While some people are talking….one Bishop is walking!
Doing justice is about the hikoi, and in Christchurch right now while many are talking, Bishop John Gray is leading his people by walking with them. He is also jumping on the back of the truck to deliver food parcels with a team of great people who are undertaking a coordinated effort to ensure essential supplies get through to those who are most in need and most vulnerable. I have just returned from a week working as part of a team in Christchurch, and I can say his leadership like that is a real inspiration.
Others in his team are busy too. For example, while we were there Maori Liason for the Police, The Venerable Harvey Ruru, was co-ordinating the work of the Maori wardens out of the New Brighton police station.
They both made our team, which was sent by Te Puni Korkori, very welcome, and helped pave the way for us to be able to engage and obtain real insight and understanding about the situation facing Cantabrians at this time, especially Maori. These insights are part of a report being written right now.
Unlike many reports whose recommendations never going anywhere, we will be joining again with Bishop John, Ven. Harvey, and the people working out of Te Rehu and Nga Hau e Wha maraes, and local providers, to help shape and co-create collaborative responses that meet needs and allow resilient communities and whanau to flourish.
Although we never got to meet with her, Bishop Victoria Matthews also played a pivotal role in our work there, organising billets for us in a nearby parish. This was a well thought out plan which allowed the team of counsellors, community development people and social workers to be refreshed each evening and work to the max. Bishop Victoria has also been flat out organizing some first rate response by pakeha churches in the diocese.
What was particularly striking is the way they all led by example. We couldn’t help but notice that while so many are talking, Bishop John was literally out walking the streets – such is the concern and passion of the man for the people in his community. Hats off to you pihopa.
While we were there we were able to make a real difference – whether it was coordinating portaloo relocation, getting the army in to fix roofs, distributing food, providing counselling and benefit advice, contributing to strategic thinking and planning, or the simple act of giving out dustmasks to the kids playing in the streets or families walking along as the wind whips up the plumes of dry toxic liquefaction to the extent that some places look like they are in a sandstorm – acts that were received with a warmth and gratefulness that humbled us time and time again.
I’ll write more about what else we saw and discovered a little later – from the port-a-loos to the people too afraid to leave their homes, from the queues at welfare centres to the resiliance of communities like Aranui, and of course the damage to property, economy,social wellbeing, and the huge emotional impact.
Kia kaha Otautahi!
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