Powerful wahine PANIA'S MISSION FOR MUMS

The hunter wants other women to feel the mana of catching dinner for the kids

- Leena Tailor

There was a time, adjusting to solo motherhood while grappling with depression, unaddressed grief and family turmoil, that Pania Te Paiho felt her only reason to live was her children. But after turning her life around through learning to hunt, the 38-year old Kiwi mum has found her purpose – helping other women rise above their lows through empowering, bonding and healing hunting trips.

“The peacefulness and having to be present is so powerful,” says Pania about the weekend trips she hosts through Wahine Toa Hunting. “As women, we juggle so much, but going into the bush and hunting, you have to be 100% present – listen, smell, feel, look. You can’t be thinking about the school run, lunches or money worries! Those moments of clarity are magical. It’s healing.”

In contrast, Pania says she felt little connection to the bush and whenua (land) while growing up in Porirua with two younger siblings. Into breakdancing and surfing, she recalls constantly misbehaving while dealing with a turbulent home life.

Her father passed away when she was 13 and Pania says her mother wasn’t always present, meaning she was often left to care for her siblings. “I had a lot of trauma and grief but had to be strong for my brother and sister,” she says. “I didn’t cry at my dad’s funeral because I had to stand strong. I thought, ‘This is you now. Your childhood’s over.’ A lot of responsibility fell on me at an early age and it made me play up.”