The voices of kaumātua during the COVID-19 pandemic

Describes an action taken to provide a platform for the voices for older Māori who lived through the experience of the four-week COVID-19 lockdown from 26 March to 27 April 2020, whereby video recordings were made of five Ngāti Whakaue kaumātua in Ohinemutu, in Rotorua, who talked about their understanding and experience of the pandemic and the first nationwide lockdown, the activities in their community and their roles and those of others from the village, especially in relation to a project during the lockdown called, 'Feed the pā'. Relates the various ways their community came together in support; the threat that COVID-19 posed to whakapapa, and therefore their collective tribal knowledge; and the value elders contribute to a community in times of stress. Source: National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, licensed by the Department of Internal Affairs for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand Licence.