Avonside Girls' High School — May 7, 2020

In our whānau we have chosen to call this time Rāhui.

 Rāhui is about honouring the earth, protecting the people and nourishing the spirit - all for the greater good. It may be semantics, but words can elicit strong reactions and Rāhui conjures up more positive emotions, opportunities and sense of autonomy than words like lockdown, quarantine or isolation. For our whānau the first week has been a time of chilling out and enjoying being together as we experiment with new ways of connecting and checking in with friends and whānau. I suspect that the next few weeks maybe more challenging as we get itchy and scratchy about being together and my fascination with learning Teams, Google Hangouts and Blogger turns to frustration at not being able to do our normal holiday activities. Challenging times can create interesting opportunities and for our whānau we are going to focus on relationships, routines, reliable information and reaching out to get us through the next few weeks. 

Relationships 

Reliable Information 

There is a lot of information out there about Covid 19 and some of it is more reliable than others. It is important that when the situation is changing daily that the information, we are getting is reliable, factual and accurate. While reliable information is important, exposure to too much information can be unhelpful. Tuning in to the daily updates from the Prime Minister or six o’clock news is a healthy way of keeping informed. Being completely focused on anything to do with Covid 19 so that nothing else gets done is not so healthy.

Reaching Out 

Technology provides us with the perfect opportunity to reach out to whānau, friends, neighbours and people in our community. 

Keeping in touch keeps us connected and linked into something that is bigger than our bubble.

Things to try during the Rāhui 

Daily Rāhui Questions 

Contact numbers for Hauora Team