Ki te taha o toku mama
Ko Patangata te maunga
Ko Wharekahika te awa
Ko Hinemaurea te marae
Ko Te Whanau a Te Aotaki te Hapu
Ko Ngati Porou te iwi

Ki te taha o toku papa
Ko Kareponia te maunga
Ko Awanui te awa
Ko Kareponia te marae
Ko Te Patu Koraha te hapu
Ko Ngati Kahu te iwi

Ko Varnya Subritzky ahau

My name is Varnya Subritzky and I live and work under my maunga Patangata, in a small coastal community called Wharekahika (Hicks Bay) on the East Cape of Aotearoa. I started Mauri2Mauri not long after I had moved home to my Mama's homelands 7 years ago. Once I returned home I began to hear the karanga of the rakau and that is when my haerenga in the rongoā began. Mauri2Mauri was a way for me to express my creativity, deepen my understanding of the rakau and strengthen my relationship with the rakau and the medicine they provide. As we are from such an isolated community, where doctors and chemists are few and far between, words really can’t describe what the rakau have given me. To be able to heal my whanau and I naturally and without prescription creams and medication has truly been empowering.

The rakau gathered for these soaps begins and ends with Tikanga Maori. Concepts such as Whanaungatanga, wairuatanga, kaitiakitanga and my own relationship to source encompass the bar in front of you. One batch from the next is never alike but the aroha and intention behind the hopi is what makes it rongoā. All of the plant material gathered, including the medicine from the sea has been gathered from Wharekahika on whenua that I whakapapa to.