Sam.Rerekura

Horerawa tōku whaea i mātau i tōna matua ā Kāpene Hāringi Riiwhi MC. I tupu mai ia i roto Whirinaki pēnei i a ahau. Nā tōku tupuna whaea a Hūhana Whiu te Hira i whakatupu i a ahau i Whirinaki mārika tō mātou kāinga. E kore e tawhiti atu tō mātou whare ki te marae o Pā Te Aroha. Ka hoatū tōku tupuna whaea wi taku māma ki tōna tuakana māna e poipoi. Nā te karere o tāwāhi i mate mai a Hāringi i Crete i te rā 22 o Mei 1941. Mai taua wā, ā tae mai ki tēnei rā, hore rawa ia he kōhatu i whao tana ingoa. Engari kei raro tētahi rākau ōriwa e takoto ana, tatā atu ki tētahi piriti o taua takiwa i Crete. I ako ahau i te Kura Akoranga o Tāmaki Mākaurau, ka ako tauira kaumātua i Awanuiārangi ki roto tētahi akoranga mō te tohu Mātauranga Māori.  Kua rītaea tōku whaea inaianei, he kaiako ia i mua i te Kōhanga Reo o Mātaatua i Mangere.  Hoinō ko ia anake te tamaiti e toe ana heke iho i a Hāringi inaianei, i te mea kua mate kē a Loman. Koia mātou ko ana tini mokopuna Māori o Whirinaki nei. Inaianei, ka whakaahuangia ahau he pakipūmeka ki roto taku kamupene ko 'Kupe Productions' te ingoa. Hoinō tāku tēnei e te iwi ko Sam Rerekura.__________________________________________________________________________________________________________Translation: My mother never knew her father, Captain Harding Leaf MC. She was raised in Whirinaki like I was. I was brought up by my grandmother Susan Whiu te Hira in Whirinaki not far from the marae, Pā Te Aroha. My grandmother handed my mother over to her older sister to be raised once word came back that Harding died in Crete on 22 May 1941 near a bridge some distance down the road from Platanias on the way to Maleme Air base. He remains without a proper burial and is somewhere in an olive tree plantation near a bridge. I trained as a teacher at the Auckland College of Education and lectured adults at Awanuiārangi in a Bachelor of Mātauranga Māori programme. My mother now retired was a teacher of the Māori language at Mataatua Kohanga Reo in Mangere. She is the last surviving child of Harding now that Loman has passed away (her half-brother, a pākeha). We are his Māori grandchildren from a real Māori family from Whirinaki mārika. I produce and direct documentaries now from my company called 'Kupe Productions'.