Ngā Mahi Nēhi

Kei tēnei kōrero whakamutunga mō te Arataki-ki-ngā-Mahi, ka aro māua ki ngā mahi nēhi.  I hira haere tēnei momo mahi i te wā o te pakanga, ā, ka akiakina ngā kōhine Māori kia uru ki taua tūranga. 

E ai ki te Āpiha Arataki-ki-ngā-Mahi, ki a Kahi Takimoana Harawira (Te Aupōuri), he mahi pai te nēhi mō ngā wāhine Māori.  He whānui atu ōna whakaako mō ngā mahi tika mā ngā rangatahi Māori i ō McQueen. Tua atu i ngā mahi ahuwhenua, ahumahi rānei, i pīrangi a Harawira, kia uru a Ngāi Māori ki roto i ngā tūranga kē, pērā me te nēhi me te kaiako.  Ko tōna tūmanako, mā konei e tū ai he whakatipuranga hou hei kaiārahi mō te iwi Māori. 

He wāhine te nuinga o ngā nēhi.  I Aotearoa, he wāhine Pākehā te nuinga, engari, ka werohia tēnei i muri i te pakanga.

I whakamaneatia ngā kōhine Māori ki ngā mahi nēhi i mua i te tīmatanga o te Arataki-ki-ngā-Mahi, ā, ka manakohia kahatia e rātou i te wā pakanga.  Kua pāngia ngā ratonga hōhipera e te pakanga, ā, ka matea he tauira nēhi hou. Nā, i te wāteatanga o ēnei momo mahi, ka kitea te wāriu o ngā mahi nēhi e te ao whānui.  Ki ngā rangatahi Māori, he pai taua mahi nā te mea he mahi nui, he mahi whai-tiwhikete, ā, ka taea e rātou te iwi te āwhina.

I mua i te Pakanga Tuarua, i te ako ngā kōtiro Māori i te pūtaio-ā-kāinga [domestic science] kia pai ai ā rātou mahi i roto i te whare, hei wahine a te tāne, hei whaea hoki o ngā tamariki.  Koia, i te tau 1931 ka whakatūria tētahi kura ki Ākarana, ko Kurahuna te ingoa, e te Methodist Women’s Mission Union.  He “School of Domestic Science and Hygiene” tēnei, kia whakangungutia ngā kōtiro hei hāwini. Ā, ka whakatuwheratia he kura tuarua, ko Rangiātea te ingoa, ki Ngāmotu i te tau 1940.

I ngā tau tōmua o te pakanga, ka pīrangi kē ngā tauira o Kurahuna ki te uru ki roto i ngā mahi nēhi, kaua ki ngā mahi hāwini.  I te rapu hoki ngā tauira o ngā Kura Kōtiro o St Joseph’s, o Turakina, o Kuīni Wikitōria, o Hukarere hoki ki te uru ki roto i taua mahi.  I te tau 1941, ka tuhi te tumuaki o St. Josephs, a Sister Crescentia ki a Mary Lambie, ki te Tumuaki o ngā Mahi Nēhi i te Tari Hauora, e kī ana, “more girls are remaining longer at school”.  Ko tāna pātai, “what possibility there is for employment for them in nursing.”[1]

Engari, ko te kaikiri tētahi aukati i ngā wāhine Māori e pīrangi ana ki taua mahi.  I Tīhema 1941, ka whakautu mai te Tiamana o te Poari Hōhipera o Pātea ki a Lambie, kāore ngā tauira nēhi Māori e hiahiatia ana, nā te mea, ki tō rātou mahara, “being a Maori and with perhaps the 6^th standard primary education she would need more supervision than we would be able to give her.”[2]  Kīhai te tumuaki nēhi o te Hōhipera o Greytown i whakaae ki te whakangungu i tētahi nēhi Māori.  Ko te take, he pakupaku te hōhipera, he pakupaku hoki te tāone, nā reira, “there are so few attractions the nurses are allowed many privileges, ie., having male friends to afternoon tea, on the tennis court and they have an occasional dance and if there was a Maori nurse they would have the same concessions, so in a short time I am sure that I would have very few nurses on the staff. Please do not think that I dislike the Maori, for there are many I admire.”[3]

Kāore he mīharo, ka meatia e te rīpoata ā-tau o 1941 mō te Kuranga Māori, “[the] number who made good in the professions is not large, though a few Maori men and women have taken up teaching or nursing and some have entered the Public Service.”[4]. He ārikarika ngā kura tuarua, ā, he pāmamao te nuinga i ngā kāinga Māori, ā, he nui rawa te utu mō te nuinga o ngā whānau Māori.  Ka matea te Kura Tiwhikete kia uru ki roto ngā mahi whakaako, nēhi rānei.  Mai i te tau 1940 tae atu ki 1945, e 24 noa iho ngā kōhine Māori i tīmata ai ō rātou akoranga nēhi, engari, e 82 ngā Māori i haere ki ngā kura kaiako.[5]

I te aukatitia hoki ngā rangatahi e te iti o ngā karahipi.  E rima anake e wātea ana ki ngā kōhine Māori kia taea te kura tuarua te whakaoti, kia tīmata ai rātou i te akomanga nēhi.  Ahakoa ka riro he karahipi i te kōhine, kāore rānei, i waiho mā te hōhipera e whakatau ka uru taua kōhine ki roto i te whakangungu nēhi.  I kaha mahi a Mary Lambie o te Tari Hauora ki te kimi i ngā tūranga mō ngā Māori, engari, he rahi atu ngā wāhine Māori e kaikā ana i te nui o ngā hōhipera e rata ana ki te huaki i ō rātou tatau ki ngā tauira Māori.

Te Wā Pakanga

Ahakoa ngā raruraru, tērā ētahi nēhi Māori, ā, i haere he wāhine ruarua ki tāwāhi i te taha o ngā hōia.

He kaiako o mua a Jane Kiritapu Nēpia nō Hukarere.  I puta mai ia hei nēhi i te Hōhipera o Nēpia, ā, ka riro i a ia tētahi tūranga i roto i te New Zealand Army Nursing Service. Ko ia te nēhi Māori tuatahi i haere ki tāwahi.  E ai ki te Gisborne Herald, ko ngā tauira o Hukarere “were thrilled to know that she was the first nurse to represent the Maori race in this war”.  Ka whakawhiwhia ia ki te Royal Red Cross; ka tukuna te tohu ki a ia i Uepōhatu Marae i Hepetema, 1947.

Ko Wikitōria Kātene te Māori tuatahi o te Voluntary Aid Detachment ki te haere atu ki tāwahi, e mahi ana ki Īhipa, ki Itāria hoki.  Nā te nui o te whakaute me te aroha ki a ia, ka tonoa ia e ngā whānau o ngā hōia i tiaki ai ia, kia toro atu ki te Tai Rāwhiti i te tau 1945.  I kī mai a Tā Apirana Ngata, “several of the local soldiers had told him of her very great kindness and care of them when in hospital overseas. ‘One of our lads who was badly wounded and is still here on crutches, told me that if it were not for her care and the care of her kind he would not be back with us now’”.[8] Pāwhiritia a konei kia rangona a Wikitōria rātou ko ētahi tūroro Māori o te No 2 General Hospital e waiata ana. 

Ka rīwhitia a Wikitōria e Kia Rīwai.  Nō Wharekauri te wahine nei; he tauira o mua hoki ia nō Te Waipounamu Girls College i Ōtautahi.  I a ia e noho ana ki taua tāone, ka kaha tautoko ia i ngā mahi e pā ana ki te pakanga.  Hei tauira, he kaiārahi ia nō te Ngati Otautahi Club, ā, he tūao [waranatia] nō te Rīpeka Whero.

Nā te kaha nui o te iwi Māori ki te whawhai, ki te āwhina hoki i ngā mahi o te pakanga i toko ake ai te aroha me ngā whakaaro nunui ki te iwi me te motu i roto i ngā ngākau o ngā kōhine Māori; he take tēnei i kaha tahuri ai rātou ki ngā mahi nēhi.

I muri i te Pakanga

Ka tae ki te tau 1946, ka tīmata ngā Poari Hōhipera ki te karanga atu ki whakangungutia ngā nēhi Māori, hei whakakapi i ngā tūranga e wātea ana.  I whākina e te Poari Hōhipera o Whangārei, “[they] had not encouraged applications from native girls” i mua, ā, ka mōhio rātou, kīhai i tika tō rātou waiaro o mua, engari e tautoko ana rātou i te tono ināianei.  I te tau e whai ana, ka tū he hui tōpū nō te Kotahitanga o ngā Poari Hōhipera ki Ōtepoti i tautokona ai he mōtini “that a genuine attempt be made to provide greater facilities for the training of Maoris as medical officers and nurses”.[10]

Nā te āpiha Māori tuatahi o te Arataki-ki-ngā-Mahi, nā Harawira, i tino hāpai i ngā mahi nēhi hei mahi mā ngā kōhine Māori, engari, kāore e taea te kī, nā te Arataki-ki-ngā-Mahi anake i tahuri ai ngā tini Māori ki tēnei mahi.

I Noema 1946, ahakoa e 26 ngā nēhi Māori e mahi ana i roto ngā hōhipera, ā, 10 i roto i te Tari Hauora, e 96 ngā wāhine e whakangungutia ana.[11]

He kupu whakatepe

E kīa ana he kārangaranga te mahi nēhi, engari mō te rangatahi Māori, tērā ētahi raruraru me mātua whakawātea kia ngāwari ai te huarahi ki aua tūranga.  I mea mai a Harawira, “I do not think people are ignorant of the vocations available to our children but some do not quite know the ways of entering them.” I tino pīrangi ia ki te whakawātea i ngā aukati kia riro ai te mātauranga i ngā rangatahi, kia taea ai te huarahi e piki ai rātou.

Ahakoa ngā kaupapa papai e hāpai ana i te Arataki-ki-ngā-Mahi, ka kitea hoki he kōrero nō ētahi Pākehā i whakapaea ai te iwi Māori.  I tohea kia whai mahi ngā rangatira, engari, ka whakawhāititia ngā momo tūranga i tukuna ki a rātou.  Ki a Harawira me ētahi atu āpiha ruarua, he pai kia whakawhānuitia ngā mahi, kia whakanohoia ai ngā Māori ki roto i ngā mahi nunui ki ngā mahi papai.  Ka kitea i roto i tēnei kōrero mō ngā mahi nēhi, ahakoa i te kaikā a Ngāi Māori ki te tomo ki roto ki tēnei mahi, ahakoa i te kaha pīrangitia e ngā poari he kaimahi hou i roto i ō rātou hōhipera, ka tū tonu he aukati rarahi, ā-kawana, ā-kura, ā-kaikiri hoki, hei whakararu i aua kōhine Māori.

Whakaahua: Wiki Kātene me ētahi hōia o Te Ope Māori, Photograph Album: Charles Bennett - WWII, National Army Museum.  Hononga: https://nam.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/15267

1. Sister Crescentia ki a Mary Lambie, 7 Ākuhata 1941, Nurses – Maori girls as nurses, 1938-1941, H1 Box 1324 21/104, Archives New Zealand, Wellington.
2. Patea Hospital Board ki a Mary Lambie, 12 Tīhema 1941.
3. Matron, Greytown Hospital ki a Mary Lambie, 25 Mei 1941.
4. AJHR, E1, 1941, p.3.
5. AJHR E3, 1946, p.7.
6. Mary Lambie ki a Matron, Kurahuna, 20 Noema 1941.
7. Gisborne Herald, 7 Hune 1945, p.7.
8. Gisborne Herald, 19 Hune 1945, p.4.
9. Northern Advocate, 13 Ākuhata 1946.
10. Otago Daily Times, 10 Pēpuere 1947.
11. Otago Daily Times, 7 Pēpuere 1947.