The reason I mention the Maori Queen's death this week on the blog, is how impacted I have been by seeing how her tangi (funeral) has so quickly and organically been organised. Consider this
1. She died suddenly so no planning was really in place.
2. The next day 4000 to 5000 people arrived at her home and were looked after and fed.
3. Yesterday 10000 people arrived and were all welcomed, honoured and fed.
4. This morning there were already 13 busloads waiting at the gates before 7am and more then 10 000 are expected again today.
5. By the time of the burial on Monday around 150 000 people will have come to pay there respects and be looked after.
6. Food and money is spontaniously being dropped off to help out including a 40ft long container arriving this morning from Maori in Australia filled with food, yet nothing has been asked for or mentioned.
7. They have already errected a dining room that is feeding 700 people at a time.
8. No person can go onto the Marae (meeting house) unless they have been properly welcomed on first. But if you a stranger arrive at the Marae at the same time as the Prime Minister of New Zealand you will come onto the Marae at the same time with the same respect and the same protocouls because they value you just as much.
9. There are no organised meetings or services and no rosters in the kitchen people are just giving of their best and loving others as they would love them selves. As people arrive they speak, they share, they weap, it just happens naturally.
For me this tells me that you can be organised with out organising but you must have an affinity for one another and good base values. These people felt real affinity for the Maori Queen, and they shared values of respect, commitment, generosity and automatically acted on them.
follow this link for better details
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10396861
