He Whakawhitiwhitinga by Hohepa Taepa Nā Te Ford Foundation Nō te marama o Tīhema 1968, ka puta ngā pōwhiri a te Wāhanga Mō Ngā Take Whānui, o te Whakakaupaparanga e mōhiotia nei ko te Ford Foundation. He kaupaparanga nā te whānau rongonui o ngā Ford, mahi motokā hoki, arā, te Ford Motors o Āmerika, nā taua whānau te waihangatanga mai o taua pūtea nui rawa atu. Te whare o ngā Tari o taua Kaupaparanga, e hia ake ngā whakapaparanga te teitei, aua atu ana ki runga, kei New York tōna tūranga, he tāone rongonui puta noa i ngā tōpito o te ao, he tāone nui whakaharahara, he tāone nui ōna rerekētanga, ōna kino, ōna pai. Nā te Ford Foundation, ka taea te whakawhitiwhitinga o tētahi rōpū Māori taki ngahuru o Aotearoa, me tētahi rōpu Kiriwhero o Āmerika, tokoiwa, ki te torotoro, ki te whakawhanawhanaunga, ki te whakawhitiwhiti whakaaro. Tēnei mahi, tēnei whakaaro, i pupū ake i te whatumanawa o tētahi wahine nō Āmerika, he tumuaki tonu o te Kaupaparanga i kōrerotia ake nei, arā, o te Ford Foundation. Ko te ingoa o te wahine nei ko Siobhan Oppenheimer, he taitamariki tonu, he ātaahua, he tohunga hoki ki tāna mahi. Nāna ka tupu ake te whakaaro nei kia haere atu ētahi Māori, kia whakawhiti mai ētahi Kiriwhero o Āmerika, i tana whakaaro, he maha tonu ngā āhuatanga tūriterite o tātou o te Māori me o tērā o te Kiriwhero o Āmerika. Koinei ka waimarie mātou i tā mātou haere ki rāwāhi, ki te mātakitaki whenua, ki te tūhonohono i te Māori me tērā iwi, kia kite atu ai, kia kite mai ai; kia mōhio atu ai, kia mōhio mai ai; kōrero tahi ai i runga i te nohoanga a te taina, a te tuakana. Ko te hunga i waimarie ki tēnei haere ko Hēnare Northcroft, he Āpiha o te Tari Māori Toko i te Ora, ki Rotorua; ko Lewis Moeau, Kaikaute o te Tari Māori ki Tūranganui; The Ford Foundation Exchange In December 1968, invitations arrived from the Division of National Affairs, of the Foundation called the Ford Foundation. The Foundation was the creation of the world-famous Ford family, manufacturers of motor cars, known as Ford Motors of America. The building that houses the offices of the Foundation, comprising many storeys, reaching many feet up, is situated in the world-famous city of New York, a city of tremendous dimensions, at the same time a city of countless contradictions. It was this Ford Foundation that made possible the exchange of a group of ten Maoris from the North Island of New Zealand, with an American Indian group of nine, from the several States of America, to visit, on a goodwill tour, one another's peoples, and exchange ideas. The programme and idea were conceived by a young American mother, a programme executive of the Foundation mentioned above. Our hostess from the Ford Foundation, the inspiration of the exchange, was Mrs Siobhan Oppenheimer, a beautiful young lady, efficient, and a real tohunga in her particular field of planning and programming. She promoted the reciprocal scheme, that some Maoris should visit America, and that some American Red Indians should come to New Zealand, because of her conviction that these two peoples possessed many similarities, and differences also. Hence our good fortune to go abroad, there to see the land, to meet one another, to see and be seen, to know and be known, to discuss on a basis of good fellowship and brotherhood. Those who were fortunate to go abroad were, Henry Northcroft, Welfare Executive Officer of the Maori Affairs Department at Rotorua; Lewis Moeau, accountant, of the Department of Maori Affairs at Gisborne;