Nga Kupu Aroha – Words of Love
17 December 2004
Working the real stuff... a supported housing community at Waiohiki - a place that might have a 'P-free whare' status... the Waiohiki Creative Arts Village... addressing suspicion and distrust... looking for keys to unlock a system set on assuming the worst... the Eagles Foundation of USA... the Mokai Whanau Ora project, Aotearoa... "working for things other than money"... working for a high traction entry into 2005...
Nga Kupu Aroha – Words of Love
14 October 2004
"…At the conclusion of the haka two of the warrior group stepped forward and placed upon the ground a black guitar case. They opened the case and fell back into line. The challenger, eyes flashing, gesticulated to the visitor to pick up the contents. He did so; it was a 12 string Maton 425 "acoustic electric" guitar. The legendary guitarist and rock icon Joe Walsh had just accepted the first challenge of the 'Sinners Tour' a project initiated by Mokai Whanau Ora, designed to raise awareness about methamphetamine use in New Zealand and to bring a message of hope, in that , with help, recovery is possible."
Nga Kupu Aroha – Words of Love
7 September 2004
"Life was cool, busy, and pretty low stress until when, two years ago, a friend, a Black Power leader, in a bout of methamphetamine induced psychosis took a knife and gutted himself. His death was a shock, both in manner and cause. When the news reached me I drove through the night and arrived at dawn at the gates of his ancestral marae where he lay, in state. There, beside him I stayed, in the Maori way, with his family and child and relatives and friends, and gang brothers, for the days of mourning, speeches and prayers, haka and song, until the time came to return him to his mother papatuanuku, the earth. And the emotion of these days fired my desire for action, kia whakarite, the desire to put things right."