Acknowledging the power of the Karakia Poka
We recently received a very touching letter of appreciation from a woman who was comforted by the ANZCA Karakia Poka while her partner was undergoing a surgical procedure.
In 2023 ANZCA's Indigenous Health Committee secured a Health Equity Projects Fund (HEPF) grant to commission a special karakia (a prayer or incantation used by Māori to acknowledge and affirm the spiritual world and their ancestors) to provide pre-surgery comfort to patients and their families and whānau. The karakia was composed by tohunga Mark Kopua (Te Atianga a Hauiti).
Since then, the karakia has been printed out and put up in many hospitals around Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia, including Wellington Regional Hospital | Nga Puna Wai Ora, where it was recently seen by the partner of a patient about to undergo a significant surgical procedure. She was so moved by what she read, and the sentiment behind it, that she sent us a letter of appreciation.
I would like to thank you for the Karakia Poka, commissioned from ANZCA’s Health Equity Projects fund.
Please find attached my personal narrative and feedback on a recent experience at Wellington Hospital involving the ANZCA Karakia Poka. I would be grateful if this can be shared with your Indigenous Health Committee members, particularly Dr Arihia Waaka, who I understand secured the funding for the Karakia Poka initiative.
I am happy for this feedback to be shared wider amongst your ANZCA membership, so that people can learn of the value and importance of initiatives such as the Karakia Poka. I will also send this to the ANZCA NZ National Committee, and to the Wellington Hospital clinical leadership.
Ngā mihi, meitaki ma'ata me kia manuia
S. Tepaeru Minster
We would encourage all fellows and trainees to read the letter and consider making the karakia available to your patients.
- Print this A3 poster (with the original te Reo text and English translation) and put it on display.
- Print this A4 handout (also available in English) and offer to patients and their families/whānau.
- Print this poster with QR code to further information.
- Practice reciting it with the help of these beginner and expert pronunciation audio guides.
