Nā tou rourou nā tōku rourou ka ora ai te iwi: with your food basket and my food basket, the people shall live on!

This traditional whakataukī (Māori proverb) has come to life for Hawke's Bay's migrant communities, thanks to a partnership between local iwi Ngāti Kahungunu and the Migrant Welfare Group.

The Migrant Welfare Group is part of the Hawke's Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group's (HBCDEMG) 'network of networks' - a group of community organisations and agencies responding to COVID-19. The Office of Ethnic Communities (OEC) Advisor, Rizwaana Latiff, and Hawke's Bay Multicultural Association President, Sukdeep Singh are members of this group.

Rizwaana had been working with HBCDEMG prior to COVID-19. A pilot project identifying resilience factors, and using a hub of community champions to disseminate and receive information was being proposed. Appropriate agencies would be engaged to support migrant families where needed. The champions would also receive support to build capacity in the community. The relationship established during this project was instrumental in the migrant community becoming a high priority in the COVID-19 Response.

Sukdeep Singh said by the second week of the national lockdown it was clear that many migrant families needed support and help:

“We knew right from the beginning that migrant communities could potentially be some of the hardest hit, needing support due to language barriers, lack of awareness of the support available, and facing financial hardship” Mr Singh said

Mr Singh went on to say:

“We needed a way to give our diverse multicultural communities advice and information, and provide ethnically appropriate food parcels where they were needed.”

“Our typical day starts with calling families and individuals, listening to their stories and identifying their needs. Our warehouse team prepares food parcels and our delivery team delivers the parcels to families in Napier and Hastings”.

"Our volunteers are a mix of ethnicities which shows everyone is taking part to help each other."

This is where the Tihei Mauri Ora initiative, a Ngāti Kahungunu and Hawke's Bay District Health Board collaboration in partnership with central and local government, stepped in. Mr Singh said:

“We're incredibly grateful for Tihei Mauri Ora – the relationship we've formed shows how much we can achieve, when we all work together to help those most in need.”

"The Hawke's Bay Lotteries and COGS team have been helping us since 2015 with funding and support to achieve our vision and purpose. When MCA called them to seek a change of purpose for recent funding, they understood and approved the variation of purpose to support our COVID19 response."

Mr Singh added finally, "We are achieving great outcomes and have a few stories to share:

• Our local Sikh community has come together to provide fruit, vegetables, milk, rice, flour and bread to those who are doing it tough.
• A pregnant migrant lady could not go back to her country due to the border restrictions. Her free hospital care and family's needs were met.
• A work visa holder exploited by his employer did not have money to buy food. We were able to help support him by contacting the right people and providing a food parcel

Our volunteers are the heart of this initiative and it would not be possible without their continued support and hard work."