May 13, 2019
Sir Hekenukumai made impossible possible
Let your hands to the talking, and there's no such word as can't.
They're lessons Te Rarawa chair Haami Piripi drew from growing up around Sir Hekenukumai Busby, who died on Saturday at the age of 86.
He says the Ngāti Kahu and Te Rarawa elder backed himself to the extent of building a waka and following the path of his ancestor Tumoana 100 years ago to sail back to Hawaiki.
While a man of few words, he had high expectations of the young people around him and tried to equip them with the skills they needed.
"He really encouraged a sense of independence and independent thinking and the ability to get on and do things and fix things, make things work that you thought couldn't work, and there has been a whole lot of situations growing up with him where he proved that over and over again. What you thought was impossible ended up being very possible. All you had to do was attempt it," Mr Piripi says.
Every school in the far north has come to the tangi at Pukepoto's Te Uri O Hina Marae, a sign of how much he has inspired rangatahi in the north to learn more about their culture.
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