Mangere community groups have taken a site provided by Kāinga Ora and grown it into a space to connect and protect their environment.

At 14 years old, Devontae has already become something of a waste warrior in his neighbourhood.

“I’ve noticed that our environment is getting pretty messy … as generations go by, it’s just going to keep getting worse,” he says.

“So why not be the role model and try to make a change?”

Last month, the Māngere College year 10 student set out to clean up his community, joined by more than 30 of his classmates.

Students then set upon Te Ararata Stream to plant rākau seedlings, which will help the awa to thrive. All of this work is part of a bigger plan – one led out of the new Māngere Community Enviro Hub and the various groups that call it their base.

A community hub grows

Before it became the Enviro Hub, the site contained older Kāinga Ora homes that were cleared as part of Mangere Development. An opportunity was identified to offer the section as a temporary community space until it’s needed for new housing, so McKenzie Tuala-Pine, Programme Manager – Placemaking, put a call out for ideas.

Of 12 applicants, the successful candidate was I Am Māngere – a trust formed in 2020 to empower local community groups – which worked with its partners and McKenzie to create a space that could be shared.

Today that group is Etu Rakau, an organisation focused on removing and reducing waste and litter. Founder and Director Rata Taiwhanga made his start with a converted trolley – the Waste Waka – used to “play our favourite beats while picking up rubbish off the streets”.

The mission to protect te taiao (the environment) grew, with Rata now bringing schools on the journey and sharing the knowledge of his tūpuna. Working with Māngere College, he set up an educational fundraiser aimed at making enough money to buy a greenhouse for the hub.

“This is so we can start [planting] seeds at the hub and actually giving away those seeds to different whānau,” Rata says.

“It’s really important, our collaboration, it’s really what brings the community together and it’s what connects us.”

Hangi and hauora

As well as the planting and clean-up, students learned how to pick fresh vegetables and cook with a hangi – prepped and supported by the I Am Māngere team.

“[The fundraiser] is about taking a hauora approach, so that’s looking at how can we go from picking up rubbish, to planting out trees, to feeding the people,” Rata says.

“What I’m hoping for the rangatahi to take away from today is becoming more aware of their environment. Creating environment hubs like this gives the freedom for communities to come and engage, and feel like it’s a space that’s theirs.”

For year 13 student Te Arawa, the fundraiser inspired a call to action for others to “just get out there and give it a try”.

“Coming out today made me change my look on how people treat the country,” she says. “I want to make a change to that.”

JP Puleitu, Advisor – Youth Placemaking at Kāinga Ora, says supporting the fundraiser and community spaces in development areas is “a no-brainer”.

“In a lot of the neighbourhoods and a lot of our builds, there are a lot of great grassroots groups that are coming through, but they just need that umbrella support,” he says.

“The community themselves have a lot of the solutions for their own people and their own communities, and so it’s really just [about] getting behind them.”