After a long journey north to Taipa, we got settled and headed to visit Uncle Hector ʻHekenukumaingaiwiʻ Busby and his home in Aurere. He is just 10 minutes away from Taipa in a placed called Aurere. He the one who connect with Nainoa Thompson in 1983 when he came to Aotearoa to study the skies in preparation for their initial voyage to Aotearoa in 1985. Uncle Hec is one of two Maori "Pwo" or master navigators and we were honored to join him in his home for a few moments. We made our way to Aurere, we turned into the road that leads to his house and made our way across a very narrowly constructed bridge that crosses a stream that fronts their property. It was quite challenging as the area is quite dark, perfect to see the skies above because Uncle Hecʻs house is away from the lights that could prevent a clear viewing of the stars. We drove down the winding dirt road to a few structures on the bottom of the hill that were the ʻwakairoʻ area or Maori carving as well as the Kupe Waka center. As we reached the top of the hill, we saw his home and fronting his home was a large star compass. There were 5 foot poupou marking the cardinal points of the star compass and in the center there was a navigators chair that can spin to allow the navigator to orient themselves as needed. Our hui was drawn to the area and stood in amazement because as we understood the mana of that space. The knowledge that was shared by Nainoa, Uncle Hec, Uncle Bruce Blankenfield and the other navigators who used that ʻāina was evident and we soaked it in. We made our way into Uncle Hecʻs home and spent some time catching up. The walls were covered with many treasures speaking of his numerous awards from the communities that he has served as well as a large picture of Pius Mau Pialug, the guiding mentor from Satawal who helped to shape and guide our journeys throughout the Pacific. It allowed our to show the world that our Moananuiakea was not populated by chance, but by meaningful navigation by our ancestors. Seeing Nainoa, Uncle Hec and the ngāti ruawāhia whanau in the room was special. After a short time, we gave our aloha and planned to be back to pick him up to head to Waitangi for our Powhiri, then headed back to Taipa.
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AuthorKumu Blake is honored to be a part of the hui representing the Moananuiākea consortium and Ngāti Ruawahia, the sixth tribe of Taitokerau ArchivesCategories |