Ae Marika 22 July 2014 The big storm has gone, but the damage that it did and the saturation levels that it reached meant that smaller storms quickly overwhelmed roading, and water-flow systems again in the north. And although certain individuals are talking up the need for bigger brighter highways from Puhoi to Warkworth, we must never forget about the network of roads in and around the Hokianga, parts of the mid north and those serving coastal communities around Rawhiti, Whangaruru and Whananaki on the east coast which serve long-standing communities that are often forgotten in the fix-ups after the devastation of storms and heavy flooding. Government has focused on getting farm production back up to speed (and I don’t knock that), but I would have been more impressed if their first priority had actually been the hard hit and much more heavily populated communities like Moerewa, and some of the isolated places where the needs have been even greater. Flooding, sewage, rubbish, clean drinking water, no power for days, and the lack of land-line and cell-phone communication - all of these problems have severely tested the north, and highlight critical areas that need to be addressed over the next few weeks as northern authorities review the way in which they manage the infrastructure that enables the people of the north to travel, to grow and to flourish. And part of dealing with the after-effects of the storm means keeping tabs on our kaumatua and kuia, and at this time I am mindful of the huge loss to many of us in the north, of 28th Maori Battalion stalwart Whakahoro ‘Sol’ Te Whata who passed away on Sunday 20 July 2014. Last Friday we were in a rush to get from one meeting in Kerikeri to the next one in Whangarei and barely made it on time because we had to go round Ruapekapeka Rd with SH1 still being closed at Maromaku. I felt a bit stink shooting through Moerewa without calling in to see the old man, so right after our hui in Whangarei, Te Hamua and I excused ourselves, jumped back in our car, and shot back up to Moerewa to see him. And I’m glad we did. We weren’t there for long. Just enough time for a short karakia and a mihi, a few laughs with the whanau and then out again. Sol was many things to many people, but he was also a staunch MANA supporter and there is one story I will always remember about him. I was down in Wellington when I got a call to tell me that Sol was out door-knocking for me in Moerewa … in the rain! He must have been all of 94 years old at the time. I was so embarrassed that he would do this for me that I quickly rang my brother to stop him. He said they’d tried but he wouldn’t, so my brother simply followed him around with an umbrella until he ran out of gas. You can’t buy support like that, and I will never forget that image of an old soldier out on his last campaign. Not sure of the details for his tangi, but I hear he’s lying in state at Mataitaua marae in Utakura right now. Haere e te rangatira, haere.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 21:10:45 +0000
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