November 12, 2018
Fighting talk puts Dame Naida on life path
Dame Rangimarie Naida Glavish is crediting her grandmothers with the fighting spirit that got her through life.
Dame Rangimarie was invested as a Dame of the New Zealand Order of Merit at a ceremony at Ōrākei Marae on Saturday.
She’s proud of the united face her iwi Ngāti Whātua put on welcoming manuhiri, and of the many supporters who showed up to witness the event, or sent their apologies.
She says the 1984 incident which first brought her national notoriety, being threatened with dismissal as a post office tolls operator for greeting people with kia ora, was a lesson in standing her ground.
"My grandmother taught me if you see something's wrong in front of you, then you must address it, you must correct it, because if you don't, you will become like it. That hasn't made me popular in my journey through life, but I've stood strong by that. if I believe in it and I can live in my own skin, I will stand by it," Dame Rangimarie says.
Copyright © 2018, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com