As the cost-of-living soars and access to healthy food becomes increasingly challenging, local residents and organisations are coming together to bridge the gap to ensure everyone has access to nourishing, affordable kai.
Around the Massey suburb of West Auckland, the Massey Kai Village initiative is bringing together a network of partners in the local kai ecosystem, known as the kai network, to take a collaborative approach to minimise overlap and maximise available resources to foster local food resilience and sovereignty.
Massey Matters Community Hub has provided the base and coordination for the Kai Village, right throughout the scoping stages and towards implementation, including the newly formed local kai network.
Massey Matters Manager, Luigi Cappel, says the Massey Kai Village provides a well-connected network of initiatives that make it easier for the community to participate and access kai.
“The sayings ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ and ‘If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together’ resonate well with the collective approach for this kaupapa. We are invested in supporting a well-coordinated approach that will increase opportunities for our communities to access good kai locally,” explains Cappel.
Initiatives to date have ranged from a cooking club and community pantry, helping people access ingredients and skills to put together a simple and nourishing meal, to activating the local Foodtogether pop up providing affordable fresh fruit and vegetables. In addition, there are a few edible gardens around the Village where the community can come together for hands-on experience in growing kai and looking after the environment.
The Massey Kai Village was designed alongside community with their aspirations for a better food future for people in the area, explains Michele Eickstaedt, Systems Innovator with Healthy Families Waitākere.
“Community Hubs are a key point of reference for our communities, acting as the ‘heart of the village,’ and creating a safe and supportive space for people to learn new skills, and connect and build relationships to strengthen and uplift entire neighbourhoods,” says Eickstaedt.
“As many community Hubs are challenged by limited resources, relying on volunteer hours, Healthy Families Waitākere has provided initial backbone support for the inception and development of this kaupapa, enhancing their impact.”
For community members like Wendy Lokeni, who grew up in Massey and now supports the community as part of the Salvation Army Westgate team and is also an active member of the kai network, the Kai Village is about returning to the kai systems and values of earlier generations.
“Neighbours had trust and knew each other, they knew their local resources, who was growing sugarcane, silver beet, taro and those who needed help pruning their fruit trees. They looked out for their neighbours and could give them an extra hand when they were doing it tough,” explains Wendy.
“People were more connected to the land and their neighbours and kai was shared as a vehicle to build relationships and caring for our whānau and neighbours. We are now growing into an intensely urbanised neighbourhood with people coming from multiple cultures and diverse needs.”
A significant milestone for the Kai Village has been resourcing a Kai Village Coordinator role with funding support from Auckland Council and NZ Lotteries. Based at Massey Matters Community Hub, this role has been instrumental in linking various food-related initiatives, identifying gaps in the current system, harnessing local resources, fostering collaboration, and focusing on sustainable practices to maximise the effectiveness of the local kai village.
While the Massey kai network is in its infancy, Eickstaedt says member organisations are engaged in creating a shared vision and exploring opportunities to collaborate on advancing food security and food sovereignty in the region.
“As a network of local organisations working across the kai space, we are in a unique position where we can collectively create a safe and welcoming space for whānau to feel they can trust and belong, with a well-connected network of initiatives that are widely promoted and easy to access and participate in,” explains Eickstadt.
Looking ahead, the Massey Kai Village initiative represents a promising model for building community connections through kai with the support of a local kai network, underpinned by a shared commitment to promoting wellbeing and food resilience for local community.
