As I transition into the kuia phase of menopause, my whare tangata is retiring. The sacred space within me that once carried life will no longer be a vessel for human form. And yet, as this chapter closes, I reflect on all it has held—the lives it has nurtured, both those who breathed in this world and those who never did.
Though my body will no longer bring forth new life, my role as a creator does not end here. I am still a whare tangata in the truest sense—a house of knowledge, of stories, of love that continues to shape the future.
My teachings, my care, and my words will now take the forms I can still craft, carrying the echoes of those who have passed through me.
This piece is an honouring of the life I have held, of the babies who came and left too soon, and of the wāhine who have walked this path alongside me. It is a reflection on what it means to create, to hold, to release, and to continue.
I am a whare tangata. A vessel of creation. A home for life, both for those who have drawn breath in this world and those who left before they could.
To those who came and grew within me, whose hearts beat alongside mine, but never took a breath,
You are still part of me.
You have shaped me,
Added to my line as I have added to yours.
Your presence was brief, but your imprint is eternal. You are woven into my whakapapa, held in the quiet spaces between heartbeats, carried in the rhythms of my breath. You have given me a deeper knowledge of love, of loss, of the unseen threads that bind us all.
I honour you.
I honour the whenua that cradles you now,
And I honour the wāhine who have walked this journey too—
Who have shared their stories, their grief, their resilience with me.
To all the wāhine who have opened their hearts and their kōrero, who have spoken the words we often hold in silence, I see you, I thank you, I stand with you.
Whare tangata is sacred.
It holds the weight of generations;
The joy of new life;
The ache of those we never got to hold in our arms but will always carry in our souls.
Our babies, whether they breathe in this world or not, are still part of our whakapapa.
And because of them, we continue.
Because of them, we love fiercely.
Because of them, we know the depth of what it is to be wāhine Māori.
Arohanui to all who carry these stories within them. You are not alone. We are not alone.
image credit: "Te Whare Tangata"by Robyn Kahukiwa