Ria Hall at the Silver Scrolls music awards in 2022. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
A new documentary fronted by Ria Hall is highlighting the disparities that māmā Māori face as they enter what should be the most amazing time of their lives.
Hall (Ngāi te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui) joined Māpuna to speak about the documentary, whether she will perform at Te Matatini next year and her recent mayoral announcement in Tauranga.
"While it's dark there's lots of hope in there as well," she says of the 15-minute documentary 'It takes a kāinga'."
Listen to Ria Hall on her bid for the Tauranga mayoralty
The rates of suicide among Māori mums were unacceptable and horrific, Hall said.
The documentary was about firstly illuminating those statistics and secondly trying to create support systems, she said.
"It's really about highlighting the realities that not all māmā have good support, and the disconnections from whenua, from place, from whānau, marae, hapū, iwi, from localities, maunga, awa, has really continued to have a profound impact on our māmā and their abilities to be themselves."
Reclamation of traditional Māori birthing practices and normalising tikanga around birth and babies were some of the things that māmā could begin to put into practice, she said.
Hall said the documentary put the spotlight on the issue of well-being for māmā Māori and encouraged them to start having conversations among themselves.
"[The documentary] encourages society and perhaps the powers that be to start thinking about other ways that we might be able to mitigate these statistics and it encourages us to look at our own support systems."
Hall said in her experience as a mum with three young children her first port of call was to reach out to a counsellor for support.
She said even if māmā had just one person to support them that was a win in her book, because there were so many situations where māmā felt isolated and unsupported.
"Speaking for myself I know it's a difficult thing, we live in a modern time, lots of disconnect. We don't necessarily have access to our own whenua, our own papakāinga, our own landmarks and I understand that but it's the attempt and the intention which is a great starting point for our whānau, for our māmā."
The documentary can be found on Ria Hall's Facebook or Instagram pages, as well as on YouTube.