September 28, 2015
Straight talking kuia Waireti Walters will be mourned
Tears have been flowing at Te Paatu Marae in Pamapuria this weekend for Waireti Walters, who died on Friday of pneumonia at the age of 81.
Mrs Walters, who linked to Te Paatu, Ngati Kahu, Te Aupouri and all iwi of the far north, was one of the first Maori community health workers, starting in the 1970s.
She was a straight-talking advocate for wahine Maori and promoted cervical and breast screening, breast feeding, sexual health, and cot death awareness.
She also challenged her community about issues like violence and abuse, and took on the crown over land rights, the foreshore and seabed an the WAI 262 claim to fauna and flora.
Mourners at her tangi described her as someone with a gift for saying the things people thought but would not say.
Waireti Walters was awarded a Queen’s Service Order in 1998 for her services to the community.
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