Leading from the front issuu

”Drop
judgement and
become more
kind.”
chapter fifteen
Minnie Ratima
1964 — 2020
do it. Everybody just step up. It will be alright.”
This is what Minnie would have said to her gathered
whānau at her tangi at Tongoio in August last “Just
year; feeling overwhelmed and wondering how they could
carry out her wishes. “Just do it,” she would have said.
The mahi that Minnie was involved with in 2020, the
last year of her life, speaks to the boldness she had developed
over the past 10 years. When Minnie met with
Jacinda Ardern before a volunteers’ function in Hastings
last year she was going to give her a list of demands
around housing, but she didn’t have to because Jacinda
had already been briefed. She already knew what Minnie’s
concerns were and reassured her they would be
sorted.
Minnie had full faith in Jacinda and I think that was
the moment she felt a huge weight of responsibility lift,
when she felt she didn’t have to battle just to keep the
fight alive anymore. And thinking about the 31 houses
in Maraenui that were being built at the time, Minnie
hoped she’d be around to see them opened. She wanted
to open the first house; she said Jacinda could open the
second.
We had big, bold plans; forged over decades of pushing
as individuals, merging into joint missions over
countless breakfast meetings at her beloved McDonalds.
Through our shared frustration with a system that
by megan rose
”Minnie would happily
have spent the rest of her
life fighting wholeheartedly
for small victories in an
overwhelming battle.”
did not serve its people, we discovered our contrasting
perspectives, experiences and lifetimes had led us to
exactly the same place, the same heart. The depth of
our friendship allowed us to see through the eyes of one
another, to understand where people speak from, and
how and why they do the things they do. Through that
unique understanding we learned tolerance. No longer
blinkered by what we didn’t understand, judgement disappeared,
allowing kindness to drive us instead. While I
had observed this within myself, I didn’t realise its significance
until in the weeks before her death, when Minnie
reflected on how this process had unfolded for her. Our
worlds and our mahi had changed when we dropped
judgement and became kinder people.
When I nominated Minnie for Hawke’s Bay Person of
Opposite: Everlasting Daisies by Helen Dynes; Above: Minnie and Megan Rose. Pat loved how these Wahine Toa bounced off each
other for support and inspiration.
Minnie Ratima - 1964 - 2020 213