‘Tā Tātou Kōhine’: Te Y.W.C.A. me ngā wāhine Pasifika, Tāmaki-makaurau 1939-1945.

E ai ki te Kotahitanga o ngā Kōhine Karaitiana (Y.W.C.A—Young Woman’s Christian Association) he whīwhiwhi, he uaua hoki tō rātou urunga ki roto i ngā mahi o te Pakanga Tuarua.  Ko te hāpai i te rangimārie he tino kaupapa o taua rōpū; nā reira kīhai i pīrangitia kia whakaaturia tā rātou tautoko i ngā mahi pakanga.  I te hui o te poari o te peka o Tāmaki-makaurau i Hepetema, 1939, ehara te orokotaenga mai o te pakanga i te kaupapa tuatahi, ko te tekau mā whā kē o tā rātou rārangi take; he hira kē te tuanui turuturu o tō rātou tari whakahaere.[1]. Engari, i te hora mai o te Hapanihi ki roto ki te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, ka tahuri te Y.W.C.A ki te tautoko i ngā mahi pakanga.

Ka pāngia tō rātou whakaaro e te hekenga mai o ngā wāhine e whakaraerae ana ki ngā wero o te tāone.  Ko te tino kaupapa a taua rōpū he tautoko i te “Kōhine”: “the young, vulnerable working woman, needing protection, guidance, a safe space from which to find her feet, a job to support herself, a roof over her head, and friends who cared” [2]. I tautona e te Y.W.C.A i ngā wāhine e mahi ana ki Ākarana i te wā pakanga nei.  Tokomaha ka ahu mai ki ngā tāone, tae atu ki ngā wāhine Māori, engari he ruarua ngā korero mō te āwhina a te Y.W.C.A i ngā wāhine Māori. Otirā, tērā ētahi hunga pakupaku i heke mai i ngā moutere o te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, arā, ngā wāhine i pūrere mai, ina koa mai i Tonga, me ngā wāhine i haere mai i Rarotonga hei hāwini i raro i te kaupapa o te kāwanatanga, ā, nā te Y.W.C.A rātou i awhi.  I a rātou te āhua o te “kōhine” i tiakina e te Y.W.C.A; arā, i haere mai ia ki te mahi, ā, ka hiahiatia he hoa kia taunga ki te whenua tauhou nei.

Tokoiti ngā wāhine o Aotearoa i hiahia ki te mahi hei hāwini i roto i ngā kāinga o ngā Pākehā whairawa; he iti rawa te utu, e rua pauna anake i te wiki.[3]. E ai ki te Y.W.C.A me whakarite te mahi nei hei mahi tūturu (essential) kia nui ake ngā utu mō ngā kaimahi, engari, i hāpaingia kētia e te kāwanatanga kia mauria mai he wāhine i Rarotonga kia whakakīa ngā tūranga hāwini.[4] I whakahēngia e te Y.W.C.A te kawe mai i ngā wāhine o ngā Kuki Airani mō ngā mahi hāwini anake, “unless under a government scheme, which allows for a change of occupation after a determinant time”. [5]

Ahakoa tō rātou matakawa ki te kaupapa nei, ka tautoko te Y.W.C.A. i ēnei wāhine i roto i ā rātou mahi, ā, ka hoatu he kākāhu mahana, he mea tuitui e āna karapu.  Kīhai te nuinga o ngā wāhine i mōhio ki te reo Pākehā, ki ngā mahi rānei i roto i te kāinga Pākehā.  Kīhai te Y.W.C.A. i whakaae kia mutunga-kore tā rātou noho, me te iti hoki o ngā tūranga e wātea ana.  Nā ngā whakahē a te rōpū nei te kaupapa nei i whakamutua i te tau 1943. [6]

I tēnei wā hoki, ka aumihia ngā wāhine e iwa tekau o Tonga; nā te wehi ki te pātata mai o te Hapanihi rātou i rere mai ai ki Aotearoa. [7]  I whakatūria e te Y.W.C.A. he komiti hei tautoko i aua wāhine; nā te mea ko tō rātou pāhihi mai anake i utua e te kāwanatanga.   “[They] set up beds in the gym and found blankets, a difficulty because blankets were rationed”. [8] He mea whakarite hoki kia utua he karāti iti e te War Services Fund mō aua wāhine. [9]  Ā, i mahia he kākāhu e ngā rōpū tuitui o te Y.W.C.A.  I meatia i roto i te Hōtaka Raumati 1940-41 mā Te Rōpū Tuitui mō te Hunga Whakaruru “will resume on February 6th, 1941. During this vacation donations of materials or garments to be remade will gladly be received at the enquiry office”. [10]

I whakatūria hoki he karapu mō ngā wāhine Pasifika; hei whakawhanaungatanga, kia mau tonu ā rātou tikanga i ngā wāhine o Rarotonga, o Tonga me ērā atu moutere o te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa.  I tētahi hui o te Senior Activities Council ka whakanohoia ngā wāhine Pasifika hei take tuatoru o te rārangi take, kei runga ake i ngā kaupapa e pā ana ki te pakanga.  E ai ki te pūrongo, ka hui te karapu i ia wiki i ia wiki, he waiata, he kanikani hoki ā rātou mahi. [11]  E kīa ana, “this club for girls from the pacific islands will give them the opportunity of keeping in touch with each other and will serve further to foster their interest in their own music, dancing and crafts”. [12]. Ahakoa te aronga ki ā rātou tikanga ā-iwi, i pīrangitia hoki kia uru pai ki roto i te hapori whānui me ngā mahi whai-utu.  E ai ki tā Sandra Coney, “the aim was to settle people in the community and help them to become self-supporting.” [13]. Tua atu i ngā kai, i ngā kāinga, i ngā momo tautoko ā-tinana, ka whakaratohia hoki e te Y.W.C.A. he akomanga reo Pākehā.  Ka taea pea te kī, he whakaaro whakamua ō rātou i taua wā.

Nā, he ruarua ngā tuhinga e kitea nei tā te Y.W.C.A. tautoko i ngā wāhine Māori ki Tāmaki-makaurau nei i te wā pakanga.  E rua ngā take.  Tuatahi, mā ngā wāhine katoa o Aotearoa, Māori mai, Pākehā mai, ngā ratonga o te Y.W.C.A. ki Ākarana, arā, te wāhi tiaki pēpi, te karapu o te tāone, me ētahi whare noho.  Hei tauira a Papakura House, he whare i whakaritea e te Y.W.C.A. kia taea ai e ngā wāhine te noho tata ki ā rātou tāne i te puni hōia o Papakura.  E ai ki te NZ Herald, “quite a number of these being Māori women, who have been very popular with the other guests”. [14]. Kīhai taua whare i pērā me te karapu mō ngā kōhine Pasifika; ehara mō ngā wāhine Māori anake, engari, i reira rātou e noho ana.

Tuarua, tērā ētahi atu rōpū e tautoko ana i ngā wāhine Māori; hei tauira te United Māori Mission.  I whakatūria e tēnei rōpū he whare noho mō ngā rangatahi Māori i Tāmaki-makaurau; e toru ngā whare i waenganui o te tāone, ā, “every attempt is made to cater for sport, social activities, and Bible training”. [15]    He ruarua ngā tāngata e āwhina ana i ngā wāhine o te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa; nā reira i tahuri ai te Y.W.C.A. o Ākarana ki taua mahi.

Whakaahua: He konohete nā te kapa o ngā wāhine o Tonga hei whakawhetai i te Y.W.C.A. (Coney, 228, Lesnie Photography)

[1]       Sandra Coney, Every Girl: A social history of women and the YWCA in Auckland (Auckland: Y.W.C.A., 1986), wh.210.

[2]       Coney, wh.3.

[3]       Coney, wh.219.

[4]        Coney, wh.219; Rosemary Anderson, “Distant Daughters: Cook Islands Domestics in Wartime New Zealand, 1941-1946”, Journal of Pacific History 48, no. 3 (2013): 267-285.

[5]       Minutes of Meeting of Board of Directors of the YWCA Auckland, 18 December 1942, MS1131-97, Auckland War Memorial Museum Research Library, Auckland.

[6]       Island Domestics. Scheme Discontinued, 20 April 1943, Scrapbook of Press Cuttings from 1938-44, MS1131-7, Auckland War Memorial Museum Research Library, Auckland.

[7]        Coney, wh.225.

[8]       Coney, wh.225.

[9]       Minutes of Meeting of Board of Directors of the YWCA Auckland, 18 December 1942, MS1131-7, Auckland War Memorial Museum Research Library, Auckland.

[10]     Auckland YWCA Summer Programme, 1940-1941, MS1131-7, Auckland War Memorial Museum Research Library, Auckland.

[11]     YWCA Minutes of Senior Activities Council, 15 July 1943, Senior Department Committee Minute Book 1932-1943, MS1131-54, Auckland War Memorial Museum Research Library, Auckland.

[12]     Pacific Islanders Girls Club Opening, New Zealand Herald, 29 March 1943, Scrapbook of Press Cuttings from 1938-44, MS1131-97, Auckland War Memorial Museum Research Library, Auckland.

[13]      Coney, wh.226.

[14]     Hostess House, New Zealand Herald, 1 November 1941,  1.11.41, Scrapbook of Press Cuttings from 1938-44, MS1131-97, Auckland War Memorial Museum Research Library, Auckland.

[15]     Elsdon Craig, “Gillies, Heppy and Shelly: the Story of Three Mission Hostels”, Te Ao Hou, No. 19 (Ākuhata 1957), wh.36.