Anti-racism residential wānanga for people leaders

This workshop will be co-designed by Heather Came and Wiremu Woodard with participants during the wānanga. It may involve:

• Revisiting Tiriti o Waitangi application
• Story-telling to understand and disrupt micro, meso and macro levels of racism
• Courageous conversations about personally-mediated racism
• An elders panel – navigating barriers, obstacles and roadblocks to racial justice
• Exploring equity and moving beyond performative practice
• Self-care and sustaining anti-racism leadership

Class will be informed by action education traditions, will feature Lego, song, poetry, music, story-telling, pair and group work. Whanaungatanga will enable useful networking with like-minded people. Participants will leave clear on their next steps in relation to antiracism leadership.

Participants will receive a reading list based on latest antiracism evidence.

The co-facilitators:

Heather Came is a seventh generation Pākehā New Zealander. She has worked for 30 years in public health and has a long involvement in social justice activism. Heather is a founding member and co-chair of STIR: Stop Institutional Racism, and a member of Tāmaki Tiriti Workers, founder of the Racial Sewing Circle and the Radical Kitchen Crew. In 2022 she was made a Member of the Order of New Zealand for her contributions to Māori, health and education. She was lead author of Te Tiriti-based practice in health promotion, has prepared evidence for the WAI 2575 health kaupapa Waitangi Tribunal claims and has led shadow reports to various United Nations human rights committees. She is an award-winning teacher with a radical emancipatory approach. Her research focuses on critical policy analysis, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, anti-racism and institutional racism in health sector

Wiremu Woodard (Tūhoe, Ngāti Kahungunu) is an Indigenous therapist, father of four, activist, environmentalist, sometimes contemporary dancer and artist. Wiremu is committed to reducing health disparities for Māori and promoting social justice. He currently works in community practice at Kereru and in a previous life taught Psychotherapy & Counselling programmesat Auckland University of Technology. Wiremu is a founding member of Waka Oranga - a group of dynamic Indigenous Māori practitioners committed to emancipatory freedom.

Testimonials

"As soon as I was in the room, I understood this was a different approach that was underpinned by making people feel comfortable to understand discomfort, and make plans for change to improve the university… But the facilitation skills and depth of knowledge from Heather, brought the topic alive and made it live in our lives well beyond the workshop. This is the best education I have ever seen in action".

"Heather Came's presentation style. Her ability to speak to Pākehā on such a heavy and often guilt-laden topic in a way that is both truly engaging and enjoyable, but also leaves no room for nonsense, inaction or excuses is like nothing I have experienced before".

“The content is so relevant, and the class was very engaged, and we had some great discussions. This was entirely made possible by Wiremu who facilitated the space extremely well and modelled how to engage with these difficult topics with gentleness, humility, and curiosity”.

“Heather and Wiremu were both valued teachers. Heather with her love for people and amazing electric energy that provided some interesting platform for conversation and thought. She also helped with increasing the level of inclusiveness experienced in the room and laughter experienced through space. Wiremu has an incredible grounding way of approaching lectures and students. I’m really grateful that Wiremu took the time to really understand the space that each student was coming from”.

The venue and the kai

Waihōanga is a gorgeous lodge located in the Ōtaki gorge on the Kapiti Coast – an hour north of the Wellington CBD. We are happy to wrangle carpools.

It has large garden area, extensive woodlands and access to the Ōtaki River for swimming, a fire circle and outside bath.There are a mixture of shared cabins scattered across the property. 

The experienced home cooks (Denis and the kitchen crew) will be making healthy vegetarian kai and can accommodate special dietary requirements. There will be chocolate, there will be elaborate breakfasts, there will be tried and true vegetarian classics and there will be innovation.

Expect a fresh seasonal menu packed with tasty treats to sustain the mind, body and soul. 

“Outstanding kai, I can’t say enough about it. So much aroha shared” Alumni