Meteria Katene

Ka tu au ki te tihi o RuapehuTirotiro kau atu ki taku waka ko Aotea
E hoe ana a ki runga nga ripo o te Awa o Whanganui.
Huri atu taku kanohi ki Te Pat
ku o te Rangi.
Takahia te mana o to matau nei hapu ko Ngati Tupoho. Ngaru e te whenua ko Putiki.
Ko wai tenei e karanga ake nei?
He mokopuna au o Te Atihaunui a Paparangi.
Ko Meteria Katene e mihi kau ana.


Ko wai au?
Who am I?
Although the first statement was a brief explanation of where I descend from and the link that I hold in my blood that connects me to my people. This still doesn't give you a visual of who I am as a person individually. I found it challenging to explain who I am and compact it all into a brief cover letter when i am still learning myself. However, I will try my hardest to tell you my story and how I ended up applying here all in a nutshell.


Like many people, I wear multiple hats that hold different purposes in my life. The hat that I wear the most holds the most significance to me is my mum hat. I am a mother to 3 beautiful children and I also give the same love and care to 5 stepchildren that my partner was blessed with. 3 years ago I had the the honour of sharing and learning this new life me and my partner have created. Ironically, we encountered each other during the darkest part of my life. So while i was finding myself, healing and working on my life i found this new healthy love. Our main focus and key goal is to build a safe, healthy and loved environment to give our children the best out of life. I have never felt more happy and feeling content surrounded by growth and love. This is my sun shinning after overcoming so much pain and suppressed trauma. I have gone through a healing journey and done a lot of shadow work and life altering to get to where i am now. But that is a story for another day.

Growing up surrounded by domestic violence, alcohol and drug abuse, toxic unhealthy behaviour that it was so regular in my upbringing it became normalized. When all you have known was destruction you don't realize how great peace really feels like. It wasn't until I was victimize and self destructed I really started this journey. To come out of the other end wiser and much more spiritually intact. I was able to forgive and use my experience to help a lot of people. I now know that every experience I had gone through created different versions myself. And even though they were hard, traumatizing and at the time very painful... it was necessary.


The one thing that I know whole heartedly about myself that I have a big heart. The way that I care for people and take care of people is unexplainable. I am that go to person for everyone who knows me no matter the length of the relationship. If you need kai, I will cook you a meal. If you need a roof over your head, I have homed more people than I could count. If you need someone to cry with, laugh with or learn with... I am her! The extent of my love and passion to help people that I love and people who are in desperate need exceeds my limits. And although that is a good thing it was also my weakness. For so long all I had known was how to take care of everyone around me I neglected to care and love myself. The love and care was not reciprocated. I had to grow up so fast becoming a mother at 16 and moved out of my home and shift houses alot. I finally worked nhard and got a home and a job as soon as I was turned 18. I worked for a 8 years straight starting from ground up working aloside my daughter and studying full time. I was not only a single mum but I was also in the position where I had to financially support and home toxic family members with different mental health issues, gang affiliation and still having a social life. Throughout the years I was working full time, being a mother and building myself professionally at work. I was going back home to destruction and family violence which I supressed with alcohol and extra work load. I had been through so many experiences in my life that people would always wondered how could I be so strong. But I was only strong because I had to be. I had a little girl to raise.


Throughout all of this I had the chance to be a part of many organisations and support services on the receiving end. And in my experience there is so much more we can do to help our people. I am a survivor of family violence. I have broken the cycle of a 7 year long domestic and toxic relationship. I have have seen the worst within our community and I have seen the best parts. I am a survivor of mental, financial, physical and verbal abuse. I have fought for the rights of a single mother. I have been sober and cleansed of any alcohol and drugs for years. I have created healthy boundaries to protect my peace. I am a SA survivor. I have changed my entire life completely by braking generational curses and having a voice. This is a glimpse of the story I can tell. My experience and story has already helped alot of people who were brave enough to reach out to me. I know that many different woman of various of backgrounds can relate to a portion of my story.

This is me. The raw and real me.
I am Meteria Katene and my passion is to empower our people, take back our mana and heal our people internally.