Ki te tahamoana o Taupō-nui-ā-tia, kua puare ake te marae o Waitahanui i tō rātou whare tūpuna hōu me te wharekai hōu. He mea whakarangatira ake i te tau kotahi rau o te marae hoki.
He mea whakamānawa e te haukāinga, otīa e ngā morehū o te hāhi Rātana, kua whakatutukia tō rātou moemoeā ki te whakahou i te marae
“Ko te mea nui kia whakanuia ngā manuhiri kua tae mai nei ki runga i a mātou o Pākira,” i kī atu a Hawera Karaitiana.
“E kī ana te korero o āku koroua ko Tūtemohuta nui te kai, nui te aroha, tēnā te tāhūhū korero o taku iwi.”
Ko Pākira tonu te ingoa o te whare tūpuna hōu, me te wharekai hōu ko Hinearo, ka whāngai i ngā tāngata e rua rau e waru tekau.
“The wharekai came down, the wharepuni came down,” i mea mai a Ngātoru Wall, kaiwhakahaere i te marae.
“The carvings, we restored them our own men from the marae, touched them up. And the wharemoe we got uplifted and moved to the property just behind us.”
“We've got tukutuku that were done by the whanau. We've got poupou that were created by our young boys and our men. The old whetū marama and the temepara was in our wharepuni, we've put that back in. And we got one of master carvers, Mark Kahu, who carved us the poupou, the poutokomanawa, Tūtemohuta.”
Nō te marama o Haratua i eke ai te marae ki tōna tau kotahi rau, ā, ka tīmata ngā mahi whakahōu i te kotahi tau ki muri, e rua miriona tāra te utu.
“This is an example of how when you can breathe some life into it,” i korero atu i tētehi o te haukāinga a Tamati Coffey.
“You can create a place where the young ones will want to come back to, but create memories along the way.”
“Kia ora tō tātou marae, haunga i ngā tangihanga, ngā hura kōhatu, engari kia hokhoki mai ngā uri o Pākira ki te wānangananga i ngā wānanga, ki te ako i tō tātou reo, ki te whakaū i ngā tikanga me ngā kawa o tō tātou marae,” i kī atu a Karaitiana.
E whakarite ana ki te whakahōu i tētehi atu marae e pā tata atu, arā, ko Tutetawha.