must lead — not conglomerates, not the Crown, not constructed entities.

Kia ū. Kia kaha. Kia mau ki te whenua. 🌿

Nāku iti noa / Kind regards,
Fidelis et Constans

🐉⚜️🐉

06/04/2026

🌿 Open Letter: Statement of Position — Te Whakaoranga me te Painga o ōku Tamariki 🌿

To those responsible for harm against me and my tama toa, toa Samoa 🌺

I write this statement as a māmā kotahi, a guardian of my tamariki, and a survivor of violence.

This statement is made to clearly affirm my position moving forward, with the welfare and best interests of the children as the paramount consideration.

1. Acknowledgement of Harm

The harm experienced by myself and my tamariki was real and had a direct impact on our physical, emotional, and wairua wellbeing.

That harm is acknowledged.
It will not be minimised or reframed.

However, it does not determine the future direction for my tamariki.

2. Paramount Consideration — Welfare and Best Interests

Consistent with the Care of Children Act 2004 (s4 and guiding principles under s5), and as reflected in my affidavit :

All decisions must prioritise the welfare and best interests of the children.

This includes:

Their safety
Their stability
Their cultural identity
Their educational continuity

These are determinative considerations.

3. Cultural Identity, Whakapapa, and Development

The children have established connections to their whakapapa, including Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, their whānau, aiga, and wider community.

Their identity, belonging, and access to kaupapa Māori learning environments are integral to their development, consistent with statutory recognition of a child’s multiculture, language, and identity.

Any arrangement that diminishes or disconnects them from these foundations is not in their best interests.

4. Context of Removal and Tikanga

In October 2023, the children were unilaterally removed from my care by whānau, aiga from our marae.

That removal was not consistent with tikanga Māori principles of protection, manaakitanga, and the safeguarding of wāhine and tamariki.

It represents a misapplication of tikanga in a manner that resulted in harm rather than protection.

As a consequence, the marae has not remained a neutral, safe, or culturally protective environment for myself or my tamariki since that time.

This context is directly relevant to the current arrangements and the need to prioritise environments that uphold both legal and tikanga-based wellbeing.

5. Reason for Application to the Family Court

My decision to apply to the Family Court for a parenting order was made to prevent further harm to both myself and the children.

It was an informed and protective step.

I have previously engaged in parenting support processes, including completing a Parenting Through Separation course while in the care of Women’s Refuge in 2016.

Further, guidance obtained through a Community Law Centre supported my understanding of my rights and responsibilities as a mother and guardian.

This application reflects a considered and child-focused exercise of those responsibilities.

6. Guardianship and Day-to-Day Care

I acknowledge that there is currently an interim day-to-day care arrangement in place.

However, consistent with the Care of Children Act 2004 (particularly s16):

An interim care arrangement should not be treated as displacing the mother’s continuing status and responsibilities as guardian.

Day-to-day care relates to the practical care of the children and does not confer sole decision-making authority.

Guardianship, including kaitiakitanga, remains a shared and ongoing responsibility to make or contribute to decisions affecting the children’s care, development, education, and cultural identity.

7. Good Faith Engagement

I have engaged in prior processes in good faith, including:

Participation in discussions facilitated by Lawyer for Child
Agreement in principle to shared care arrangements
Willingness to formalise those arrangements

Those efforts were not realised following the events outlined above.

Despite this, I remain committed to constructive, child-focused outcomes.

8. Current Position

My application is specific, practical, and restorative:

That the children be educated in an environment that supports:

Continuity of learning
Stability of routine
Strengthening of identity and belonging

This aligns with their welfare and best interests.

9. Forward Position

I am not seeking to escalate conflict.

I am seeking to ensure that:

Decisions are made in accordance with the children’s welfare and best interests
Cultural identity is actively upheld
Stability and wellbeing are prioritised

10. Closing Statement

Accountability for harm remains with those responsible.

My responsibility remains with my tamariki.

I will continue to act in their best interests with clarity, consistency, and good faith.

He kupu whakamutunga

Our tamariki carry whakapapa that binds our whānau, aiga across generations.

That connection is enduring.
It cannot be removed, diminished, or replaced.

Their future must reflect that truth.

He aroha mutunga kore 🤍

— A māmā kotahi, kaitiaki of her tama toa, toa Samoa

Nāku iti noa / Kind regards,
Fidelis et Constans

🐉⚜️🐉

06/04/2026

🌿 He tohu aroha. He tohu mātauranga 🌿

Kia ora, talofa lava e te whānau, aiga 🌺

This morning I share something very close to my ngākau…

I have taken my next giant leap of faith and officially accepted my place into the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (Inclusive Education) at Waipapa Taumata Rau.

This is more than just study.
This is more than just a milestone.

✨ This is for my babies.
✨ This is for our whānau, aiga.
✨ And most of all… this is for my late pōtiki, Iki Boo 🕊️

Every step I have taken in this healing journey of ours is carried by aroha, by whakapapa, by whatutoto — the unbreakable bonds that connect us across Te Kore, Te Pō and Te Ao Mārama.

Inclusive education is not just a pathway… it is a calling.
A commitment to ensure that our tamariki, mokopuna — especially those navigating trauma, neurodivergence, and systemic barriers — are seen, held, and uplifted in their full mana.

Iki Boo, my ❤️'s…
I wear your korowai in everything I have done and continue to do.
In every book, every whakaaro, every space I step into — you are always with me.

This achievement is ours. Always 🤍

He uri mātou nō te aroha mutunga kore.
And I will continue to walk this path for our mokopuna yet to come.

Aku tino mihi aroha ki a koutou katoa who continue to hold and tautoko me, my babies and our staunch belief in this kaupapa.

Check out our latest updates at https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonita-rakena-22b1772bb/

Nāku iti noa / Kind regards,
Fidelis et Constans

🐉⚜️🐉

03/04/2026

🪶 He mahi aroha. He mahi rangatira. He mahi mō ā tātou mokopuna 🪶

Kia ora, talofa lava e te whānau, aiga 🌺

I just want to take a moment to celebrate and share some of the behind-the-scenes voluntary advocacy and consultancy mahi I’ve been doing through Waituhi Consultancy t/a Ana Toi DC N8tives.

Over the past 10 months, I have been leading and co-designing kaupapa grounded in kaupapa Māori and Pasefika values — supporting our tamariki, mokopuna, whānau, aiga navigating trauma, neurodivergence, and systemic barriers.

This includes:

✨ Hōtaka Kaitiaki Pilot Programme in collaboration with Vaka Tautua
A whānau-centred guardianship programme supporting my own neurodiverse tamariki, whānau, aiga through holistic learning, hauora, identity and safe routines
→ grounded in Te Whare Tapa Whā & Fonofale hauora models

✨ Proposal to Te Ahiwaru – Ahi Kāroa Education Team
Advocating for culturally grounded, trauma-informed, identity-affirming support for neurodiverse mokopuna and their whānau
→ strengthening pathways for education, wellbeing and belonging

✨ Proposal with BPMG Auckland
Aligned with Wai 2500 & Wai 2700 kaupapa inquiries to support:
• Ngā Hōia Māori whānau
• Intergenerational healing and systems advocacy
• Mana wahine through the Te Ara Mana Wahine ki Te Puna Ora proposal to support Mana Wahine creating safe, tikanga-based spaces for healing, advocacy and collective restoration across our hapori

This mahi has been largely self-funded, voluntary, and driven by lived experience, aroha, and responsibility to our people.

It is about:

• Restoring mana
• Strengthening whānau, aiga
• Supporting our tamariki to thrive as themselves
• Challenging systems that were never built for us
• Rebuilding pathways grounded in whakapapa

I don’t stand above this mahi.
I stand within it — as a kaitiaki, morehu, māmā kotahi and proud ira kore wahine Māori mau moko kauae

And I will continue to show up 💯

If you are a whānau, aiga, NGO, social enterprise and potential partner who aligns with this kaupapa — Let’s connect. Let’s build. Let’s restore together.

Nāku iti noa / Kind regards,
Fidelis et Constans

🐉⚜️🐉

18/03/2026

Te Puna Taonga - He Maimai Aroha Project 🌿

Ko te kaupapa o tēnei mahi he tiaki, he pupuri, he tuku iho i ngā kōrero me ngā taonga.

Taonga are more than objects.
They carry whakapapa, mauri and memory.

Through this project I will be sharing what I learn about protecting taonga while studying Te Tohu Tiaki Taonga.

Together we can ensure the stories of our tūpuna are protected for our mokopuna.

Question:
He aha ngā taonga nui o tō whānau?
What treasures hold the stories of your people?

He aha tēnei mea te Taonga? / What is a Taonga?

Within te ao Māori, taonga possess both physical and spiritual characteristics.

Mauri (Life essence)
Taonga carry mauri, the spiritual life force embedded within the materials and the people connected to the taonga. This mauri reflects the relationship between the taonga, the environment it comes from, and the people who care for it.

Cultural and historical significance
Taonga represent ancestral knowledge and identity. They hold memories, events, and relationships that are important to whānau, hapū, marae, iwi and hapori/communities.

Examples of taonga include:
• whakairo (carvings)
• whāriki or raranga taonga
• photographs
• manuscripts or written whakapapa
• waiata or mōteatea recordings

He Taonga – Whakaahua ā Whānau / Whānau Photograph

He aha?
This photograph is a taonga because it carries the faces and memories of our tūpuna.

Ināhea?
Many photographs were taken generations ago and become important records of whakapapa.

Ki hea?
Photographs often come from whānau collections and albums.

He aha ai?
They show who we are and where we come from.

He pēhea?
To preserve photographs we should:

• store them away from sunlight
• keep them in acid-free sleeves or folders
• create digital copies.

Reflection:
A photograph can hold the mauri of a moment in time.

Nāku iti noa / Kind regards,
Fidelis et Constans

🐉⚜️🐉

14/03/2026

Open Letter: Police Accountability, Mana, and the Haumarutanga of Our Tamariki, Mokopuna

To the People of Aotearoa,

I speak not only for myself, but for our tamariki and mokopuna — because justice in Aotearoa must honour both the law and tikanga.

This is not easy for me to share.
But silence does not protect our tamariki, mokopuna.
And truth is part of healing our communities.

As an ira kore/gender diverse (neutral) māmā kotahi/solo māmā, I am sharing this because conversations about justice and accountability matter for the future of our tamariki, mokopuna.

On 29 October 2023 in Auckland, I was approached by two male police officers while sitting in my vehicle. During that interaction I handed over my Aotearoa driver licence, which police already had on file in their system.

Despite complying, the situation escalated and I was physically restrained and placed in handcuffs by the officers. As a morehu/survivor of male violence, being surrounded and restrained by male officers triggered fear and trauma. I told them clearly that I was afraid.

Following this incident I lodged a formal complaint with the Independent Police Conduct Authority about the conduct of the officers and the circumstances of my apprehension.

I also want to acknowledge that other legal matters later went through the courts which were separate incidents, and those processes have run their course through the justice system.

Sharing this publicly is not about attacking individuals.

It is about accountability, reflection and the ongoing relationship between communities and institutions.

Many wahine Māori still carry intergenerational memories and trauma of difficult experiences with policing and the justice system. At the same time, gender-diverse people often move through public institutions while facing misunderstanding or stigma.

When someone lives at the intersection of these realities — wahine Māori, gender-diverse, a survivor of violence, and a māmā kotahi — interactions with authority can carry whakapapa/layers of vulnerability that are not always recognised.

Raising these experiences is part of ensuring Aotearoa continues moving toward justice that reflects both the law and tikanga.

As a māmā kotahi, my deepest concern is the world our tamariki, mokopuna are already inheriting.

My tama toa, toa Samoa 🌺 — and many other Māori, Pasefika and Indigenous son's — deserve to grow up in a whenua/land where they are seen as rangatira, and where institutions operate with fairness, understanding, and humanity at it's core.

This is not written in anger.

It is written in truth, dignity, and hope for a better future for all our tamariki, mokopuna.

Because in the end, everything we do must honour those who came before us and those who will come after us.

We carry the whatutoto of our tūpuna/ancestors in our veins, and the future of our tamariki, mokopuna in our hands.

Nāku iti noa / Kind regards,
Fidelis et Constans

🐉⚜️🐉

12/03/2026

Open Letter: Te Whakaoranga - Truth, Whakapapa and Healing

To those who caused harm to me and my tama toa, toa Samoa 🌺

I speak now not only as a morehu/survivor of mahi patunga/violence, but as a māmā kotahi/solo mother, a mokohine/grand daughter of my mātua tūpuna/grandparents and a kaitiaki/guardian of the next generation.

The violence that was done to us was real. It affected our bodies, our minds and our wairua. There were moments where fear tried to silence us and where survival had to come before peace.

But there is something deeper than violence and older than any harm done in this lifetime.

Whakapapa.

Together we carry the whakapapa and whatutoto/bloodlines of many tūpuna/ancestors. Their bloodlines bind together our whānau, aiga across generations. That tapu/sacred connection exists whether people acknowledge it or not. It cannot be erased (unlike a surname can - deserving or not) and it cannot be denied.

It is that whakapapa that binds us all in aroha mutungakore/unconditional love 🫶

Our tamariki mokopuna carry the combined strength of our whānau, aiga within them. From our tūpuna they inherit mana, tapu, and the understanding that every tamaiti/child is a taonga. They inherit alofa, fa’aaloalo and the sacred responsibility to uphold dignity and protection within whānau, aiga.

Violence breaks these sacred mātāpono/principles. It is not culture. It is not love. It is not protection.

I speak this truth so that ngū/silence can no longer protect harm.

But I also speak this truth to release something.

I release the shame that never belonged to us.

I release the belief that victims must remain silent in order to protect others.

And I release the burden that was never meant for my tamariki and I to carry.

We are healing.

We are restoring our wairua, to strengthen our whakapapa and to ensure that the cycles of violence STOP with us.

Accountability for the harm belongs to those who caused it. But the future belongs to our tamariki now and mokopuna to come.

Our path now is forward.

Forward with aroha.
Forward with courage.
Forward with the protection of our tūpuna and the blessings of our whānau, aiga who are still moving forward in a positive direction with us!

The UNCONDITIONAL LOVE carried in our shared bloodlines WILL ALWAYS BE GREATER than the harm that tried to conquer and divide us!

Our lives are no longer defined by violence.

It is defined by resilience, strength, truth and the unconditional love that continues to hold our tamariki, mokopuna and generations together.

He aroha mutunga kore.

— A māmā kotahi protecting her tama toa, toa Samoa and honouring the generations before and after us FOREVER 🙏

Nāku iti noa / Kind regards,
Fidelis et Constans

🐉⚜️🐉

01/03/2026

✨ Protecting our family/whānau/aiga starts with planning. ✨

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🐉⚜️🐉