… Continued from part 1 &  part 2. (last of series).

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…

Rangiatea

“E kore au e ngaro

He kakano i ruia mai

i Rangiatea”

I will never be lost

The seed scattered across the Pacific

From my ancient home in Tahiti

(Old Maori saying)

…

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Postscript:

Funny how things come round again. I was recently (2004) in Te Kuiti at Oparure Marae where I met whanau who, a few weeks before came upon and unearthed an old kumara pit with its cache of perfectly preserved kumara, big and seed size. The find also disclosed that the families who lived on that site moved out in the early 1950s, and surmised that the abandoned kumara pit had remained untouched all that time. The tubers were covered in bracken fern and manuka brush and had remained untouched by moisture, sunlight or air. This information rang a bell for me. The next day, we shared our experiences with the students of the Raranga Diploma. The seeds were planted and germinated and I was handed a small collection to try out in my tiny Papakura garden. Yes, I still have seeds from that exchange.

Extraordinary!