Social Action Expressions Part 2
For the second article in this series, we share case studies from Te Awamutu, Flaxmere and Tairāwhiti. They each illustrate how social action emerges naturally from the community-building process, as individuals and groups seek to respond to the realities of their social context.
Te Awamutu - Junior Youth Group Service Projects
This is a series of projects of fixed duration since 2021.
The area of focus for this initiative is making connections within the community and experiencing the joy of service.
Over the past four years, two Junior Youth groups in Waipa have been exploring how service can strengthen connections within the community, while allowing junior youth to experience the joy of service. In Te Awamutu, one group has been active in the Te Tomo neighbourhood since 2021, meeting regularly and carrying out a variety of service projects. A second group formed in Te Rahu in 2023, and after some members relocated in 2024, the two groups joined together. Guided by the same dedicated animators, the young people continue to plan and carry out meaningful acts of service—usually one project each cycle— strengthening their unity and their bonds with the wider community.
Past projects have included:
Collaborating with the Waipa District Council parks team to plant and care for trees in local parks and reserves, a partnership that continued over several years through workplace contacts,
Participating in regular park clean-ups and community-wide rubbish collection initiatives,
Visiting a retirement village in the neighbourhood to share baking and engage in conversation, including visits to a local home for the elderly,
Assisting older residents with practical tasks such as managing firewood.
Currently, the junior youth alternate each cycle between fundraising activities for noho/camps, and community service projects, combining personal development with contributions to the wider community.
The projects involve the youth serving as animators, junior youth from the Te Tomo and Te Rahu neighbourhoods, supportive parents, logistical coordination from the Te Awamutu nucleus, and oversight from the Waipa Local Spiritual Assembly. In earlier years, supervision and collaboration with the Waipa Council Parks Department supported specific initiatives such as tree planting.
Direct beneficiaries of the projects number around 20–25 individuals, with additional indirect benefits to the wider community through tree planting and environmental clean-up activities. Through participation, junior youth are building a range of capacities, including:
Engaging in service and action guided by spiritual principles
Practicing mutual support, consultation, and inclusion
Developing a desire to serve others
Explaining the purpose and value of the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Programme (JYSEP)
The initiatives are guided by key spiritual principles, including the nobility of creation, universal participation, true friendship, consultation, and the two-fold moral purpose.
The projects emerged from the study of Book 5 Releasing the Powers of Junior Youth, followed by consultation among the youth to understand the needs of their community and create actionable plans. Over time, some of the activities have remained consistent, and the neighbourhood now joyfully anticipates the presence and contributions of the junior youth, reflecting growing community engagement and trust.
The nucleus overseeing the projects has learned the importance of consistency and maintaining strong connections with parents to ensure sustained participation and meaningful impact. These projects continue to provide a foundation for both spiritual and social growth, enabling junior youth to experience the joy of service while contributing positively to their community.
Pā Harakeke (Flaxmere) Education, Māra kai and Rongoā Māori
These diverse social action endeavours of a neighbourhood population taking charge of their wellbeing, have been sustained initiatives since 2020
The initial focus was on addressing the needs of the families in the community covering education, agriculture and health
The Pā Harakeke (Flaxmere) neighbourhood’s journey since 2020 demonstrates how the institute process can empower families to translate spiritual principles into tangible action. Through sustained learning and collaboration, the community has begun to shape patterns of collective life that reflect unity, environmental stewardship, and an ever-deepening sense of purpose in contributing to the betterment of society. A growing group of families have learned to apply spiritual and practical knowledge to address the needs of their community. Their efforts focus on education, agriculture, health, and indigenous knowledge, guided by the principles of service, unity, and social transformation.
Education
Education has been a central focus of social action in Pāharakeke, a neighbourhood in Hastings, Hawke’s Bay cluster. Through the institute process, families and animators identified the need to strengthen literacy and numeracy skills among youth. This led to the creation of twice-weekly after-school homework spaces where students could receive academic support and share experiences about school life and learning challenges. Further initiatives supported youth in gaining essential life qualifications such as driver’s licenses, first aid certificates, and safeguarding training, often in collaboration with schools, the Ministry of Social Development, and other agencies. Nearly 60% of youth involved in the neighbourhood’s community-building efforts are now working toward these qualifications, reflecting the growing spirit of commitment, coherence, and service to society.
Agriculture
In 2020 during the covid pandemic, parents in the neighbourhood began discussing the rise in food prices and the access to clean food. A group of mums completed a 2-year course and learnt about planting and harvesting chemical free vegetables and fruits. As a result they held workshops in the neighbourhood educating families and helped 15 homes to start their own vegetable gardens. Some of the conversations were based on our relationship and care of the environment, composting and chemical free planting, food prices, affordability of living, health, recognition of God and traditional and indigenous knowledge. As the vision of māra kai (food gardens) was shared by more and more families, they began to plant different crops and when there was an event in the neighbourhood or at the local mārae, the families would harvest and help to supply fresh food for the event. Some families would make vegetable boxes and sell them at local markets to help fundraise for activities for the youth and children.
Health
From 2022, families began exploring rongoā Māori (traditional medicine and healing), deepening their understanding of both indigenous and western approaches to health. A group of mothers completed a two-year course and now run neighbourhood workshops and a small home clinic, producing natural remedies for minor ailments. The institute process is helping the friends to assume responsibility for the entire community.
Beginning to glimpse the concept of unity in diversity, becoming friends and associates with people from other races and religions and working together for the common good. An example of this is those connected to the institute process are able to view the practice of traditional healing in light of service and contribution to all our families in the neighborhood, while others constantly pointed out that indigenous practices should only be done by indigenous people. This gave us an opportunity to visit families and engage in more meaningful conversations about the sharing of resources and knowledge so that we all advance together. Each year, parents and junior youth groups come together to make seasonal health products—balms, oils, and teas— sometimes selling them to fund neighbourhood activities.
Indigenous Knowledge and Relationships
A profound area of learning in Pāharakeke has been the integration of indigenous knowledge with the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. This coherence has helped Māori families rekindle their spiritual connection with God. Where injustice and the ideologies that deny the existence of God have altered our spiritual perceptions, the training institute has built capacity, revealed gems and given us a framework to help apply this new knowledge in a spirit of cooperation and reciprocity.
The use of maramataka (Māori lunar calendar) has guided the community in areas such as planting, fishing, and harvesting, and now informs how meetings are planned, expansion and consolidation phases are maximised and helping understand human behaviour. Its spiritual dimensions are fascinating—recognising cycles of energy, reflection and growth—reconceptualising relationships that sustain society.
For example, the relationship with nature – during our social action efforts in agriculture we begin to think about ways to reduce the use of chemicals that harm the environment, using traditional knowledge of Hua Parakore (chemical free) to work together to come up with alternatives. Another element is humility and respect for creation and our creator. Or the relationship between human beings – drawing on each other's experiences and knowledge, the art of consultation when deciding what to plant and where to distribute the produce to, cooperation, helping each other to succeed and share the load of the work. And lastly, the relationship with institutions and society – collaborating with city council for support with funding, or with soil and wood for planter boxes.
Te Rua Aio – Māori Youth Initiative in Tairāwhiti
A sustained initiative since 2024
Focus on Youth and their Cultural and Spiritual Empowerment
Te Rua Aio is an initiative led by a group of Māori Bahá’í rangatahi (youth) who have engaged deeply with the Bahá’í training institute process and are striving to imbue it with the cultural, spiritual, and historical realities of their people. Rooted in several years of community-building experience across different parts of Aotearoa—and now focused in the neighbourhood of Kaiti in Gisborne (Tairāwhiti cluster)—this effort reflects an ongoing consultation on how to connect more deeply with the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh through the lens of Te Ao Māori (the Māori world view). It has arisen naturally from the insights, challenges, and aspirations of young Māori seeking to build vibrant and spiritually grounded communities.
Origins and Purpose
The initiative began when a small group of Māori youth, after serving in neighbourhoods around the country, attended a nine-day wānanga (house of learning / educational seminar) in the Hokianga. Immersed in the marae environment—steeped in tikanga (values and protocols) and guided by pakeke (elders)—they saw how study and learning could take place in ways that honoured mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and upheld cultural principles. They also recognised that some other learning or community-building spaces did not always reflect this same sense of cultural grounding, leaving participants feeling somewhat disconnected from their heritage.
Moved to respond, the group invited other rangatahi to come together to consult about how to create safe and empowering spaces that could foster the wellbeing and development of individuals, whānau, and the wider Māori community—and indeed, of all peoples. Such spaces, they believed, could form the foundation for a system that nurtures personal growth while inspiring collective action. Through consultation, they explored how the principles and teachings of the Bahá’í Faith and the richness of Māori culture could work in harmony to build a just and unified society.
They resolved to learn how the training institute could engage rangatahi in ways that facilitate a deeper connection with Te Ao Māori, providing opportunities to explore their identity as Māori, reconnect with cultural heritage, and embrace the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.
The group named themselves Te Rua Aio—a name with dual meaning: “Rua,” a place to cultivate peace (Aio), and also “Rua” meaning “two” and Aio meaning “of God.” They established two pou (pillars) to guide their work: (1) To continue learning about Bahá’í teachings and administration, and (2) To strengthen the capacity of rangatahi to confidently carry out cultural roles.
Activities, Reflection, and Learning
The first noho (space of learning / overnight stay) took place in April 2024 at a local marae in Te Tairāwhiti. Over one weekend, rangatahi engaged in study, reflection, and cultural learning in action—guided by local mentors in karanga (ceremonial female calling), whaikōrero (formal speech), pōhiri (welcome ceremony), waiata (song), and haka.
Many of the youth were able to immediately apply these strengthened cultural capacities at the National Bahá’í Convention, where they led the pōhiri that opened the gathering. The ceremony set a deeply spiritual tone for the deliberations and beautifully echoed one of the key themes of the 2024 Ridván message—that “the youth must soar.”
Following the noho, the group continued to meet regularly to reflect on their experiences, refine their vision, and plan further wānanga focused on karanga and whaikōrero. Through this process, they explored how to ensure that their learning was guided by the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh while remaining coherent with Māori values. They recognised that cultural restoration must unfold within the broader goals of the Nine Year Plan and local community-building efforts, grounded in tikanga Māori and animated by the spiritual principles of the Faith.
Collaboration and taking steps to formalise structures
Interest in Te Rua Aio’s work grew quickly. After seeing a video of the noho at Kaiwaka Marae, a local charitable trust—the Te Araroa & Districts Progressive Association—approached the group to collaborate. In January 2025, around 50 rangatahi gathered at Hinerupe Marae for a weekend noho, drawing on the 2013 Youth Conference materials alongside tikanga and mātauranga Māori to create an uplifting and spiritually charged learning space.
This collaboration highlighted the value of having a formal structure. The group began exploring the establishment of a charitable trust for Te Rua Aio to help sustain their kaupapa (purpose) and facilitate collaboration with other organisations. This process is now underway.
Areas of focus From the outset, Te Rua Aio has concentrated on several complementary lines of action:
Building capacity for cultural roles on the marae and during pōhiri.
Deepening understanding of Bahá’í teachings through the lens of Te Ao Māori.
Translating institute materials into te Reo Māori.
Developing kapa haka, waiata, and mōteatea (traditional sung poetry) inspired by Bahá’í texts.
A recent three-day wānanga explored the process of mōteatea development—translating the Holy Writings and stories of Bahá’u’lláh into Māori and setting them to traditional tunes. One youth has since begun working with the North Island Training Institute to translate texts from the junior youth spiritual empowerment programme into te Reo Māori.
