Tessa Laird

I whānau mai a Susi Newborn ki Rānana i te tau 1950. Nō Argentina ngōna mātua. Kua huri rauna ia i te ao engari ināianei kei Aotearoa e noho ana. Ka mahi tōna pāpā mā te Kāwanatanga engari mai i tōna taiohitanga iwhakahē a Susi i ngā mahi kāwanatanga i tāna mahi awhi i tētehi rākau i tāna māra kia kaua e tapahia! I a ia e ako tonu ana ka tautoko ia i te ‘Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament’, ā, ka tupu ake nāna anō a Greenpeace i whakatū i Uropi. Nā Susi rātou ko ngōna hoa i hoko i te poti tawhito, i te Rainbow Warrior, kia tiakina ngā wēra i ngā tāngata hopu me te titiro ki ngā mahi whakamātau karihi, te kawe me te tuku i te karihi pirau. Nā susi I waitohu I te haki, ā, nōna anō te whakaaro kia tapaina te poti mō tētehi pukapuka matakite a ngā Māori o Amerika “Warriors of the Rainbow: Strange and Prophetic Dreams of the Indians” nā William Willoya me Vinson Brown.
Tērā te wā i tohua a Susi e tētehi wahine Yaqui kia “whai i tōna ngākau”, ā, i tana tuhinga mōna anō, A Bonfire in my Mouth, ka whakaatu a Susi i pērā ia. He pono ngāna tuhinga mō ngā mea katoa kua oti i a ia te mahi pērā i te tiaki i ngā wēra, ngā kekeno me te whakapono ki ngōna ake whakaaro. Ka tuhi ia: “Ehara ko ngā kararehe anake te take. Ko te ōrokohanga o te ao, ka mutu! E pā ana ki te whakamate i te ao a te tangata kia tutuki pai ai ngōna nei hiahia mōna anō. Kia riro i a ia te mana whakahaere, ka toa ko te tangata nōna te ure nui.”
I wehe te Rainbow Warrior i Rānana i te tau 1978, ki te tūtaki ki ngā kaitohorā nō Iceland, i te Moana ki te Raki. He rerekē tēnei poti – I whai ngā kaiwhakatere waka i te taonga Hainamana I-Ching ki te whakatere i te waka mā ngā whetū me te tuhinga kei runga i ngā ratou haki e kīia ana “Fuck Whalers.” 17 ngā kaiwhakatere waka nō ngā whenua e waru. Ko Hilari Anderson nō Aotearoa tētehi. He kuki ia, ā, i taea e ia te tunu lemon soufflē i a te hau e kaha pupuhi ana i te North Atlantic.
Kia whakatā a Susi ka noho ia ki te motu Kāriki o Samos. Ka kī ia. “ I whakapono au kia pai ngāku mahi whakahē me wehe au mō ngētehi marama kia whai mahi rerekē – noho ki waenganui i iwi kē me te ako i ngō rātou reo me ngā rātou tikanga. Koirā te huarahi pai ake, ki a au, kia kaua au e maroke, e whakapau kaha. Me ngana tonu kia whai whakaaro ngā mātou mahi tiaki me te whakahē ki ngā āhuatanga katoa e pā ana ki ngaua mahi.”
I te tau 1985, i mua i tana haerenga ki Mururoa ki te whakahē i ngā mahi pahū karihi a ngā Wīwī i te Moana-nui-Kiwa, i whakapahūngia te Rainbow Warrior ki Akarana e ngā pūraho nō Wīwī. I toromi kia mate a Fernando Pereira, he hopu whakaahua, i te wā i ngana ia ki te tiki i ngāna taputapu hopu whakaahua. Ka hipa te maha o ngā tau ka hoatu moni te kāwanatanga Wīwī ki a Greenpeace , ā, ka mutu te mahi pahū karihi.
I tēnei wā kei te noho a Susi rātou ko tana tāne, ko Luc Tutngoro, he kaitoi Kanak, ko ngā rāua tamariki, ki te motu o Waiheke. He kaitiaki, kaiwhakahē, kaikōrero tonu a ia i tāna take: ngā mana ā iwi o te Moana-nui-ā-Kiwa.

Tessa Liard, June 2007
Tamaki Makau Rau/Auckland
Aotearoa/New Zealand