This morning I felt a little uncomfortable around everyone from being so open last night that I kind of kept to myself. I didn't have any milk for breakfast so my lactose intolerance could take a break. We said our good-byes & parted company from Kinsie, Louisa, Ian, & Angela. Off we went to explore some more. Nina was driving. We took a gravel road for a while. I saw magpies, a wild turkey, three pheasants, & a couple kingfishers. All so impressive.
The surroundings were green rolling hills, lots of wildflowers, some jungly looking areas around the falls. Bridal Veil falls is about a 5 minute walk off the main road. It has a lovely view from the top. We walked to the bottom on a trail with a lot of steep steps. It was rough coming back up. The falls cascade some 55 meters (about 165 feet). There's lots of moss, ferns & fern trees.
Went to a town called Raglan. I bought a couple muffins for later. Also water & a cheeseburger. Their hamburgers are different. They taste like a soy burger with cabbage instead of lettuce, tomato, a creamy relish sauce, & an egg if you prefer.
Frank found a shop that sells flip-flops that are leather & locally made. He had bought some there 15 years ago. He about cried when they broke while living in NY.
Arrived at Elaine & Fay's at about 4:30pm. Had dinner & toured their beautiful garden. Lot's of sweet peas, an avocado tree, macadamia tree, lemon, tangelo, & grapefruit trees. Lots of peach trees & a vegetable garden with large broccoli that was ready to pick & everything else you can think of.
Elaine is a strong, quiet, & calm woman. She works for an organization against domestic violence. Fay is her partner that used to be a nun. They both were very nice.
Frank, Nina, Elaine & I went to a R.A.P. council meeting this evening. R.A.P. stands for Ranui (the name of the town), Action Project & is a government-funded organization that has many volunteer groups doing things for the community.
One project that Elaine is in on is D.O.B, "Dob-in-a-do-gooder". This committee finds people & groups that have done something good for the community & awards them with a certificate, stickers, pins, a gift certificate to a store or for four trees to plant in town or on their own property, & their name in the paper. They normally have two winners but this time they had three, two groups & one individual. The individual winner was a 14 year old Maori girl. Her school principal nominated her. The story goes that she was new in the school & very shy. No one asked her to be included in their group. As time went on, she started helping little kids on the playground & all the kids started to like her. She never complained & always wanted to help out. Now she's looked up to & sought out. Elaine told us that she's a kid that could go either way. That her parents & family treat her like she's worthless. Her mother almost wouldn't let her go to the ceremony but the principal went to pick her up & talked them into going.
This meeting consisted of Maori, Pacific Islanders, & Pakeha (foreigners, white people). Each group of people had elected representatives for each project. This was a financial report meeting. Elaine said there were more people than usual there & that one person in particular who had shown up had a tendency to go to meetings like this one, to intentionally try to break them up. We'll see", she said.
After most of the reports were made, approved, & seconded, someone decided to complain about the leaders of these projects not showing up to meetings & that they should be voted out. Evidently committee member leaders must call & put in an "apology" if they can't make it. Some leaders had a lot of apologies. That got things a little riled up. Several people stated paragraphs in the committee's constitution that agreed that they could be voted out.
Then a Maori man got up & was recognized by the chairperson. He sang a short song in Maori & then in English & then went on & on about how things were unfair to the Maori people, things that did not pertain to the meeting. So someone stood up & tried to stop him. He then complained that he was not being allowed to speak & talked even louder. More people tried to stop him, even the chairperson but he kept going. Some people got disgusted & started to leave including Maori people. The principal that I spoke of earlier stood up & confronted him. They started yelling at each other. He said she had no right to speak because she wasn't (such & such a tribe & she stood up & said, very strongly, "I am 1/4 (such & such), & _____..." Some of the man's anger came from their belief that a woman has no right to be confronting a man. By now the chairperson was standing & several committee members were trying to get order. The chairperson called a 5-minute break.
While people were wandering out of the meeting room, a white woman committee member, that knew the constitution & committee rules real well, was calmly speaking to the man & he was listening. The chairperson was being advised by other members on how & what to start the meeting back up with. When everyone sat back down, including the Maori man, the meeting was started off with the last project that needed approval & seconded. Then Elaine stood up & asked to be excused because she had guests to take home (us).
The next day we heard that the meeting went on for another hour with more problems & that it was good we left when we did.
***The Wiata was interesting & sometimes boring. We were all pretty tired.
Well, I think it does at least two things. One, it keeps their genealogy going & lets people know who they are. And two, they're not talking behind people's backs or having to say something to a person's face. It's just right out there in the open. I think the US should do that. We wouldn't have to hope our opinions hit the editorials. Of course, who has the time to listen to another's lineage & then their long schpeel. The Maori would bring their sleeping mats & sleep when they got tired of listening.
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