Farewells at AJHS

Me & Kaumatu Des Ripi

It was with a heavy heart that I said goodbye to the staff and students of AJHS at the end of the term. AHJS is really good at celebrating the end of the year with two academic prizegivings (held during the day) involving plenty of singing, performing, Kapa Haka, awards, speeches, tears and farewells. It was like a scene from "Grease" as waved the Ruru kids goodbye and they ran out of the atrium cheering but many of them stayed behind, making sure their school shirts were signed and thanking staff for all their help over the years. As many of you will know, I'm not great at keeping the tears at bay at even the silliest of things, so there were quite a few times I was wiping my eyes and blowing my nose! Friday morning was for staff only where the school put on a morning tea for everyone with presentations and more farewells. Yet again I was blubbering away, overwhelmed with the words from so many and the gifts. The absolute highlight of the morning was having my new greenstone (pounamu) blessed by a bona fide Maori Elder. AJHS works closely with Auckland Prison creating carvings for the school grounds and this is headed up by Kaumatua (Elder) Des Ripi who is National Maori Services Manager with the NZ corrections department. Des is a spiritual leader in the Maori community of Auckland but also plays a big role at AJHS, speaking at assemblies and working closely with the Maori students through the carving programme. Des is an incredibly wise man, holding audiences big and small in the palm of his hand with his use of proverbs to give meaning to everyday life. It was a special moment as he held my pounamu in my hand, telling me its story and then putting it on me. There were only a handful of my good friends around me as he blessed the stone and even the boys in the group were hanging on his every word. What a great way to leave. 

LM.