Made with support from Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.
Roimata Taniwha Paoo feels the presence of her tūpuna every time she steps into the ngāhere, or forest.
You'll often find the south Auckland mum fighting to preserve the small pockets of native bush still left in urban areas of Tāmaki Makaurau.
"As soon as I go near a tree or near a ngāhere where I can just see and hear the insects and manu flying I know I'm home."
Taniwha Paoo would turn to the ngāhere after her eldest daughter was born with severe eczema 17 years ago.
"We went to the doctors and the doctors gave us all of these medicines and potions. We needed something that was a bit more gentle and it could seep into her skin."
Struggling to find a treatment that would work, her nan, Te Ao Biddle, encouraged her to use the matauranga of the ngāhere.
Taniwha Paoo listened as she experimented with using rākau and rongoa to create a range of soap.
She perfected her recipe from her garage using rākau like kawakawa, tanekaha, and kumarahou and Taniwha Paoo says it helped her daughter's eczema.
With encouragement from her friends and whanau, she decided to sell her soap to the public three years ago and her business Soaps By Roi was born.
"Soaps have taken over our lives. People think that this is my full-time job but it's not."
During the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, orders skyrocketed with huge demand from marae and large businesses.
Taniwha Paoo will soon move out of her garage as demand grows and has plans to re-brand and launch overseas. She wants to ensure the soap is made sustainably and traditional matauranga is protected.
"Soaps has been our way that we can help people reconnect with Papatūānuku. The possibility and the opportunity to privilege tūpuna narrative, that's what keeps me going."
