Tangihanga Insurance Programme Experiences Rapid Growth

October 5, 2011

Tangihanga Insurance Programme Experiences Rapid Growth

The provider of a free Tangihanga insurance programme for older Maori and Pasifika people is expanding to cope with a rapid growth in demand.

Te Rau Aroha, a Charitable Trust, in association with insurance company AIA (NZ) offers Tangihanga insurance to people aged over 55 and has experienced a 300% growth in the past year.

Chairman, Tapihana Shelford, says it is exciting that the growth in people taking out Tangihanga insurance is both making a difference for people struggling to fund Tangi, and is also enabling the trust to offer more employment for Maori. It will this month open new offices in Albany to cope with the demand.

He says a key to the success of the programme is the fact the Trust has Maori representatives who are Registered Financial Advisors who deliver this innovative product to Maori and Pasifika.

“Each advisor is trained in both an understanding of life insurance and Tikanga Maori. This has led to the advisors introducing an average of 150 new clients to the programme each week,” he says.

Tapihana Shelford says the Tangihanga insurance programme has made a significant difference in Maori communities, where the struggle of having to meet the expenses of tangi can have a huge impact on families.

“There is a huge sense of relief for many. A lot of Maori families find the stress of financing a tangi on top of the sadness surrounding the individual passing can be overwhelming.”

Shelford says the tangi insurance payments enable families to uphold the mana of those who have died, as well as the mana of the family as a whole as they are able to offer manaaki to visitors; a key stone of Maori culture.

Te Rau Aroha Board member, Naida Glavish, says the tangi is the last one untouched and unmodified element of Maori culture.

“The tangi is absolutely critical to express who we are as Maori,” she says.

Naida Glavish says the Tangihanga insurance programme is providing a service that is starting to make a significant contribution to improving the holistic wellbeing of Maori.

“Good health for us is about mind, body and spirit. When all these elements of health are looked after, we are well. A healthy celebration of life and death through the process of tangi is pivotal to our survival as a people and as a culture.”

ENDS

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