Queens' Birthday Honours: Mere Pirikah

RANGATIRA: Mere Pirikahu stands proud, wearing the raukura - white feathers that speak of where she's from and of peace and goodwill for mankind. PHOTO/DEVYN STAINES 300515WCDSMER02

As well as having 12 children, Mere Pirikahu has been a stalwart of Maori education and marae in South Taranaki.

At first unsure whether she wanted to accept it, the Nga Rauru kuia has just been awarded a Queen's Service Medal for her services to Maori.

Brought up at Pakaraka Marae, near Maxwell, Mrs Pirikahu is "steeped in taha Maori", her daughter Nan Pirikahu-Smith said. Now aged 77 she is still active in a range of areas.

Mrs Pirikahu's membership of the Maori Women's Welfare League dates back to 1960, when she joined with her sisters-in-law. She became a member of the Patea Maori Club in 1970.

She's a kuia of two marae. One of them is Pakaraka, where she was brought up.

She now lives in Waverley and her other marae is Te Wairoa-iti which is situated there. She helped form it, and was one of three who asked Bishop Cullinane for permission to use a former Waverley Convent School building.

She helped set up its first pre-school, which later became Te Hunga Ririki Te Kohanga Reo. She was its first kaiako (teacher). When she left it she told those who stayed that she would be back after she had retired.

At both marae Mrs Pirikahu has helped maintain the traditions of welcome, such as karanga and waiata.

In her fifties she was one of 10 nationwide chosen for a one-year crash course in teaching te reo Maori in secondary schools. It was at Te Kupenga in Palmerston North.

Afterwards she had the choice of school to teach at. She chose Hawera High School because it was close to home, and because her husband, Te Ngaruru Pirikahu, was from local tribe Ngati Ruanui.

She taught social studies and Maori language there for 20 years, finishing in 2005.

She spent the next eight years at Te Hunga Ririki Te Kohanga Reo, as kaiako. In her later years she's also been a member of South Taranaki's over-50s kapa haka group, Te Taikura o Patea.

Teaching runs in her family, she said. Her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren have embraced education. Seven of her children became teachers, and her first great grandchild is studying medicine at Otago University.