Team Hui at Bodega

Bodega - Hei Tatau Pounamu 

An amazing gathering of facilitators, staff, Chair and trustees occurred at Bodega on 30 July 2025. We were sad not to have our new trainee facilitator Hetekia Te Amo (Tapuika) to share in the korero and missed Rosie Abbott, Esma Brown, Fia Turner and Raewyn Bhana who were unwell. I hope Raewyn’s dog is on the mend.  Nevertheless, we experienced an amazing coming together of talent and discovery of each other’s purakau. 

Natalie (Aiga) shared her wealth of experience as victim advocate/ facilitator with Project Restore - we are so grateful to have you on board Natalie. 

Kainee has a depth of experience as a facilitator with MUMA and as a case manager within the AODTC. We are excited to have her join our team. 

Jo is our new Operations Co-ordinator and brings solid systems experience and a real interest in tangata mamae and tangata hara from her past roles. Their loss is our gain. 

Katherine as GM, brings solid accountancy expertise, fund raising and operations knowledge to a passion for the restorative process. 

Shelley (Ngāti Rahiri Tumutumu) shared her journey and brings passion and a lived experience to the team. She will also join the trainee team and will bring huge levels of tikanga expertise from her cultural report writing. 

Helen shared the trustee journey of Hei Tatau Pounamu with Tere and Robyn (previous trustee) - the idea germinated for a while and came to fruition post COVID when we received a referral from the NZ Parole Board. We are so happy to see the development in the last few years where we now have systems in place and research expertise from AUT. 

Robyn (Tainui) shared her journey with the Trust and brings solid tikanga experience as a pre- sentence facilitator and with working with KMOT. She is a solid asset to our team. We are fortunate to have her as a facilitator of such seniority. 

Tere (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Manu) as the Chairperson brings huge tikanga knowledge and experience to the role. He is an active skilled facilitator and our Trust is enhanced by having him lead us into the next stage. 

We are so grateful to have Rosie Abbott (Ngati Kahungunu) with her tikanga/restorative practice experience, our new trustee Esma Brown (Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Maniapoto) who brings huge skill and leadership to our team. We also welcomed the talented Hetekia Te Amo - the Pou Oranga from AODTC, Raewyn Bhana (Ngāpuhi, Indian) who runs Te Pae Oranga and Fia Turner an amazing Pasifika restorative facilitator to our team. 

He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.