- [Pania] I was destined to be nothing.
I was part of the welfare system.
I was in severe depression.
My mana was nothingness.
I started to heal with the
knowledge of how to provide
because I can live off the land.
I can feed my kids.
(gun shot)
- [Sadé] My self-worth has been
pretty much been non-existent.
Whether it be physical
abuse or emotional abuse,
they kind of strip you down to nothing.
I don't want that to ever
happen for my daughters.
(birds singing)
- Kia ora!
(laughing)
Good to see yous.
- You too girl, you too.
- [Pania] I started Wahine Toa Hunting to
help women fill their freezers.
On the waiting list,
three thousand plus women
wanting to come out and learn how to hunt.
So this rifle here is a 308.
This is the bolt.
The bolt is the key.
This is the petrol, the
magazine and the bullets.
- [Tiffany] I need to
learn some better skills
instead of just going to the supermarket.
I am a single mum.
- [Pania] Chuck down on
the ground, first position.
- [Sadé] I wanna learn how
to hunt for my children,
being a single female.
- [Pania] Lock that into your shoulder,
where there is a bone under there,
and now lock it in.
The more locked in it is,
the less you're gonna
get punched in the face
by the rifle.
- [Sadé] I really struggle with anxiety
and especially social anxiety.
The unknown really freaks me out.
- [Pania] When you're ready,
take three deep breaths.
So on the bottom of the
third when you breathe out,
(exhales air)
takes away the anxiety.
- [Sadé] Safety off.
(gun shot)
(women cheering)
(laughing)
(gentle music)
- [Pania] Within the group,
a lot of them, they're stuck.
Can you afford to drop
the kid off at school
and get petrol, or do you
afford groceries that week?
You feel like failure.
If you're constantly
thinking so low of yourself
all the time,
and then you're getting
abused or you have no money,
how can you flourish mentally?
You just give them a chance
and you just believe in
them that they can do this.
When I had my second child,
I was not in a good relationship.
My mana was just kicked to nothing.
And when I had my son, I almost died.
That really punched me in the face,
like that would have been
your life, nothingness.
- There you go my bros.
- Oh this is mean as.
(laughing)
(water running)
- [Pania] I don't want
people's money for hunting.
As soon as I do that,
that's the mana and the
integrity of the kaupapa gone.
It's a gift.
If you hoard knowledge
that can help somebody
feed their kids,
your knowledge dies with you.
Why would you do that?
So what's your core
reason for coming here?
- Pretty much my kids.
They're my driving force for everything.
And you know, I've got them,
but I just want this to
be a mad trickle effect.
- [Pania] That's exactly
the core kaupapa of
Wahine Toa Hunting.
- [Tiffany] It's like a reset for me.
I'm off the grid, you know,
so it just kind of helps
me think just clearer.
Okay, what should I be focused on.
- [Pania] Us as mothers, we're
always focused on our kids.
We're carrying the mental load all day
and you go into a place like the bush,
you're not thinking about that.
You're thinking about right where you are
and especially with single moms,
because we all know how hard
it is to take that break.
You're just stuck and you see no way out.
And you're just trapped
in this bullshit circle of
welfare, drugs, drama.
The circle just continues
and a lot of that comes from
intergenerational trauma.
That's why so many of our
kids are in foster care.
No one's healing the trauma.
It's just getting passed on and on and on.
(water splashing)
What we'll be looking for here is
as we're going into the sun,
deer and goat, they sit and
they're like bask in the sun
on the clearings.
So this is like a perfect place to go
because there's lots of slips.
When you have a destructive pest like deer
in the ngahere, it destroys the bush.
Side note though, they
taste buddy delicious
and can feed a lotta people.
If we can take that pest out of the bush,
save the bush and feed
our children for free,
that just makes complete sense.
This now is stalking, and
when you walk, your feet,
you walk slow and purposeful.
If we walk up the river,
it'll be too noisy
so we'll go back and go around.
- I think it's that
black thing in the bush.
It is aye?
- [Pania] When you're ready, safety off.
Wait till is comes across.
When you're ready.
(gun shot)
(animal falling)
You got him girl.
(celebrating)
(male speaking te reo Māori)
- Meat is expensive.
You just got this for free
with nothing but your knowledge
so you wanna utilise every part of it.
- [Tiffany] Pans is
creating a real sisterhood
for us wahine out there.
And also potentially catching a kai
is just a real difference
sense in my wairua
in a way that I haven't
really felt before.
- [Pania] I will forever be
trying to heal the trauma
I grew up with, I know that.
There'll be levels to it and
I think I'm only half way.
And this kaupapa is a
massive part of that.
With Wahine Toa Hunting,
I vision it being massive
all throughout New Zealand
and I will continue to do
this for the rest of my life.
(inspirational music)
