Paora and Nicola will talk about their experience in bringing the lessons from Parihaka to the Kāpiti College community.
The Parihaka talk is part of the Kāpiti Coast Workers Educational Association Incorporated WEA and part of another full programme of events for 2025.
Since 1999, ex-student and long-time Kāpiti College teacher, Paora Trim has been working with the school community to teach about the legacy of Parihaka. He has contributed to the implementation of ‘Parihaka mai ai’, a curriculum created by the people of Parihaka that guides the school community to embrace the values that made Parihaka successful.
Paora co-wrote and directed the ‘Parihaka’ stage show, which uses the talents of the youth of Kāpiti College to tell the story of a fictional family that were forced off their land and joined Te Whiti and Tohu. He believes that Parihaka can be an example for us all: working together in peace and harmony to create a positive future for our whānau and community.
Over the last 22 years, Nicola Easthope has taught English, Psychology, Social Studies and Philosophy at both Paraparaumu and Kāpiti Colleges and been an Enviroschools facilitator. Prior to that she worked for various NGOs.
Nicola has a Master of Creative Writing degree. She wrote one of the characters for the Parihaka production, drawing on research and her own English and Scottish ancestry to create Lydia, a colonial soldier’s wife disillusioned by the invasion of Parihaka and its aftermath.
Nicola is currently working on two poetry projects with themes of ancestral belonging, settler-colonial entitlement, and ecological identity.
Event description
#2503 Parihaka – lessons for us all
Speakers: Paora Trim and Nicola Easthope
Date Saturday 1st March 10am – 12pm
Venue Waikanae Presbyterian Church Hall, 43 Ngaio Road, Waikanae
For more on the WEA see: www.kapitiwea.org.nz
