Māia Collective’s mission to support single māmā

When Aysha Peters was searching for purpose, she never dreamed she would eventually end up helping hundreds of single mothers become more resilient and prepared to face future challenges. But her wāhine-led initiative Māia Collective is doing just that, with help from MAS Foundation. 

“What question am I the answer to?” It was pondering this profound thought, in the midst of a major upheaval in her own life, that led Aysha Peters on a bold new path. Creating a collective that is helping to empower wāhine across the country is her response to a deep need in our nation, and one that she is uniquely placed to do. 

From a childhood full of challenges, to becoming a mum at 19, Aucklander Aysha has overcome many circumstantial and systemic barriers to get to where she is today.  

Motivated by these experiences, Aysha has channeled her knowledge into a positive force, in the form of Māia Collective. “Māia Collective is wāhine-led, and a kaupapa Māori organisation that centres on mana and creating culturally safe care that works across all groups and communities,” Aysha explains. 

In the 5 years since its inception, the programme has now supported and empowered more than 330 wāhine. “We help wāhine build resilience, because it’s something that has to be taught, modelled and practised,” continues Aysha, “and so often that hasn’t happened. It’s like wāhine have been taken to the middle of the moana, thrown overboard and told to swim back to shore. But they’ve never been taught how to swim.” 

Aysha’s personal journey 

It’s a feeling not unknown to Aysha, whose own early life was shaped by hardships. “My dad was part of the massive urban migration from Te Tai Tokerau to Tāmaki Makaurau when he was 15 years old. The legacy of colonisation had already disrupted rural communities through land loss, economic pressures and reduced opportunities. In the city, Māori often faced further challenges of marginalisation and disconnection.” 

Aysha’s mother, by contrast, had a very different background. “My mum whakapapas back to England and Scotland, and wealth was intergenerational, grounded in land and resources, and she grew up with many privileges and opportunities. So my parents were from two opposite worlds that collided.” 

The middle of 3 children, Aysha says, “Growing up in poverty, in a state-owned home, surrounded by mental health struggles, addiction, scarcity and stress felt normal. I didn’t realise it wasn’t. I also didn’t understand the structural barriers that I was up against until adulthood.” 

Despite all of this, Aysha went to university as a young mum, encouraged by her grandmother, and graduated with a Masters in Marine Science. Unfortunately for Aysha, there were more hurdles to come. Within a few years, her marriage ended and she found herself as a single mother to 2 children. 

“I was on my own for nearly 5 years before I met my now-husband,” says Aysha. “Now we’re a blended whānau with 5 children.” 

Strong support for single mothers 

In this new phase of her life, Aysha is on a mission to improve wellbeing for all māma, and their tamariki. “The impact of wellness, or its absence, is intergenerational,” explains Aysha. “I’ve always wanted to see wāhine well. Watching my mother struggle with mental ill-health left a mark on our whole whānau, and I know that when wāhine thrive, their wellbeing lifts generations.”  

As part of its services, Māia offers respite retreats for wāhine who are single mothers, Pūawai noho, and a mentoring programme from wāhine to wāhine, Āwhinatanga. 

Of the retreats, Aysha says, “A lot of the wāhine come to us absolutely exhausted because they are carrying the load financially, emotionally and physically. Many of them have never heard of the grief cycle, so we teach them, ‘If you’ve lost a relationship, or your job, or someone you love – any situation that you didn’t choose or want – it’s normal to feel these emotions.’ 

“When they leave us,” continues Aysha, “they are happy, refreshed and recharged with practical tools to take back to their whānau and spheres of influence. It’s so incredible to see the transformation in such a little period of time as well.” 

Many of the women then go on to be part of the 12-week mentoring programme, beginning as teina (mentees) before becoming tuakana (mentors) themselves.  

“We are a strengths-based kaupapa, so we aim to pull out inherent strengths and resilience that buffers the challenges in life,” says Aysha. “We teach self-care, boundary setting and time management, and we touch on trauma, finances, whānau and future vision, all under the framework of Te Whare Tapa Whā. We champion that you are the best kaupapa you will ever work on.” 

While the focus of the programme is on supporting the teina, Aysha says the tuakana also get a huge amount from it. “Often they’ll say that the act of listening is like self-care for them, too.” 

Empowering wāhine for life 

A key part of the Māiā Collective model is that wāhine come of their own accord, rather than being referred by the system. “All of our programmes are 100% self-referral. If people are made to come, then they’re already being disempowered. They need to feel agency and that they have the ability to choose. 

“Afterwards, lots of the wāhine who do the programme then want to start their own charities and their own trusts, so it’s this beautiful little ripple effect,” smiles Aysha.  

On top of their in-person services, the organisation has just launched an app as well. “We thought, ‘Yes, we can do these programmes where wāhine come to us, but how can we go to them? How can they have access to us all the time?’  

“So we made a bilingual meditation app where we have deep breathing for anxiety, visualisation tools, and we cover grief, gratitude and support for the pregnancy and the postnatal period. And it’s all done in an Aotearoa context. The income from that will help fund our programmes, so it’s helping us be more sustainable.” 

Māia Collective, which now has 5 staff, has also had funding from MAS Foundation to be able to provide their services. “MAS Foundation understood what we are trying to do and they really valued that we have qualitative and quantitative data that shows we are increasing wellbeing at a clinical level.”  

And so, as Aysha continues to follow her purpose and be the answer to a powerful question, she poses another one to us all. “To me, I believe the way you measure the health of a country is to ask, ‘How are your most vulnerable?’ Because only when everyone is well, can we truly say the nation is well.” 

Māia Collective and MAS Foundation 

Dr Julie Wharewera-Mika (Head of Foundation) says, “Māia Collective and Tūpuna Parenting embody the principles of Te Tikitiki a Taranga, promoting wellbeing through indigenous knowledge, equity and community-led action. Grounded in kaupapa Māori and Pasifika values, both initiatives centre te ao Māori and create culturally safe spaces to support whānau, wāhine and kaimahi. With a strong commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, whanaungatanga and intergenerational wellbeing, they work together to advance meaningful and lasting positive change within communities and systems”. 

Mafi Funaki-Tahifote (Head of Foundation) adds, “We are grateful to these two wāhine toa who, through their approach, unapologetically ensure participants’ voices are empowered to surface – whether as a māmā within Māia Collective, or protecting and respecting the mana of pēpi within Tūpuna Parenting. Their approach resonates with the Foundation’s value of ‘Tika, pono me te aroha’, which embraces the Samoan proverb ‘E fofo e le alamea le alamea’ (Let the issues within a community be resolved by those in the community), recognising solutions are within communities”. 

Head to the MAS Foundation grants page to read about the organisations that benefit from their support.