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Home / Bay of Plenty Times

KAPAI'S CORNER: ABs' new haka will send Matildas waltzing away

Bay of Plenty Times
4 Sep, 2005 05:00 PM3 mins to read

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Spring is in the air and it's time for a cool change, in with the new and out with the old and it started last Saturday night when the mighty ABs hooked in to a haka that made everyone and everything stand up including the hairs on the back of my neck.
Derek Laddelly from Ngati Porou has given us a gift we can all tie a ribbon around and open it up when a pocket full of patriotism is needed.
In a pipi shell Kamete Kamete was all about defeat and hiding under the old lady's skirt until the baddies ran away and this haka is all about a new beginning for all New Zealanders be they Kiwi, iwi, gingernut or coconut.
Derek's statement of it's our time, it's our moment to triumph when we acknowledge and accept each other for who we are not who others want us to be, is a celebration in itself.
If Tana and the BroBlacks rak it up again against Ngati Skippy and his 15 Matildas, they won't sing because their waltzing will be drowned in Derek's dynamic lyrics.
Although readers will all know the result, as I write this on Friday, I'm picking the ABs by 27.
Another cool korero that caught my eye this sunny spring day was the random act of kindness (RAK) started in Auckland by one Derek De Jong. Random acts of kindness are doing something for someone that sprinkle a little joy and gives new hope to the meaning of "hope springs eternal" and we all know where there is Hope there is Crosby.
Be it breakfast in bed or the best breakfast in the world at Cafe Paradiso in Te Puna, give a kai to the old fulla and tell him, tell him, tell him that you love him, warts and all. Or you could weed your neighbours garden but in my case I have a lot of ragwort in my own garden of life that needs a good hetehete before I even start to smell the roses of my neighbours. It don't take much and it don't cost a kete full of cash to spread a little spring joy with a Random Act of Kindness.
And a couple of bouquets to kickstart a magic Monday. What a toiler Ben Hopkins has been for Papamoa Rugby. Twenty years on the paddock since he was five for the new force in Bay rugby Ben's dedication to the jersey was rewarded with the award of Player of The Season. Big ups to you Bro it must have been the good stock or the woodstock in your dads genes.
And for the future leaders award go no further than Rangiuru School. I had the privilege of sharing a few yarns with the tu meke tamariki there on Friday and the wairua of that kura is everpresent everywhere and you can almost taste the tupelo honey on the rock.
The flowers in that Kura's garden are blossoming because there is a bro there running the show that truly does know the meaning of creating a learning environment and the saying "when you laugh you learn" springs to mind.
So RAK up reggae and play some spring music that makes the medicine of life taste as sweet as the smiles on Rangiuru's kapai kids.
If I could turn back time I would but I can't so it's time to look forward and let the living do the laughing and know that New Orleans can be but a blues note waiting around the corner for us all.
Pai marire
tommy@indigenius.org

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