'Do you want a marae in Te Atatū?"

“Do you want a Marae in Te Atatū?”

This was the homemade sign my late husband, Jack Te Huia, and his toddler son held up while sitting on the wall outside Te Atatū Intermediate School on Central Government polling day, more than forty years ago.

Why? He saw a need for such a space after attending the tangi of a respected local kaumātua in his home here in Te Atatū North, before the kaumātua’s whānau took him back to his own marae up north. It was a simple sign that expressed a deep and ongoing need.

Forty-plus years later, that need remains. There will never be too many marae in a community—spaces that allow us to mourn, to celebrate, to kōrero about the issues of the week, the month, the year, and to welcome the rich diversity of people and their thoughts.