Ready to take on a challenge
DAME Aroha ReritiCrofts was a former president of the Maori Women’s Welfare League, teacher, kapa haka advocate and Ngai Tahu community leader.
She died at Christchurch Hospital, surrounded by whanau, on May 20, aged 83.
Dame Aroha (Ngai Tuahuriri, Ngai Tahu) was a kaumatua of Tuahiwi Marae, near Kaiapoi, and represented her hapu both locally and nationally, including as a representative on the tribal council of Ngai Tahu.
Her signature purple and elegant hats were easily recognisable wherever she went.
She was passionate about kapa haka, taking it up at age 7 and developing to become cotutor of the Maori cultural performance group at the 1974
Commonwealth Games. She set a world endurance record for a poi performance: 30 hours and 19 minutes.
Dame Aroha then became a teacher, a profession she held until 1989, when her husband Peter Reriti died.
That prompted some changes, and she dived deep into her life’s work and ran for president of the Maori Women’s Welfare League, which she had joined in 1968.
She was the league’s president for much of the early 1990s, and became a staunch advocate for Maori health, wellbeing and parenting programmes. She also used the role to support Maori women’s business startups and development.
Beyond that, she also served in leadership roles with the Poutama Training Centre, was a board member of the Ngai Tahu Development Corporation, and was chairwoman of the Maori Midwives Trust. She also sat on Rakai and Mawhere land committees.
‘‘What’s been my driving force? If there’s a challenge out there I want to have a go at it,’’ Dame Aroha told RNZ in 2020.
‘‘If there’s an opportunity to help someone then you grab the opportunity, and I enjoy doing so.’’
After the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, Dame Aroha, as chairwoman of the Matapopore charitable trust, she helped ensure Ngai Tahu’s role in the rebuild of Christchurch, using Ngai Tahu artists and offering cultural advice and guidance.
‘‘Our city looks beautiful,’’ she said. ‘‘What that is doing is that we are making a statement.
‘‘When my ancestors were here and the settlers came, my ancestors were expected to die out. They didn’t.
‘‘When the city was built, my ancestors weren’t included in the planning of the city. But we are now.’’
Dame Aroha had many accolades, including once being named ‘‘Young Maori Woman of the Year’’, was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal, and in 1993 she was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. She was knighted in 2020.
‘‘I’m still Aunty Aroha. I’m still me; the Dame hasn’t changed anything.
‘‘I still look the same when I look in the mirror.’’
Dame Aroha is survived by three of her four children, and many mokopuna.