For Ngamako Rota, hauora isn’t found in a clinic or a wellness app, it’s found in the whenua, the awa, the misty mornings, and the rhythm of her feet hitting the road at 5am. Looking out to Rangitoto and being five minutes from Auckland Viaduct.
In this Re: News partnership with Department of Conservation (DOC), Ngamako Rota (Waikato) talks about finding the balance between being an urban Māori, while also being connected to her whenua back home.
Through her mahi as a cultural liaison at Middlemore Hospital, her boxing training, waka ama, daily runs and her deep connection to Rāhui Pōkeka, Huntly, she demonstrates how nature and identity are inextricably linked.
Her other mahi consists of being an artist, actor and director.
She appeared in productions such as “Ciggie Butts in the Sand”, “Te Whare Kapua”, and “Angels in America".
Ngamako also co-directed a piece called “Whada You Reckon?” in 2021.
“I wake up at 4:30am, hit the streets by 5, and run five kms every day,” she says. “It’s my karakia. It sets my day.”
From the urban buzz of Tāmaki Makaurau to her whenua of Waikato, Ngamako is able to get that dose of hauora through naturing.
Along the way, she reflects on the pressures of city life, the grounding power of kai, and the healing found in movement and whenua.
Her kōrero is rich with imagery: the sound of tūī in the morning, the feel of rain on her skin, the sight of Rangitoto from the Viaduct. “Nature doesn’t ask you to be anything,” she says. “It just asks you to be there.”
In Huntly, Ngamako revisits her childhood home and the awa that shaped her.
She speaks of her nan’s teachings, of walking barefoot on the whenua, and of the importance of giving back through mahi in the māra, cleaning the urupā, and teaching her nieces and nephews to get their hands dirty.
Ngamako helps in community-led māra kai, which is reclaiming whenua once used for industrial farming.
For Ngamako, hauora is collective. It’s about whakapapa, whenua, and whānau. “Even when I’m in the city, I carry my whakapapa with me,” she says. “That knowing, that I belong, is what keeps me grounded.”
Watch the video now on TVNZ+ or Re: News' YouTube channel.
* This content is sponsored by DoC. #AlwaysBeNaturing – check out www.doc.govt.nz for more.
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