Flaxmere music man and pou ārahi help rebuild storm-ravaged school library

Omahū School tamariki are back home and very close to having a school library where they can access more than 2500 exciting new books.

The school of 39 students lost almost everything in Cyclone Gabrielle - their classrooms and their play areas, and it severely damaged their historic whare that housed their library. With that went their library books. They spent last year attending school in Flaxmere at Irongate Primary School. While that had been a lifesaver and the manaaki of Irongate was truly appreciated, the teachers and students were very pleased to be back on their tūrangawaewae, said principal Kate Crawford. The whare had been repaired however it was now classrooms and school office, which left them short of a library space.

But not for long. Applications are in for trust funding for the last piece of the puzzle; a relocatable building where they can have their 46 metres of shelving installed to hold their 2500-plus books.

Getting to here had taken a huge amount of effort and funding by a range of organisations and people, including the National Library of New Zealand, Ministry of Education, author Mary-anne Scott who spearheaded the ‘Books Back Better’ project to restock flood-damaged schools, and Flaxmere singer Tipene, who held a cyclone fundraiser, with the Flaxmere Planning Committee charged with allocating the funds. The committee selected Omahū School as its nearest impacted kura.

Tipene’s funding has, amongst other things, paid for a five-year subscription to cloud-based library management system Access It. A key person in all of this, championing the cause, selecting the books, and assisting with fundraising applications, has been Hastings Libraries Pou Ārahi Māori Advisor Ali Tamainu; a woman with a passion for ensuring children have access to books.

“It really is important. Recreational reading provides them with a window on the world; helping them develop a vision for their future.”

Very soon after the cyclone she started liaising with then-tumuaki Te Kewena White, who had since returned to his home town to be near family, and now worked with new principal Kate Crawford.

“The principal and teachers had so much else to think about; new classrooms, the well-being of their kids and whānau, their own families and situations, lesson planning in tough times. It made sense if, through Hastings Libraries, I could help them set up a new library space and books. They didn’t have a librarian on staff and it was one less thing they needed to worry about,” Ali said.

It helped that Ali had already been doing library outreach into schools, including Omahū. “The teachers and kids all knew me. Having that trust was important to both them and me.” Of course, with a love of books and reading, for Ali it was a labour of love – choosing books for children aged five to 12.

“I consulted with the kids, their whanaū and the teachers – what they needed and wanted in their library. We’ve covered everything from graphic novels and traditional story books, to non-fiction on topics from sports and gaming to rāranga.”

So now it is just a wait to see if their $30,000 application to The Cyclone Gabrielle Appeal Trust for a relocatable building is successful. It will be home to all of those books sitting in storage waiting for children to read them.