NGA TUHITUHI

Tu Tangata, Issue 36, 1 June 1987, Page 8

NGA TUHITUHI

Open letter to asthmatics Dear Sir, On opening Tu Tangata today I found the articles about asthma, and the letters from the children. On the spur of the moment I wrote to them. Your magazine is a fine one, with such a lot of interest. A Danish friend of mine gets it regularly, since seeing it here when she was in N.Z., and my sister and her family also get it. I really look forward to receiving it each time.

Dear Ruby, Joseph, Sally and other Maori children with asthma (and Pakeha too) I opened my Tu Tangata today, and what do I see, letters from a whole lot of people who have asthma, just the same as I do.

Mine started when I was about seven years old, but now I am old enough to have all of you for my mokopuna and I’ve got five of my own (none of them have asthma). So you can tell it’s been going a few years for me now.

Well, when I first got asthma, I can tell you, it was rough. No Ventolin, no Becotide, no tablets. If you were really dying of it, you just had to wait until it got better by itself. When I was about 12 we had weird inhaling things, with a great mask that fitted over your mouth and nose, and the stuff you put into it tasted horrible. Later we had tablets that you had to hold under your tongue while they dissolved. They tasted so bad that sometimes you thought you would be sick if you had another one, then when you couldn’t breathe, anything was better than that, so you had another of those tablets.

Well it was a long time before we got the Ventolin inhalers, not until I was grown up, and had four children. I couldn’t play games at school or cycle far, or swim, but all the same I had lots of fun and some good friends. It didn’t stop me doing anything I really wanted to do like travelling overseas and getting fulltime jobs. Now life is easy. Just a puff when I feel it coming, and sometimes at bad times of the year, using a Bectodie regularly. A couple of tablets a day and those puffs keep me going at full steam, and I can exhaust my mokos.

And I’ll tell you a secret, my skin is white even if my tubes in my lungs are skinny. Maori and Pakeha are no different under the skin I bet our hearts are just the same size and colour.

So keep up with the puffs and the exercises. I once read asthmatics are very intelligent. Arohanui,

Peggy.

Kia ora Piripi, I was most excited to read an article in your magazine published in regards to Patrick Nicholas in Aug-Sept. I found it a real stroke of genius. But what excited me most was being able to remember the prophecies of Te Kooti Rikirangi in regards to the Maori Messiah. At Te Kuiti on Ist July 1878 he said: “The star is showing plainly in the east. I now foresee the leader coming closer and closer to us.” In 1879 he repeated the prophecy: “I now tell you that it is definite that a leader will arise. There shall be a sign when he appears. I shall be buried beneath his feet. He may be a pakeha, or a pakeha relative, or a Maori or even one of the Queen’s grandsons. He will carry on the faith that I have established, and I shall rest in peace. He shall pass on the faith to our children and to posterity for ever.”

An important part of this prophecy is where Te Kooti states that he will be buried beneath the new leader’s feet. This is consistent with Te Kooti’s other prophecies that the leader would come between Kuri a Wharei a point near Katikati, Tauranga and Tikirau a hill on the eastern side of Whangaparaoa, Cape Runaway. A year later he added to his prophecy:

“Behold two stars instead of one, the one star striving against the other, and each shining very brightly. The star in the east is a good star, but the star in the west is evil. If the star in the west gains the ascendency, and the star in the east fails, let me tell you that conditions in this island are going to be adverse.”

In 1885 at Katikati he continued his prophecy and ruled out any possibility of this leader being Sir Apirana Ngata.

“The two stars are still standing as they were in 1880. I make it known to you that this leader is going to be from the east. He shall appear directly between Nga-kuri-a-wharei and Tikirau, no further.”

So you can see why I will be keeping a close eye on this young man from Tauranga and look forward for more articles about him.

N. Murray.

To the Editor,

I have been overwhelmed by the response to my interview published in your August/September ’B6 publication. I have been stopped in the streets by perfect strangers. People I have met once have rung me wanting to see me.

I even began to avoid buying stamps at Tauranga Chief Post Office to avoid a barrage of personal questions from the teller there.

Many people have commented to me that the article was brilliant. Many have commented that what I said would be a brilliant philosophy for the Maori people to adopt. These viewpoints greatly surprised me for it is not a viewpoint I share. It seems everybody has the wrong idea. There are always many routes to the same destination. There are strategies I recommend if utilised will eliminate Maori unemployment and raise the Maori people off the lower social economic level. But these are much more advanced than anything printed in my article, this article was just an introduction to my economic philosophies. In no way do I recommend the strategies mentioned. But I hope they have given a greater understanding of economic development.

I belive there are five levels for economic development. My article was Level Onp, to give an insight to Level Two. Let me quote Bob Jones after talking on property.

“Still, I have only covered the first, basic stage of entrepreneurial property activity. There is a second phase that is very different indeed and encompasses a unique approach whereby one’s own capital is never used, one never actually builds, buys or owns property, but receives far larger property returns at far less risk than via orthodox dealings.”

I hope to talk on the other levels in the future. I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to express my viewpoints. I have much in the way of philosophies on Maori economic, cultural, social and political development which I have kept to myself for years. Anybody who knew anything about New Zealand Forest Products would realise how old my figures were.

I have been approached by several people about my philosophies but I believe it is of more benefit to talk to a mass audience.

I would also like to thank Apirana Mahuika for his comments. I always strive to improve my ways of thinking and rejoice at receiving constructive criticism for more often than not criticism is usually straight out jealousy. Thank you for your time. I hope I can contribute to your magazine again in the future.

Yours faithfully Patrick Nicholas

Kia ora,

As regards Hawaiikinui. I runga i nga korero a Henare Bird mo te waka nei me nga rangatira na ratou nei i timata mai i te ngahere a i te taturanga ki roto i te wai, he aha rawa to tatou Minita o te Tari Maoritanga i kore rawa ai i awhina atu i te mahi rangatira a te whanau Brightwell.

E hara te mana mo te whanau anake nei, kao mo tatau katoa. Kua tino rangatira tatau i runga i nga whakarotanga o te whanau rangatira nei. Ko taku whakaro ma te Tari Maori e hoko te waka nei, ma te whanau Brightwell e tiaki a e morimori mo tatau katoa te painga.

Tena koe mete iwi whanui,

na Momo Ohia (Monty Ohia, Senior)

PS. I wish to congratulate the Solomon family for what they have done to commemorate their father, grandfather and great grandfather. The statute (featured in Tu Tangata Feb/Mar 87) is very impressive to look at. I hope we learn more of their whakapapa through further editions of Tu Tangata.

Editors reply regarding Hawaiikinui. Government funding for Hawaiikinui came from the Central Regional Arts Council which assisted the carving of the logs at Pahiatua. Foreign Affairs also assisted with funding. The bulk of financial assistance for the Hawaiikinui project came from the French government in Tahiti, where sailing preparations were based.

Kia ora Piripi Whaanga

te kaiwhakahaere o te nei pukapuka Tu Tangata nga mihi kia koe me etahi atu i mau ana o Tatou taonga tuhi tuhi tena koutou. I am writing an Obiturary on behalf of my wife, whose Grandmother passed away 31st Maehe 1987 aged 83 years (Hine Kura) Ripo Ngahau Hohaia. Poroporoaki (Hine Kura) Ripo Ngahau Hohaia Ki te whai ao Ki te ao marama Kia whaka huainake te wehi kia koe Ihowa te timatanga o te matauranga te hei mauriora ti hei Mauri mate i te Kura Whaea, tupuna o te ao tawhito Haere i runga i o waka Tainui, Te Arawa Haere i runga i o iwi Ngati Kaukawa Uenuku Kopako, Rangiteaorere, Roro o te rangi, Haere ki Hawaiki nui, Hawaiki roa Hawaiki

Pamamao, Ki te hono i wairua

no reira te kuia Hine Kura. Haere, Haere, Haere,

Kare rawa koe i ware waretia Na te

mokopuna Chrysanthemum Riki riki (nee Hohuia)

Te Hapuku M Rikiriki. Great Grand Children Munro, Chrysanthemum, Mihirau.

The Editor,

Tu Tangata Magazine, Wellington Kia ora e Philip,

He mihi atu tenei ki a koe no te Kohanga Reo o Matai Whetu.

Our whanau has just spent a wonderful weekend with Roopu Awhina Whanau at our Kohanga Reo. They came, at our invitation, on the 25th and 26th April to show us how to use easily available natural resources to teach our reo to our whole whanau. It was wonderful for us to spent time with a group of women who not only said they supported our kaupapa, but showed us many practical ways of achieving this. Although our weekend work centred mainly on the use of harakeke, they also touched our “te taha wairua o te wai” and some uses of sea-shells. All of this involved so much good korero not only for our tamariki but also for our learning mothers. At a time when we believe, there are many Kohanga Reo out there who need good practical help to support our kaupapa, we believe that an article about this group in your magazine would be most useful. We only found out about them by chance when we visited Te Kohanga Reo o Merivale in Tauranga-moana and then it was the Education Department who gave us a contact address and number. This is a resource that every Kohanga Reo in the country should know about and be advised to use. Instead we are now being asked by the National Trust if we would like to send people to a wananga in Canada (Indigenous People’s Conference) which we suggest, will not only provide Kohanga Reo with nothing concrete for our kaupapa, but be a great misuse of Kohanga Reo funds! At least Hine Potaka and her kaiawhina are here, are Maori speakers who offer very relevant and practical help and we suggest are a far better use of Kohanga Reo money.

Naku na,

Ngarewa Hawera

(Hekeretari) Ph. 89-698

Awhina Whanau come to Thames

Flax, stone and water are being bought into learning in the kohanga reo in Thames. Kohanga reo mothers and grandmothers gathered at the Matai Whetu marae in Thames to learn how to introduce natural resources into everyday learning and playing.

They made wall-hangings, mobiles, puppets and toys from flax collected in the area. Awhina Whanau were led by Hine Potaka and Mere Palmer. The aim of using natural resources cuts costs in providing nursery equipment and also brings children closer to the world around them.

“This is something the children can relate to and identify with,” Mrs Potaka said.

She and her group travel to kohanga reo showing a selection of toys and learning tools and teaching women how to make and use them. Acknowledgement Thames Star.

Not just kohanga reo

Awhina Whanau don’t only help kohanga reo, they also go to other preschool groups such as play centres. One was Ngaio Play Centre after Tu Tangata’s editor invited the group to visit.

Leader, Hine Potaka asked that other pre-school groups be involved in the two day workshop, and so two local kohanga reo were invited. Ngaio Kohanga were unable to come but Paparangi Kohanga made it along with mothers from other play centres.

Flax was gathered locally, in fact just outside the motel the three women were staying at. By the time we picked them up in the morning they’d made a hat and kete. Their programme was brilliant covering flax work, water play and sea shells, all the talk being in Maori and English. The women radiated confidence, charisma and love, and all the mothers and children and one father present benefited.

Talking with Hine Potaka later I discovered that their programme has been on the roads of New Zealand for many years but many kohanga have not taken advantage of it to Hine’s sadness. She said that their work is funded through the Maori Education Foundation, but that perhaps the word had not got out.

Hine said Awhina Whanau would be concentrating this year on travelling and helping kohanga reo with their programme, so that Maori parents and children would benefit as much as

Pakeha have.