July 29, 2022
Te Arawa health champion Inez Kingi dies
Inez Kingi has been brought on to Te Papaiouru Marae in Ohinemutu for the last time as Te Arawa gathers to mourn a wahine toa who devoted her life to their health and well-being.
The Ngāti Whakaue matriarch died at the age of 91, after being in residential care for more than a decade with dementia.
Friend Trevor Maxwell says she was one of the first Māori to qualify as a dental nurse, and she had a vision of by Māori, for Māori health services that seemed a dream when she started putting it into action 30 years ago.
“Alongside her husband, our rangatira from down-home here Pihopa Kingi. they both set up Tunohopu Health Centre. She set the dreams ahead and they have continued on doing a tremendous job. Couldn’t have picked a better couple to be running what they set up for the rest of us in Ohinemutu,” he says.
Inez Haereata Kingi’s nehu will be tomorrow.
Moe mai, moe mai, moe mai ra e te rangatira.