The whare fostering Māori and Pasifika veterinarians

He whare whakatipu rata kararehe Māori, Pasifika hoki   

Words by Micah Geiringer (he/him), Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairoa  

‘He rerekē te rata kararehe, ā, he whakapapa Māori ōna, ki te rata kararehe Māori.’ 

Koinei ngā tohutohu mai ki a au i te pito tōmuri o tērā tau, nōku e whiriwhiri tonu ana mēnā rānei me piri au ki te hōtaka o Tāwharau Ora’s VetMap. E koa ana taku ngākau i piri atu au.  

Mai anō te raruraru o te tokoiti o ngāi Māori i ngā kaupapa pūtaiao, rata hoki, ā, he nui ngā mahi kia whakatutukitia. E ai ki te pūrongo ā-tau a Te Kaunihera Rata Kararehe o Aotearoa, e  2.6% noa iho o ngā rata kararehe i tautohu he whakapapa Māori o rātou i te tau 2022 me te tau 2023. Heoi, e 17.8% te tokomaha o ngāi Māori i te taupori whānui o Aotearoa, e ai ki te tatauranga whānui i tērā tau. 

Ko te wairua whakataetae o te Tohu Rata Kararehe kei te pākino ki tēnei tatauranga tino ngoikore nei. Engari he hōtaka pai a VetMAP mō ngā tauira Māori, Pasifika hoki; he hōtaka tēnei e kōkiritia ana i te whānuitanga ake o ngā mahi kura rata kararehe – he āhuatanga papai tēnei mō ngā tauira i te wā whakataetae. 

Kei te āhurutanga o te whare rata kararehe ko te whare o VetMAP: he wāhi hora kai, he wāhi noho ki te ruku ki ngā mahi ako, he wāhi hoki e noho nei a Pauline ki te tuku Manaaki ki ngā ākonga. Ko tā te hōtaka nei he tuku rauemi ako, he tuku āwhina ā-ako, he tauwhiro anō i ngā āheinga kia tipu ai te wairua tūhononga ki waenganui i ngā ākonga Māori me ngā ākonga Pasifika. 

I te wā i tīmata au i ngā mahi rata me te whānau o VetMAP, i te māharahara au ki ōku ‘toto Māori’. Kāore au e matatau ana ki te reo, ā, tūturu he kiritea ōku kiri. Muia kau ana te kura rata e te wairua tinihanga, nā reira, he āhuatanga rerekē tēnei mōku. I whakamā ētahi o ōku hoa o  VetMAP i runga i te whakaaro, ‘e riro kē ana ngā tūranga iwi taketake ki a rātou’.  

Ka pātai au ki ngā ākonga o te tau tuatahi kātahi anō ka whiriwhiria mō ō rātou wheako i te kaupapa o VetMAP. Ka hūnuku atu a Taylah i tōna kāinga, me tōna kore mōhio ki te tangata i Te Papaioea, i Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa rānei, heoi, kua tokomaha tonu te hunga e noho ā-whānau nei ki a ia. Hei tāna, “He tino rawe ki a au te whai wāhi atu ki ētahi kua hīkoitia e rātou te hīkoi e takahi nei au i tēnei tohu, ā, nei au e mihi nei ki a VetMAP mō tēnei āheinga i hua ake i roto i te whakawhanaungatanga.” 

Kei te mārama au ki tā Taylah, ina hoki, ko au tērā i hūnuku mai ki Te Papaioea, me te noho mokemoke. I rerekē hoki te ara whai a ētahi atu ki tōku. Me te mea nei, kua hipa te toru tau i noho ai au i te kura tuarua, ā, kāore nei i tutuki i au te tohu whakauru ki te Whare Wānanga; i oti aku mahi kura i te Tau Tekau. Kāore au i whakaaro ki te whai i tētahi kaupapa STEM. Ahakoa tēnei, mōku ake, ko VetMAP pea te kaupapa tiro rawe ki a au i ēnei mahi uru ki te tohu rata. I rerekē ngā hīkoinga ā-ahurea a tēnā, a tēnā, heoi, i te tapatahi katoa ō mātou whakaaro.  

Ka whakapono a Samara, he ākonga nō te kura rata, ki ngā uara o VetMAP me tāna kaupapa whānui ki te tuku tautoko ki ngā ākonga. “E mōhio ana au ki te hirahira o ngā āhuatanga tūhono tāngata me ngā mahi whakapakari tangata o VetMAP i kaha tautoko mai i a au kia angitu ai i tēnei ao whai tohu mātauranga.” 

Ko te kōrero mai a Dwayne, nā VetMap i tau ai tōna mauri i ngā wā whakarite mō te kaupeka ako. Ko tāna, “ko ngā rauemi ērā, ko ngā kai, ko ngā kaiako me ngā tukunga tautoko a ngā ika ā-whiro o VetMAP; ka wani kē”.   

Kei te whakaae au ki tā Dwayne, rātou ko Samara me Taylah, heoi, ka pāpouri au i te kaikiritanga, me ngā heitara e whiu ana mō te āhua o te nui o ngā hua ka riro ki ngā iwi whai rawakore. te tuku tautoko, me ki ngā iwi whai rawakore. Arā hoki te whakaaro kia whakatikaina ngā take kaikiri ō roto i ō tātou Whare Wānanga mā te ‘tuku noa’ i ngā māka nui ki ngā ākonga Māori. Nō konei pea te raru nui, he tāmi kē i ngā iwi taketake me ō rātou mātauranga, ā, tae noa ki te aukatinga o ngā ākonga iwi taketake e whakamomori nei ki te whai i te taumata o te mātauranga.  

Nō te tau 1972 ka whakatuwheratia e Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa tāna Tari Ako Tangata, Ako Māori, ā, nō te tau 1992 ka whakamānutia tōna Tohu Paerua Māori. Ko te whai wāhitanga o tea o Māori ki ngā tohu kairangi mātauranga i ahu kē mai i te wā o ō mātou mātua, ka mutu, kua tukuna kētia tēnei haepapa ki a mātou, kia pakangatia te pakanga, kia ora ai. 

Ko te tautoko i te kokenga o ngā ākonga Māori ki te angitu, ko te panoni i ngā tirohanga ki te ako me te tautoko i ngā tikanga iwi taketake, kaua noa mā te whakamāmā i ngā paearu ako, mā te whiriwhiri ākonga rānei i runga i ō rātou tātai whakapapa. Engari mā te pūmau ki te taonga nei, te mātauranga Māori, me ōna whakawhenuatanga i ngā wāhi katoa puta noa i te Whare Wānanga.  

Ko ngā mahi tautoko a VetMAP ka whakaaweawe, ka whakahaumanu hoki i te pakaritanga o ngā rata kararehe Māori. Kia kaua e whai tohu noa iho, engari kia tū hei poutokomanawa i ō rātou hapori me ō rātou whānau. Tērā hoki pea, kei te ngōki tonu te tipu haere o te 2.6% o ngā rata kararehe Māori.   

Ka pā mai te ngākau whakahī nōku ka hikoi i te papa tuku tohu ā tōna wā, kaua noa hei rata karerehe e whai whakapapa Māori ana, engari hei rata kararehe Māori. 

‘There’s a difference between graduating as a veterinarian who happens to be Māori and graduating as a Māori Veterinarian.’ 

This is advice I was given near the end of last year, when I was trying to figure out whether I should sign up to Tāwharau Ora’s VetMap program (Veterinary Māori and Pasifika). And I’m so glad I did. 

The lack of Māori representation in science and medicine has always been an issue, and there is still clear work to be done. Only 2.6% of veterinarians identified as Māori in 2022 and 2023, according to Te Kaunihera Kata Kararehe o Aotearoa (the New Zealand Veterinary Council) annual report. However, Māori make up 17.8% of the New Zealand population, according to last year’s census. 

The competitive nature of the Bachelor of Veterinary Science compounds this low statistic. But for Māori and Pasifika tauira, VetMAP is a program which runs throughout the entirety of vet school, making it especially useful for pre-vet students in the competitive phase. 

Nestled away in the vet school building is the VetMAP whare, where there is extra kai and a study space, and where the lovely Pauline works to provide pastoral care. The program provides additional study resources, tutoring, and opportunities to build a sense of community with other Māori and Pasifika tauira.  

When I first started pre-vet and joined the VetMAP whānau, I was worried I wasn’t ‘Māori enough’. I’m not fluent in te reo, and I am most definitely white passing. Vet school itself is riddled with imposter syndrome, so this was taken to a different level for me. A few of my friends in VetMAP even felt guilty with the idea that they were ‘taking away spots from indigenous students who deserved it more’. 

I asked the first-year vet students who just went through pre-selection about their experiences with VetMAP. Taylah moved away from home knowing no one in Palmerston North or Massey, but now she has so many people she calls whānau. She says, “It’s awesome to have the guidance of people who are further along in my degree, and it’s all been possible thanks to VetMAP and the whakawhanaungatana they facilitate.” 

I can relate to Taylah, as moving away to Palmerston North felt utterly isolating as the students surrounding me had completely different paths. It didn’t help that it had been three years since I had been in high school, I didn’t graduate with University Entrance and dropped Science after Year 10. It was never my intention to study anything STEM related. Despite this, VetMAP was quite possibly the best thing about pre-vet for me. Everyone was on a different cultural journey, but we were all experiencing it together. 

Vet student Samara fully believes in the value of VetMAP and its kaupapa of holistically supporting students. “I know that the support network of people and the personal growth VetMAP has offered has been paramount to helping me succeed in uni life and in study.” 

Dwayne tells me that VetMap made the pre semester a lot more bearable, “from the available resources, from food to tutors and support of the VetMAP upper years and fellow pre vets, very chur”. 

I have to agree with Dwayne, Samara and Taylah, but it's sad to see that there’s still the racist misunderstanding, intentional or not, that providing support for underrepresented groups gives them an unfair advantage. There's also an idea that correcting systemic racism in our universities is done simply by ‘bumping up’ grades or selecting more Māori students. This fails to address the root issue, which is the history of suppressing indigenous knowledge and barring indigenous students from accessing higher education.  

It was only in 1972 that Massey opened its Department of Social Anthropology and Māori Studies, and only in 1992 that the university launched its master of Māori studies degree. The introduction of Te Ao Māori into higher education is a movement from our parents’ lifetimes, and the torch has been passed to us to fight for it to flourish.  

Supporting Māori success means rethinking how we learn, and supporting indigenous practices, not just lowering our GPA requirements or picking applicants based on ethnicity alone. It means valuing the taonga that is Māori knowledge and valuing its application throughout every space of the university experience. 

The support provided by VetMAP encourages and nurtures the development of Māori veterinarians, not just to graduate, but to be pillars of their community and of their whānau. Perhaps VetMAP is even slowly bumping up that 2.6% of Māori veterinarians.  

I’m left feeling proud to walk across the graduation stage one day as not just a veterinarian who happens to be Māori, but as a Māori veterinarian.