The Star: October 04, 2018
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22<br />
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi<br />
Our People<br />
Thursday <strong>October</strong> 4 <strong>2018</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong><br />
Kelly Tikao<br />
<strong>The</strong> nurse who would have<br />
Kelly Tikao has received<br />
the Kate Sheppard<br />
Memorial Trust Award and<br />
a $4000 grant towards her<br />
PhD exploring traditional<br />
Maori birthing practices.<br />
Sophie Cornish talks to<br />
the mother of five and<br />
Canterbury District Health<br />
Board mental health<br />
service nurse about her<br />
busy life<br />
Tell me a little about the Kate<br />
Sheppard Award and how you<br />
came to be a recipient?<br />
It’s like going for any other<br />
grant, it is advertised. I had<br />
applied for it the year before.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y didn’t issue it out because<br />
they didn’t have enough funding.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y sent me a really lovely letter,<br />
it was warm and encouraging. It<br />
said ‘thank you for your work’. It<br />
was one of the better turn-down<br />
letters, they took the time to read<br />
my work and valued what I was<br />
doing.<br />
<strong>The</strong>n I saw it advertised<br />
again and thought, well, I got<br />
such a nice letter that it was<br />
worth applying again. I didn’t<br />
think much of it and then they<br />
contacted me after a night shift<br />
and congratulated me on being<br />
the recipient. Because I was still<br />
in a bit of daydream from work,<br />
I didn’t realise the significance<br />
of receiving it in the 150th<br />
celebration of suffrage. It dawned<br />
on me when they sent the press<br />
release and other formalities and<br />
I realised how much of a honour<br />
it really was.<br />
What does this award mean<br />
to you? Are you interested in<br />
suffrage and women’s rights?<br />
For sure, if you are a Maori<br />
woman you are always interested<br />
in women’s rights. I always<br />
believe and want to encourage<br />
women who don’t always get<br />
acknowledged, or aren’t in<br />
the limelight, who are equally<br />
doing as much as Kate and the<br />
HONOURED: Kelly Tikao has been<br />
awarded the Kate Sheppard Memorial<br />
Trust Award on the 125th anniversary<br />
of women’s suffrage,<br />
Maori women who stood before<br />
Maori Parliament. <strong>The</strong> voices<br />
of those who are not seen in<br />
the public light are equally as<br />
important as those who are. For<br />
me, it was an opportunity and<br />
acknowledgement of being a<br />
woman and a Maori woman, and<br />
also representing many others.<br />
It’s not me who stands alone to<br />
receive an award like this, but<br />
everyone I represent. It is quite<br />
exciting and scary at the same<br />
time.<br />
What made you want to get<br />
into this line of study? Why are<br />
you passionate about it?<br />
I birthed my babies, and with<br />
each baby, I utilised an element<br />
of traditional Maori birthing<br />
practices. And with that came an<br />
intrigue and curiosity, because<br />
it was so hard to find out about<br />
these traditions. What were they?<br />
How do you do them? I was sort<br />
of sitting, waiting for more time<br />
to research them. When I did<br />
my masters at Otago University,<br />
I made a film. It gave me the<br />
opportunity to come up with<br />
an idea. Because I always came<br />
into science and communication<br />
with a communication and<br />
health background, the two<br />
naturally came together. It<br />
gave me the opportunity to<br />
explore this, because I thought<br />
it was intriguing and I also<br />
saw a philosophy in it. This is<br />
something that has actually been<br />
with me for 17 years, because<br />
that’s how old my oldest boy is<br />
and it’s just grown.<br />
What do you hope to do with<br />
your PhD when you’re finished?<br />
Because I am mature and a<br />
nurse, people often ask me why<br />
aren’t you interested in becoming<br />
a midwife? For me, midwives<br />
are very busy. I work alongside<br />
midwives doing this work, we<br />
work totally together on bringing<br />
this knowledge out. I hope to<br />
provide research for them. I hope<br />
to put this into a practical frame<br />
and apply it. I want to make more<br />
resources.<br />
<strong>The</strong> film I made about it in<br />
2011, called Iho – a cord between<br />
two worlds (iho is the Maori<br />
name for umbilical cord), I<br />
still get requests for it. It was<br />
meant to be just for my masters,<br />
but because there are limited<br />
resources out there on traditional<br />
Maori practices, it became in hot<br />
demand. I was most embarrassed<br />
at times about the quality of the<br />
filming because I made it and it<br />
was for my learning. However, it<br />
did highlight that there is such a<br />
need, so I hope that I can use my<br />
research to produce resources,<br />
such as brochures and films,<br />
that can be made available for<br />
midwives to use. That would be<br />
a great idea, but it needs funding<br />
and energy.<br />
Enjoy retirement<br />
living at Bupa<br />
Parklands on Papanui<br />
Open day Sunday 7 <strong>October</strong><br />
1pm-3pm<br />
429 Papanui Road, Papanui<br />
Call Lynda on (03) 373 8571<br />
or 027 702 9619<br />
bupa.co.nz<br />
Priced<br />
from<br />
$386,000
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