Kaimahi Kōrero: Rahera Hotu, Residential Properties Administrator
Our Whai Rawa Residential property team are responsible for managing the maintenance for 211 whānau homes, and Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei uri Rahera Hotu is the quiet driving force that supports the team to coordinate works.
Rahera joined the team in September 2021, when Tāmaki Makaurau was in the heart of a Covid-19 induced lockdown. She was a new mum then, whose partner had just been called away to work in Australia for a year. Needless to say, her start in the new role wasn’t your typical experience.
“I knew Uncle Arepa (Morehu) and Aunty Jacks (Jackie Taylor) but I didn’t meet the rest of the team in person for almost two months,” she says. “Until then, we just met virtually, and everything was arranged through emails or on the phone”.
The job was a change for her over 12 years at Auckland Museum. “I was in a front of house role as a visitor host, before moving into bookings – managing the bookings of schools and tour groups, while sometimes teaching at the Museum’s Weird and Wonderful Discovery Centre. So, I’d never really done anything like property maintenance before.”
But Rahera hit the ground running. At Whai Rawa, Rahera’s day-to-day job involves following up on maintenance issues for whānau, “I’m mainly checking up on all the planned maintenance, making sure any issues with the whare are resolved, coordinating our contractors and managing email communication”.
Recently, Rahera took time off to give birth to her second daughter. After seven months on maternity leave, she had eased back into the role working two days a week to start, before taking up full time work again two months ago.
She talks about how living on the papa kāinga and participating in hapū led events means she is often amongst the whānau.
“If I’m somewhere like my Nan’s place, the neighbours see my car and come over asking ‘is Ra home? Can she fix things in my home?’
“Being known around the whānau on that level is a good bonus, because it means they have direct comms with me, and feel comfortable enough to approach me.”
Rahera has fond memories of growing up in Ōrākei, where it was common to walk in and out of each other’s homes, and be fed and looked after the wider whānau. That’s the sort of environment she wants her two daughters to grow in as well. Rahera and her whānau are buying a whare in the Hawaiki papa kainga development.
“It’s a multi-generational home. In the two level four-bedroom home, will be me and my partner, my mum and our two girls and my sister will live in the attached ground level unit in a one-bedroom home.”
Rahera talks about how fortunate she is to have a strong support network.
“My nan looks after my oldest when she’s not at kohanga. My sister helps often and takes the kids to kapa haka every week. It makes being a working māmā easier.”
It’s been a busy past few years, but these days Rahera’s life is all about balance. Her weekends are dedicated to her whānau, taking the girls on experiences like the zoo and Kelly Tarltons, and taking the time to make memories.
She continues to look at her mahi as a source of learning and discovering, in a team that is always looking to make things better for the whānau. And being a part of the whānau while working for them means that home is sometimes work, but work is also home.
Rahera believes it takes a village to raise a family, and the iwi and her team in Whai Rawa have been a fantastic source of support.
“Through this job, I’m giving back to the people who raised me. It’s not just about looking after the whare, but the wider whānau through keeping their homes. So, it runs deeper than protecting the asset; it’s about protecting the people.”
