The Covid-19 pandemic was a tough time for Upper Hutt man Vonz Kaukau, losing his mother and in 2020, and then becoming homeless in 2021. His auntie helped him find emergency housing, and then one day he asked his auntie for her recipe for rēwana bread, and that was how it all started.

With the support of his local community, his daughter, and the help of Kōkiri Marae in Lower Hutt – where he attended a business course, he’s been able to turn things around by building a thriving business making and selling rēwana bread.

Kōkiri Marae has been able to provide a holistic, family approach, to helping him, where if it was in the mainstream services, it likely would’ve not be so successful.

Source: Radio New Zealand

11/12/24