SELF-CONTAINED

Te Ao Hou, Summer 1953, Page 54

SELF-CONTAINED ‘Napier has suddenly discovered Hukarere,’ Miss Hunter said, ‘and we have acquired a lot of new friends.’ ‘Is there much coming and going between Hukarere and the town?’ ‘Not really. We're very self-contained here. The girls play basketball down on the Parade, and the school is open to the public on some occasions. We did go down to town to see “Broken Barrier”—the girls had a lot of fun identifying their friends. Both Katie Ngarimu and Lily Te Mahu were at school here a year or two ago, and some of the present girls were in the film too. But generally we see films up here, about twelve times a year. The Maori clergy come up to take services in the Chapel.’ A good deal of the school's life is centred round the Chapel, although the girls are not by any means all members of the Church of England. When the several generations of women who regard Hukarere with affection wanted to make a gift to their old school, they quite naturally chose to build a new Chapel for the girls to worship in. Time will mellow the bright kowhaiwhai. The building of the Chapel, the long months when the craftsmen occupied the school sickroom, the patient hours the girls themselves spent on the tukutuku panels will become a legend at Hukarere. And, because of this Chapel, many generations of girls will cultivate the arts and crafts of their people with greater understanding. I left Hukarere School convinced that, in its particular approach to the education of Maori women, it is extraordinarily successful. Many of the girls I saw will go on to train themselves to serve their own communities in a particular way. But, most important of all, each one of them will leave school knowing how to make a happy home.