Download the PDF (5.1MB) - Te Puni Kokiri

MÄORI WARDENS
Ötähuhu Mäori Wardens (Back Row L-R)
Margaret Chopping; Sarah Cameron; Margaret (Minty) Murray; Glenis King; Liza Murray
(Front Row L-R) Trevor Lee; William Hadfield; Kaaka King.
and making sure quake victims were OK.
Their voices lower as they talk about finding
people weeks after the quake who’d been
hiding in their homes, alone, terrified and
traumatised.
“Sometimes? All they needed was a hug.
Sometimes they were too scared to come
outside, then too scared to go back inside,”
says Margaret.
They’re quick to point out that no matter
what, Wardens are there for everyone: not
just Mäori. While most welcomed help, a few
did the opposite. Margaret’s partner William
Hadfield remembers one street where
Wardens were faced with racism in the form
of some “aggro Skinheads”. But after a while
without water or kai, they ended up coming
out and accepting help.
“No one talked about what they’d done. It
was just, here you go Bro’,” says William.
Glenis King says her “cuzzy” Julia
encouraged her to join the Mäori Wardens.
Like a whänau there’s a place for everyone
including her son Kaaka who has an
intellectual disability and runs the RT when
the crew are out on the road. It’s the way
you approach people that makes the world
of difference in our mahi she says.
“So instead of threatening them and
shouting, “Oi! What are you lot doing? We’ll
get the Police down here!’, you walk over
and say “Kia ora. How’s it going? Are you
OK? What’s up?”
If you give manners and respect out,
there’s a better chance that you’ll get it
back says Glenis.
Ötähuhu stalwart Margaret Chopping, 73, can
be found most days running the local Mäori
Wardens' Office. “I just love Otahuhu, I love
helping people, especially those that really
need it, the young ones and the older ones.”
She’s proud of the rangatahi who have
joined the Wardens but is also keen for them
to take on leadership roles: “it’s got to be
sustainable, that’s the only way we can keep
it all going.”
It’s only been a few months since Julia
passed away. As her whänau and friends
talk about their mahi, she’s never far from
the körero. Her daughter Lisa says at first
she wasn’t into the Wardens' mahi but after
watching her mother walk into a South
Auckland pub and “do her stuff”, she joined
up. She says her mum had a knack of finding
the hidden talents in young people who
weren’t your typical stand-outs, “she could
make them shine.”
“She always had faith in her young ones.
Some people would look at them and ask her,
‘Do you really think they can do it?’ and she’d
turn around and say, “I don’t think: I know.’”
T E P U N I K ö K I R I | K ö K I R I | R A U M A T I / S U M M E R 2 0 1 3
43