18/07/2022
Kua hinga te tōtara nui i te waonui ā Tāne.. 😢
Moe mai rā e te rangatira - e kore tātou e kite anō i tō momo! Kua pohara tātou i tō rirohanga atu…
Haere atu rā e te purapura tuawhiti - haere atu rā ki ō tūpuna e whanga atu nei ki a koe. Waihō mā mātou e tangi nei, e rurutu nei hei ara hoki ki te manawa ora. ❤️🩹
E te whānau pani! Tē taea te kupu te whakamāmā i te mamae i tēnei wā.. Heoi mā te aroha nui o tō hapori e parapara i te ara kia tae atu anō ki te ao mārama. ❤️🩹
E te Taonga o Muriwhenua - kia au tō moe. 😢❤️🕊
I’d like to be remembered as someone who has advocated all his life for the downtrodden, for the less fortunate, for people who have been treated as second class citizens, for those who want some support to reach their full potential. That’s who I am. I knew that’s what I wanted to be at a very young age when I was institutionalised and placed into mental health wards. I was told I was a bad boy, and that I was on a pathway to jail. From the age of 8 to 13, I was locked in a mental health hospital. I was taken away from my family and given shock treatment. All those years ago I promised myself, that if ever I got a chance to make a difference, then that is how I wanted to spend my life. I wanted to show the people that I was never going to be the person that they always said I was going to be.
I look forward to the day where Māori can take their rightful place, where children can reach their full potential and true ability, where we can live life to do the things we want to do ... our way, not any other way. You only need to look at a kapahaka group, standing strong together, singing in unison, a positive kaupapa ... because it’s all focused and trained. That’s powerful. We need to start believing in ourselves, to trust ourselves, then everything else will change for the better. It's going to happen and the best thing is, it's happening in this lifetime so I'll get to see it! - Ricky Houghton
