One "CIDANZ" Cook Islands community S.H.E.D...

Kia orana! One of the neat things that I love about teaching in the Indigenous Research space is being able to share with our students the very innovative initiatives that many of our Pasifika peoples are working in as well as the challenges that our Indigenous peoples often face.

So this last weekend, while it was pouring down with rain, on and off, we were kindly allowed the privilege by one of the staff (Ina) at CIDANZ: Cook Islands Development Agency NZ to view their newly refurbished Community S.H.E.D. (Social Human Economic Development) Facility that is launched last year, opened on Oct 29, 2015 according to the Pasifika Futures website.

It was so neat that we were taken on a journey from where 7 years ago, the shed was used as a church for Cook Islanders to attend and it also had Zumba/exercise classes at around 6 am and now they've opened up a community garden growing organic vegetables as pictured below and have a place one can buy Cook Islands dresses, tivaevae (Cook Islands quilts), pareu (lavalava), handcrafts, Noni juice, coconut oils etc.

Really enjoyed learning about the neat developments with an early childhood centre set to go and an even bigger facility with tours and more enterprises with so much to offer the Cook Islands community, the local community and Auckland tourism.

A big thank you for sharing with us your story and all the best for the future and looking forward to driving past and seeing where the journey takes you all. Meitaki...