A Little Child Shall Lead Them

Tu Tangata, Issue 34, 1 February 1987, Page 27

A Little Child Shall Lead Them

na Rayma Ritchie

POROPOROAKI

On Friday, 31st October 1986, Benjamin Wood, six years old, died. He was killed when he ran suddenly onto the road. From Friday night to Monday morning, the people of the Kaikohe community kept vigil beside him as he lay in state in the assembly hall of Northland College which had been dedicated as a temporary marae.

Nothing unusual in that, you will say; that is the Maori way. But Benjamin and his family are not Maori. Doctor Wood and his wife, Rachel are from England, and it is there that their ancestors lie. Ben and his older sister, Rebecca, are New Zealanders. Ben was born six years ago in Oamaru. Two years later the family moved to Kaikohe when Paul was appointed Senior Master at Northland College, Kaikohe. Soon Rachel joined him on

the permanent staff. When the tragedy occurred the whole community acted. The vigil was shared by Maori and Pakeha. The service on Monday morning was shared, and so was the grief at the death of this small boy. The speakers, the kaumatua, the Principal of the College, Ralph King, were in agreement. Ben’s death had bound the whole community together in a common cause, the tangi. It was a tragedy from which only good could

come. Friends from school, teachers and parents were present to give support to Paul, Rachel and Rebecca. Ben’s soccer team and its coach, John Stirling, were there to give Ben the sendoff he would understand; ‘Three cheers for Ben’. The children of the Kohanga Reo, Ben had attended, filed in; and the stream continued; College pupils, the Maori Culture group, friends from the business community, parents and old pupils. The tangi was a tribute to the respect the people have for Paul and his family, and, just as important, it showed the heart of the local people, the aroha they feel for those who grieve. A small boy’s death has shown the way. Although there may be different blood in the body of Aotearoa, there is only one heart.