This Whare is my Mum…I know it is almost the same as the pakeha houses on each side of us…made out of wood, glass and roofing iron…but like the devout catholic views the wine and the wafer…we see this whare as Mum…Parehinetai o Waitaha.

Manuhere Maori (maori guests) say… “Atamarie Kuia, ataahua koe, mahana koe…”

(Good morning with respect old lady, you are beautiful and warm…)

Many thousands have come and gone.

I’ve gone back to live with my Mum and for me it is the way forward…plus I love it.

Tenakoe Muhammad Ali…this is the plaque we’d like to put on your Pou Whenua (Marking Post) at our Tapu Te Ranga Marae in Wellington New Zealand.

Muhammad Ali v USA Aug 23rd1966 rounds/one…time/ 5 yrs.

Punched way above his weight…impossible odds…the fight transcended boxing/sport… into mythology…fought same Monster who enslaved his Old People…also destroyed First Nation peoples of his birth/choice/country.

“...if I pass this test I’ll come out stronger than ever”

His weapon of choice was justice… “I am free to be who I want to be…”

“…no Vietcong ever called me nigger”

Won/points decision 8 /0. A new Heavyweight champion for Peace.

Heroes Path…so we who follow behind can find the way.

It is 4am in the morning…our whanau have been preparing for my mokopunas…Sherie 21st tomorrow.

It’s a biggie…the whanau are pulling out all the stops…it’s busy busy and busier…they all have their jobs…they’re better than the proverbial ‘well oiled machine’ this one runs on whanau tanga and shrieks of laughter (even at 4am)

Central to it all is my lovely…mother of four…daughter General MayBelle…she sees the whole picture…and at 6pm when our Sherie unknowingly arrives and the doors are flung open…she will be hit by that very special ‘Wow Factor’…no commercial hotel could compete.

Up front it’s our Beautiful Grand daughters 21st birthday…the creating of it creates us.

Inter-tribal warring took an enormous toll on Moriori and fearing total annihilation, Nunuku ordered all disputes leading to fighting were to be restricted to using sticks no thicker than a thumb and no longer than an arm. First to draw blood was the winner.

The impact of this on Moriori was to change their culture radically from that of their mainland cousins, the Maori. Hunting became the order of the day in proving strength and manhood.

Their connection to the land and to their ancestors is remarkable, perhaps in comparison to the most sacred of people groups in the world.

They were invaded by pakeha sealers who raped and pillaged…an even more damaging migration of some 500 displaced maori from Taranaki arrived exhausted…they were welcomed and fed…in return these new invaders…"walked the land". This meant walking and taking whatever they wanted…anyone who disagreed was killed.

They suffered huge losses…they were enslaved and eaten while the New Zealand Government ‘watched’…eventually they ‘turned to the wall’…became extinct.

The spirit of Nunuku is not extinct…it has invaded their invaders…it touched down in our whare these few days.

3.30 am

Right now…I feel the presence of all those young ones who worked many long hours to put this Whare here…they are here in these walls…fixtures.

There is an Ope (visitors) here now from Rekohu (Chatham Islands) to me they bring the spirit of their Great Nukunuku …Rangatira, high priest, extreme pacifist.

Right now…while our Ope sleep…Nukunuku and these young ones of our mingle…for that’s what he was on about…our children.

My job is easy…I’m just the gate keeper…

Tenakoutou ki Te Whanau o Te Rangatira Kaiparahuarahi Muhammad Ali…

(greetings to the family of the great Trailblazer Muhammad Ali)

I’m Bruce Stewart our web site is www.taputeranga.maori.nz.  We are going to host a hui (conference) at our Marae commencing on the 23rd November 2006 for our Somali people…They choose our Marae because we have compatible issues…we are not really free to live our culture our spiritual beliefs in our country.

They are mainly Black…they are refugees…Muslims. They have had some difficulties adjusting to a White Christian well-off majority who unlike USA have had time to get to having ‘adjust’ to the Black part of their family.

They are very few…it is not so much what is said but what the body language says day after day…

Muhammed Ali has always been a hero of mine not so much for his boxing…for his self belief…for his fearlessness in punching way way above his weight…we need those positive out front trailblazers to mark out a trail so we who follow behind can find the way.

We would like the blessing of Muhammad Ali to unveil a Pouwhenua (monument) to him on our Marae…it will be a large rock on a mound of earth…on the rock will be a plaque in bronze to him…we will plant a special native tree.

Waiting for your reply.

Arohanui Bruce Stewart.