Te Hua o te Mahi - The Benefit of working together NVW 2020

Te Hua o te Mahi (the benefit of working together) is the theme of this year’s National Volunteer Week (21-27th of June) and its happening right now! Post COVID I don't think any of our ‘team of 5 million’ needs this theme explained. Working together is powerful, it's in our DNA as kiwis.  Together we have saved lives, said no to racism (although we still have a long way to go!), said ‘they are us’ and demanded that parliament act on climate.

Over the past three years I have been humbled to be a kaitiaki to Collaborate and connect people to action. I have seen thousands of New Zealanders and over 500 charities, community groups and individuals work together through mahi aroha.

Mahi aroha means work done for love, not pay. It is increasingly used to describe volunteering in New Zealand and in my view a far better way to describe what volunteering means at its heart. The mahi aroha that takes place in New Zealand and the power of us working together is  most obvious at times of crisis. Mahi aroha has been the forefront of our nations response when the Christchurch earthquakes hit and our communities banded together, when the March 15 Terror attacks rocked our nation and we said ‘they are us’ and found ways to support the emergency response workers as well as the families of the victims (through the Christchurch victims organising community) providing essential halal food, medical items and emergency accommodation.

We, as a nation, did it again with the bush fires in Nelson last year, and when extreme weather devastated the West Coast, we saw Kuia and their Mokopuna be some of the first to stop ecological disaster, posting pictures on Collaborate of their bags and bags they had collected while clearing the beaches of the litter that had burst out of the flooded landfill - a task which has since had the army called in to help! It just goes to show how determined we kiwis are, in no matter how big the task to help. Most recently with Covid-19 the first question to so many people's minds during lock down was how do I use this time to help!

This solidarity in collective action is amazing, inspiring. When we think of creating change its easy to think of marches and heroic actions, however this national volunteer week I think it's important to reflect that these big moments are not themselves the change. They spark the change, they lead the change…. but the real change is a question of if we change our everyday actions as a result.

“Mahi aroha is staying home during COVID, it is calling out your friends on casual racism, it is voting.  Mahi aroha are all the actions we take collectively for a better Aotearoa. ”

Collaborate was at the Black Lives Matter Wellington March last Sunday when Guled Mire said, words to the effect of ‘if you just came here today to march and you do not plan to make changes in your life everyday, stand against racism after the hashtag stops trending… then you may as well not have come.’  Its sounds harsh but I have to agree. That is also why I like the term Mahi aroha more than I like volunteering. I believe it gets more to the heart of what working together for a common future really looks like.

Volunteering makes us think of gestures of giving, collection buckets, tree plantings, baking for a good cause. This is all super important, but mahi aroha goes one step further. It includes the actions that aren’t done under the banner of an organisation. It's the actions we take in our lives because they are right in our heart. Mahi aroha is staying home during COVID, it is calling out your friends on casual racism, it is voting.  Mahi aroha are all the actions we take collectively for a better Aotearoa.  To me, when we think of all the mahi aroha that New Zealanders show each day in how we choose to live and act, only then do we truly understand Te Hua o te Mahi  - The Benefit of working together!

Looking for ways to boost the mahi aroha in your life? Collaborate is here to help.

Collaborate’s core value is that everyone has a skill that can make a difference. Everyone. That is why you don't have to be a registered charity to post an opportunity. Anyone who wants to work together to make the world a better place can post an opportunity for free. Collaborate also celebrates all kinds of volunteering, the opportunities you would always find on formal volunteering sites. Volunteering for us is about each person using their unique time and skills and passion to change the things they care about in the world. From taking a friend whose struggling with anxiety or depression out to a games night with you, to the 11 year old girl who organised an anti racism march (all opportunities that have been on Collaborate) we encourage you to jump on and explore some of the opportunities to show your aroha locally www.letscollaborate.co.nz. It might surprise you how much small actions in your everyday life, when we work together, can change the world!