Rima | Glen Innes
“I’m sorry what happened to your people. My heart goes out to you. Time heals, but you will never forget what’s happened to your people. So, so sad. Kia ora.
For me, it was very sad that you know, sooner or later this sort of thing is going to come here. I would hate to think that we’re going to be unsafe. In terms of the community, I think the community will look after itself. We’re quite a resilient people here. We have different cultures here. So, I think the community will get together and make sure that we, we are safe, the best way we can.
It’s very sad. To know that there’s a lot of people down in the South Island who lost their lives. We have a local mosque here just down the road, and you know, everybody has a right to go about their daily lives, to go and pray. So I feel very, very sorry, and I give my condolences to the people down in Christchurch, and their families who have lost their lives.
When I talk about the community keeping safe, we will look after one another. You know, this area has a strong background looking after families themselves. We have a lot of problems, a lot of social problems here, but at the end of the day we’ll work it, we’ll work it through with the different types of organisations in our area.
I’m a New Zealand born Māori, born in the Waikato. So I’ve more or less lived most of my life up here, but I also have connections in the central North Island with the local iwi down there, because my wife is from there. I mix with a lot of different, different people, a lot of cultures, and I live my life the best way I can and try to stay healthy.”
