Rangi Davis Story
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Ki te taha o tōku matua ko Rangi Teahuahu Tana tōna ingoa Ko Tereawatea te awa Ko Maungarangi, ko tuhipa ngā maunga Ko Otiria te marae Ko Porowini, ko Tūmatauenga ngā wharenui Ko Ngati Te Ara, ko Ngati Kopaki, ko Ngati Hine ngā hapū Tae atu ki Te Waiariki ki Ngunguru. Ki te taha o tōku whaea, ko Mary Basil Tewake tōna ingoa. Ko Papata, ko Panguru, tu te ao, tu te po. Ko Hokinga te awa Ko Te Ao Mārama o te Waipuna te marae. Ko Ngāti Manawa, Ngati Kai Tutae ngā hapū Ko Hokianga whakapau Karakia ki Te Rarawa nui tonu. 104 Rangi Davis The gift of leadership and the responsibility it brings with it, are cornerstones of Rangi’s story. She has spent her life exploring her gifts and finding her call to ministry as a lay person. This call goes way back to her early life, observing her elders on the marae. Over the past 30 or more years, Rangi has contributed to community development on the North Shore with her knowledge of te ao Māori (the Māori world), practice of tikanga Māori (protocol), her skill as a psycho-synthesis counsellor and through her own spiritual journey. Rangi is the eldest of eleven children. Her home is Orauta, where her to get a grip on life. She says that she felt she was in training Otiria Marae is located, near Moerewa in Northland. Ngati te for life right from the time she was young, as she would daily run Ara Ngati Kopaki and Ngati Hine are the hapū of this area. As three or four miles up the valley to pick watercress and puha, or the eldest child Rangi learnt to take on responsibility at a young to the totara tree which was surrounded by an orchard of apple age, by assisting her parents with the running of the home, caring trees. That was my job, but unbeknown to me, I was in training. for her siblings, and doing her share of the household chores and Rangi ran everywhere: to visit her grandfather up the road, aunty early morning starts to tend the three acres of land that provided down the road, uncle across the road, and then to school each day. produce for the family. I just love being family, my mum and my dad Life was idyllic in this rural community. It was a beautiful valley, created that atmosphere for us. Religion has always been a feature it was pumping. It was happening. We had many families living in of Rangi’s development as a person. She described her mum as the community. a staunch Catholic steeped in tikanga Māori and her father as Although Rangi’s parents spoke te reo Māori, they expected staunchly Anglican steeped in tikanga Māori and rongoa (traditional their children to speak English. Rangi never formally learnt to Māori medicine). speak te reo Māori until she went to boarding school. However, She attended Orauta Native School, along with 75 other being immersed in tikanga Māori from a young age, spending time children, and was very athletic, playing competitive basketball with her grandfather fishing, and going to tangihana on the marae, (netball) and tennis, receiving coaching from some of New allowed Rangi to listen and observe. I loved the vibration of Māori Zealand’s top coaches. Rangi attributes her size ten feet as helping language, so I tried to read the Māori Bible every night. 105 At the time of the famous land march in 1975, led by Whina Cooper, Rangi was married and had children of her own. Rangi was further shaped as a young adult when she attended St Joseph’s Māori Girls’ College, which is a boarding school in Napier. Every day she had to wear shoes, a hat and gloves, starched blouse and smartly pressed school uniform. The school was proud of the talented singers who had been former students and Rangi enjoyed singing lessons. We went to a Māori girls’ school where we learnt how to be ladies. We were taught by Pākehā nuns and that was different from being surrounded by Māori aunties a lot of the time. One nun in particular was Sister Katarina, who was herself of Māori descent and greatly encouraged Rangi’s development. She was beautiful, recalls Rangi. I loved my school life. Mind you, I loved life! But it was there that she excelled in te reo Māori, which was a compulsory subject. Rangi had to have extra tutoring in English, reading and writing to pass School Certificate, just scraping in with 50 percent, whereas she was a top student in te reo and tikanga Māori, gaining 90 percent. She believes that the disciplined school environment contributed to her confidence as a leader. Rangi and her husband, Kingi, on their wedding day, 1968 She graduated in 1965. It shaped me, it really, really shaped my leadership. Those were massive days. Rangi remembers that she loved going to a tangi, as it was a Rangi then began her nursing training, specialising in time to catch up with cousins. It was an opportunity to contribute obstetrics. During her training she assisted at 23 births. While in another community setting and to develop her leadership skills. she went nursing for only three years in Whangarei, she found Our mother would tell us the story about mountains being there day her training came in handy when raising her own seven children and night watching everything that goes on, day and night and they and is now blessed with 22 grandchildren. Rangi married Kingi are still there today. in 1968. They had known of each other since college days; One significant person in her life, who became an inspirational Kingi had boarded at Hato Petera College during the time Rangi figure, was her Nanny Whina Cooper, who was her grandfather’s was at St Joseph’s. Once married they hosted Marist brothers from younger sister. Nanny Whina had her own grocery store and Hato Petera, who visited rural communities to promote the college was steeped in tikanga Māori. Rangi remembers listening to as an option for secondary education for Māori boys. Rangi and her talk about what needed to be done to stop land developers Kingi sent six boys to Hato Petera and became great supporters of surveying land in their rohe. She was a fighter, old Nanny Whina. the brothers. 106 I loved the vibration of Māori language, so I tried to read the Māori Bible every night. 107 108 Nanny Whina was already a patron of the Te Whānau o Hato Petera Trust. The college was founded in 1928 by the Mill Hill Fathers, first of all as an orphanage for boys. Bishop Pompallier had been gifted land by the government, which originally stretched as far as Takapuna beach. Today the college is situated on the corner of Akoranga Drive and College Road, in Northcote. By 1988, their children had left home, and Rangi and Kingi felt the call to volunteer at Hato Petera College. Rangi’s nursing skills came in handy. As the kaiarataki (driver or leader), they supervised up to 160 boys in the dormitories, many of whom were identified as being at-risk, or having some level of difficult behaviour. Rangi also managed the tuck shop, night shifts and second-hand uniforms. The college first took in girls as students in 2004. It was during this time that Rangi met Lyvia Marsden, who was establishing Te Puna Hauora, also on Akoranga Drive. Rangi at first wondered why this woman kept turning up on her step, but soon acknowledged that she was the first person in community she had met, and that Lyvia was an invaluable connection to make. Rangi had become disillusioned with Hato Petera and was struggling with the behaviours of the boys, feeling like she didn’t have enough skills to support them. She was also frustrated at the patriarchal nature of the leadership at the college. She was encouraged to seek some support for herself through counselling, but instead thought, I’ll train as a counsellor and then come back and sort out the lot of you! So she enrolled at the Baptist College. She also applied for a position at AUT to run government- subsidised training opportunity programmes (TOPs). I thought I’ve got to get a proper job, because working for God is too hard. When she went for the interview Rangi felt a little nervous as she didn’t have Rangi’s ‘Nanny’ and Great-Aunt, Whina Cooper a curriculum vitae so she used her initiative. I said to them, ‘Look, Whina Cooper addressing Māori Land March at Hamilton I haven’t got a CV, but I’ve got photos of my nanny [Whina Cooper], Heinegg, Christian F, 1940- : Photographs of the Māori Land Sir James Henare and Sir Paul Reeves, all in the same photo.’ I said March. Ref: 35mm-87529-13-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, these have been my mentors. Rangi was appointed to the job. Wellington, New Zealand 109 Rangi gained Level 1 and 2 counselling qualifications and show its rich history and cultural traditions and one day become went on to specialise in psycho-synthesis, a holistic approach to a community hub. I would love to see this place happening for the counselling where the focus is on connecting mind, body and community, with the community, about the community and by spirit. She holds a MNZAC registration. She has worked with the community. Currently Rangi and Kingi care for 29 Māori a number of community services including St Vincent de Paul university students and two from Papua New Guinea studying at House in Northcote, Hestia Women’s Refuge in Rodney and universities in Auckland.