The Village Pathway

Strengthening collective identity across generations is quietly future-focused work. It is about ensuring younger people grow up seeing their history honoured openly, while elders see their knowledge carried forward. It is about cultural continuity that feels alive and practised and it is one of the most powerful ways communities build the environments where health and wellbeing becomes the norm.

In November 2025, that vision came to life at Corbans Estate in Henderson, where hundreds of people from across Tāmaki Makaurau gathered for a festival celebrating Niue culture and community. Through live music, dance, shared kai and stalls selling hiapo, jewellery and clothing, the day created a space where culture was lived collectively. A preview screening of Our Past, Your Tomorrow, a documentary dedicated to the village of Liku Tamahaleleka, anchored the celebration in memory and intergenerational connection — offering the community the chance to see their stories reflected back to them first.

Healthy Families Waitākere Pacific Strategic Lead, Ella Falakoa, explains:

"When people see their stories honoured openly - through their village, their culture and their relationships - it strengthens who they are and how they connect to others. Those connections matter; they're what support wellbeing across a lifetime."

This is place-based work in the truest sense. Rather than attempting to tell the story of Niue as a whole, the initiative begins at the level where identity is most tangible - the village. By entering through the pathway of their village, people find connection through places, stories and songs that belong uniquely to them. In finding their village, they also find their wider identity as Tagata Niue. Each village story adds to the collective strength of Niuean culture, building a living consciousness that connects past, present and future.

The evidence base for this approach is clear: cultural connectedness builds belonging, belonging strengthens community networks, and strong community networks create the conditions where people can thrive. This is the environment-level change Healthy Families Waitākere works toward - not programmes delivered to individuals, but the deeper work of shaping places and communities where wellbeing is woven into everyday life.

"When our village stories are shared like this, our young people can see exactly where they come from. It's something they can stand inside and carry forward. Watching the preview brought back memories of my grandparents. A reminder to cherish our elders and learn from them, so our identity stays alive and thriving." - Liku Tamahaleleka village member

The festival was a community-led effort, shaped by an initiative steering group and backboned by Healthy Families Waitākere, alongside village leaders, artists, performers and volunteers. Healthy Families' role was to enable and resource that community leadership - providing the backbone that allowed the community to hold and direct their own kaupapa. The stories shared remain held by the community itself, ensuring they continue to be carried forward with care and intention.

Our Past, Your Tomorrow is set for wider release later this year, bringing these village stories to a broader audience across Aotearoa.