Tangaroa – God of the sea, and all creatures that live within it.
The moana heals.
My Dad hails from Whaingaroa, where Tangaroa surrounds and protects us and our beautiful rich history and whakapapa. My Mum grew up in Taranaki on the water, where her Father was a keen sailor in the Navy. Living with and respecting Tangaroa is in my blood — the moana makes every emotion feel a bit less messy, and puts into perspective just how vast our world is.
Feeling the moana of Viña Del Mar on my feet, after two and a half weeks in land-locked Santiago, was beyond rejuvenating for the wairua. Chile and Aotearoa share Te Moananui-a-Kiwa (the Pacific ocean), our vastly different cultures and ways of life bound together by Tangaroa’s glory. The waves that bathed my feet carried pieces of the moana that surrounds my kainga — in that moment, I felt the mauri of my dearest people and places 9,131km away.
While feeling remnants of home at my feet, I watched two little girls joyously playing in the moana — their laughter projected across the beach, the older one helping the younger find her feet in the waves. It was a scene that could’ve been out of my childhood, where I have been that little girl holding the hands of my brothers as I explore the moana.
Those girls solidified for me that despite our complex and highly diverse realities, we are all connected (not separated) by Tangaroa, and by how innate it is to love the people and places that raised us. It’s the quieter moments like these that carry the most potent reminders of why I am here — to grow as a global citizen, and to find the pieces of humanity that bind us together.
On a larger scale, I strongly felt the notion of global citizenship while on our hospital visits. The healthcare professionals were passionate and utterly devoted to their line of work, all sharing a common goal of working to transform lives. I felt the mana of all patients and professionals in the hospital, the atmosphere of shared struggle, pain, love, rejoice and hard work connecting us all. Our group even had the honour of watching a cardiac catheterisation, and how such a procedure requires the utmost coordination and teamwork amongst professionals. It is moments like these that solidify why I have chosen a career in medicine — healthcare is a medium to serve and empower all people, while keeping connection and support at the core of the practice.
Almost all profound realisations in my life come back to the moana. After experiencing life and healthcare in a completely different place like Chile, it has become clear why — it is the moana that connects me to the world, and Tangaroa that protects my journey of deeper understanding of what is at the heart of the human condition.
Hei konā mai,
Charlotte