Whaanau Charitable Trust
Teenaa koutou e te whaanau,
We have updated our grant application forms and added several new categories that our whaanau can use to apply for funding.
All grant application forms can be found on Ngaa Rauemi page.
He paatai aa koutou, whakapaa mai.
If you have any questions on how to use these forms, please do not hesitate to contact us.
As I ponder about him, I go back in time and remember the wonderful memories that still live so vividly in the deep recesses of the minds eye. It seems as if it was only yesterday and my grandparents were paying us a visit. I can see old Johnny and my grandmother Waipaera get out of the taxi and saunter slowly into the house.
It was exciting to see them because we knew that somewhere on his person Old Johnny had some gum hidden in his pockets. We had to find it. Sometimes it was hidden in less obvious places, like up his sleeve coat or behind his coat collar or even in the inside band of his hat. Just before alighting from the cab old Johnny hid the gum. We had a challenge to find it.
One of his most intriguing hiding places was behind his belt. It was a simple game. All we had to do was pat the pocket, or area where we thought the gum was located. He would mutter ae or yes or kao meaning no. the five of us all had turns and irrespective of the fact we could not find gum we all shared equally.
Old Johnny was a God-Fearing man. Everyday at six in the morning, you would hear him pounding the walls with his Tokotoko [walking stick.] That was the signal that the family would be having prayers and everybody was to congregate in his room around his bedside. He would lead us in a Hymn and then we would have a word of prayer. The Old Man as my father would call Old Johnny would always begin with his favourite hymn, Tama Ngakau Maarie. He would sing the first few words and then the family would join in. I can remember with fondness the blending of our voices as we sang. Without direction we automatically fell into four and five part harmony. My sister Moana sang with high dulcete soprano tones. Her voice soared a full octave above everybody else. My sister Poppy sang the melody line, Maudie sang the Alto and I sang the first tenor. My mum sang with Poppy and my dad filled with notes ranging from bass to tenor or wherever he could fit in.
It was a chicken skin feeling that just happened and I will always remember our family singing. Up to this day, I don’t know how it happened, all I know is it just did.
Written by Willie Haereiti
and published with permission from his daughter, Kare Haereiti.
Nau mai Haere mai ki teenei pae tukutuku o Te Aroa Haami Haereiti Whaanau Charitable Trust.
Founded on 28th July 1993, Te Aroa Haereiti Trust aims to find different ways to keep the whaanau up to date with what the trust is doing.
The mission of the Trust is to instill within its members a sense of pride in, and understanding of, their heritage upon which such persons can progressively act in unity.