Tina Ngata

Nō Te Tai Rāwhiti a Tina, tokorua āna tamariki. Ko āna mahi, he kaitaunaki i ngā kaupapa taiao o ngā iwi taketake me ngā mōtika tangata. Ka aro ia ki ngā kaupapa ā-rohe, ā-motu, ā-ao hoki e mārama ai te kite i ngā tāmihanga a te whakapū whenua, pānei i te mahana haeretanga o te ao, i ngā parahanga paitini. Ka aro hoki ia ki ngā kaupapa e whakatairanga ana i ngā mahi a ngā iwi taketake hei tiaki i te taiao, hei tauira whakakitenga mō te ao.

One of my favourite sayings is, ‘Be a good tipuna.’ I think about my mokopuna, mokopuna tuarua, tuatoru rānei – what do I want them to remember about what Nanny Tina stood for? What do I want them to take from my decisions and how I lived my life? It’s easy to whakapapa back, but we must remember to whakapapa forward.