My Life Story

Te Ao Hou, September 1968, Page 57

My Life Story My name is Takiora Neho. I belong to the Ngapuhi tribe. I am a fourth form pupil of Northland College which is in Kaikohe, and I am 15 years old. My home district is situated out in the country and is called Waima. I live on a farm and milk cows but mostly I am at home doing the housework and cooking. I do a lot of horse-riding around the farm and especially enjoy riding to the shop and post office, which is about 1 ½ miles away from home. Quite often there is a hui or a 21st birthday or a wedding going to be held. There is a lot of preparation to be done and all the people around join to work at the Marae. This I enjoy doing, and I can't wait for the main day. My favourite hobbies are sewing, dancing, cooking, athletics, basketball, and gymnastics. It was one day this year that Mr Mitchell who takes my class for English, explained to us that he was going to have a literature programme on the radio. Also, the best poems our class wrote were going to be included in this. Therefore he was going to ask one of us to go to Whangarei with him to read these. This happened to be me. I was really excited and I looked forward to it. ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ I am a Maori boy of about 15 years old, getting to the stage where I should be able to look after myself. I was born on 26 February, 1953, and soon after, when I was only a couple of weeks old, I was adopted by a couple named Piripi Karena. They were both very old and died three years later. Then I was adopted by another couple named Pere, and since 1955 I have been staying with them. I went to Te Tii Maori School for ten whole years. I enjoyed being just an infant child. Soon I was ready to go to college. I got money from the Maori Trustees to pay for my boarding at the hostel. I became interested in poems when I was in the third form, and I found out how important poetry was. I enjoyed the company of a teacher without whom I think my poems would be of no use. Through him I found the knowledge to write poems.

I am going to Northland College, situated in Kaikohe. I am proud of the school because here Maori culture is stilt going strong, helping the Maoris to keep their customs and not lose them. Hemi Epiha Mr J. Bonnevie, now headmaster of Kaitaia Primary School, has sent us these poems written by children at Nuhaka Primary School during the time he was headmaster there. We hope to have more poems in the next issue. From the Beach Luxury waves, blue, green In from the endless ocean Rumbles, tumbles over and down Like hay in a stack Rises, splashes, ripples like river Ripples joined together With the snow Melting on top Rangi, 12 Driftwood Twisted, twirled Carved beaten, Unknown creeper. Twisting up a tree Work of art By a master craftsman. Errolene, 12 Speech Making Throat gone dry, Lips won't move Pounding heart. Blank mind My knees trembling My blood freezing Clattering teeth Twitching fingers. Parched mouth. Sweating body Oh, what a relief! Finished! Bells ring aloud in my ears. Patty, 11 Catching Goats Over hills Through scrub Catching goats Oh! What fun Tripping over, Getting scratched, All surrounded, Now for one! Rachael, 12 Winter Morning Lonely grass shivering in crispy frost Twisting flowers shaking Old tree with holey leaves Moaning, grumbling to itself Soft breeze sniffling and blowing And the blazing sun warming up. Watene, 10 Clay Twisted and pulled, slapped down flat. A cool shower of water runs over my rough coat. Rough, clumsy hands run over my body Leaving an unpleasant trail behind. Sticky and slimy, all muddy brown Sliced and quartered with knives and nylon Made into shapes, I don't know But Oh! What a job he has done Bringing me back to life again. June, 12 Volleyball Burning feet Watery mouth Serve the ball Hit it over Back it comes Back it goes Faces red Slippery hand Hot concrete What a game! Pushing punching Over the net Forward, back, Ah! dropped it. Ruth, 11

Orakau 1864 Where is my family? Dead. Where is my house? Burnt. Where is my stock? The Pakeha has destroyed Everything. Beneath the silent Peach Grove My family lay Sleeping. Hatred dwelled deep inside me. Revenge was my friend. Caroline, 11 Tangi Mats laid out Brothers and sisters Relatives and cousins Sitting near the coffin Shedding tears People walk up Press of noses one by one Take off shoes Look at the body Children playing in the mud Understanding nothing While smoke is rising from the kitchen chimney Mickey, 12 The Moment The surging waves crash down, down Sandy winds sting my legs The high tune from wind, grass and lupins flow with waves high and loud and all these creepy noises siege my ears. Potiki, 13 Finally, we have an account of the Northland Regional Finals of the Korimako Trophy speech contest, written by a Northland College pupil. Tena koutou e te iwi katoa. Kei konei nga kupu o te mihi o nga tamariki o te Tai Tokerau mo te Maori Speech Contest. On Saturday 13 July 1968 the Maori Speech Contest was held at Northland College in Kaikohe. The students of the college, who were the organizers, made every attempt to follow the true marae traditions. Contestants spoke from the floor and a wholly informal atmosphere was obtained. The day began with a powhiri, followed by a wero and welcome by the Northland College Maori Federation. Then, speeches by the Major of Kaikohe, Mr P. E. Williams, Mr Pat Whiu, Mr J. K. Bogue, principal and Mr Hohepa of Northland College, were made, followed by a speech from Jakob Te Whata who chaired the meeting. This bracket of speeches was ended by a vigorous haka and an action song by the Maori Federation. Then began the speech contest. There were contestants from Panguru High School—Patrick Newsome, Kaitaia College—Ata Parkinson, Bay of Islands College—Heather Rawhiti and Northland College—Robert Pouwhare. The judges were Miss Ngapare Hopa, Lecturer at Auckland University and Mr Tahi Tate from Whangarei. The speeches were all of high quality and very sincere. Our efforts were well rewarded when Robert Pouwhare of Northland College won this final. The general topic of the speech was ‘Race Relations in New Zealand’. As a conclusion, Loimata Iupati, one of our Tokelau students gave his views of race relations in New Zealand. The day ended with a beautiful hangi prepared and served by the College pupils. Caroline Walker, 5 Academic Robert Pouwhare receives his trophy from the Mayor, Mr Williams.