Maungārongo: finding peace

Our HRC funded project Maungārongo explores palliative and end-of-life care for incarcerated people in Aotearoa. We have interviewed 22 people with experience of the prison environment as a context for end-of-life and were fortunate to spend a few days in the beautiful Bay of Plenty analysing the data. Our discussions kept coming back to the title of the study which was gifted to us by the Te Ārai Kāhui Kaumātua: the ability to find rongo (peace) at the end-of-life within the constraints of the prison environment and the context of a life time of trauma. Next steps include presenting back to our Advisory Group and discussing findings with colleagues working with relevant services. Some of our initial findings were presented in the Underserved Communities Report, including a story from a lived experience expert and a service provider.

Merryn, Stella and Jackie in ōhope, Bay of Plenty