Captions by Jessie Puru. Edited by Maeve Kelly. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2021 - 'We're here at the Henderson branch today with Barbie and Andrew and Lync.' Kia ora, everyone. Thank you for meeting today. I know we don't have a lot of time because we've got a funeral today. We've mapped up a little course, and I was thinking we should back the hearse between the cones and come all the way back here, ne? The cones are put pretty tight, just to give us that experience of tight driveways. In the car park, there's still traffic coming in and out. With everything around ` the noise and the distractions ` it was quite realistic. It's important for us to be mindful of people, cos if we think about ` (SPEAKS TE REO MAORI) So I thought we'd just grab a little picture of a tangata that we, um, organised. - (LAUGHS) He looks awfully familiar. - Yes. And this` Although a lot of you will wanna run this tangata over... - (LAUGHS) We just want to make sure that you can see, you know, someone in your rear-vision mirror. Just to make sure that we don't knock over the tangata, and that, hopefully, by the time the hearse gets here, te tu tonu ana tenei tangata ` he's still standing, eh? We've asked Andrew to be first up. He's got the most experience at driving and manoeuvring. So we thought, 'Let's let him go first, and he can set the tone with all the experience he has.' (JAUNTY MUSIC) Oh, oh, oh. He gets through the first two cones perfectly, and then, hello, we throw a curveball in there, and then ka heke mai te ua ` it starts to rain. Make sure the passenger doesn't get wet. Oh, look at this. - Oh, wow. - How's the front, Barbie? - It's good. It's good. - Ohhh. - (LAUGHS) - Wow. That's perfect. - (CLAPPING) - Beautiful. The tangata's still there. Tino pai! 'So good on you, Andrew. And next up,' we're going to invite Barbie to take the wheel. This time, I'll hop in the hearse with you, dear, just so I can get a better perspective of what it's like being a kirimate or whanau pani ` to sit with you and experience the backing in a narrow space, eh? Ae, so` (CHUCKLES) Let's go together, eh? She is one of the most cautious drivers I know, driving forward. I haven't really been with her going backwards, but I don't think we're gonna have any issues here. - Aw, you can see all the families. - All the family there. They're all watching you, but don't feel that pressure. Oh my gosh. I got whiplash in my neck, dear. - Aw, sorry, dear. - No, that's all right. I'm trying to make it comfortable for the grieving family. Now she's revving it up, you know, really hooning it. And I'm thinking, 'Oh my goodness me.' But (CHUCKLES) maybe she's just making sure I'm still awake. Oh! What's that noise? Oh, rain, eh? Doesn't worry you. - Nope. Nope. - Rain, hail or shine, you will get this body home in one piece. - That's right. Yep. - How's the tangata? - Yep, he's good. - Ooh, I can see him. - Aw, hey, that tangata looks familiar. - Oh, just don't` Oh, you hit him! (LAUGHS) - Aw, dear! (LAUGHS) - You don't like that tangata, do you? - I don't like that tangata! - Oh my gosh! - Especially when he's talking to me in the car. - (CHUCKLES) Go forward! Don't stop here. - Aw! - Aw! - I think I might need to go back just a little bit more. - Pardon?! - Just a little bit more. - Stop there! Oh dear! - (BOTH LAUGH) - She bangs it couple of times, back and forth, back and forth ` much to my horror. Dear, get the first aid kit out. Oh, he probably needs a plaster! - Maybe the tangata needs to give me a pay rise now. Yeah, that was a good` good way to tell me. It was quite scary watching me nearly being run over. So I thought, 'Oh well, ka pai. I get the message.' (GENTLE MUSIC) (SOMBRE MUSIC) Today in our care, we have the late William James Shepherd, otherwise known as Billy. He is 74 years old, and he died of pneumonia. - He's been behaving. - Oh, good! That's nice. WOMAN, TEARFULLY: - KAIORA IN TE REO: - (WOMAN SOBS) (WOMAN SOBS) - Today, I have the privilege of assisting and dressing Billy. - We'll see you at home. - Yeah, definitely. - Thank you. - We'll see you at 1. That's OK. Billy was known as the world's oldest teenager, and he just loved life. SPEAKS TE REO MAORI: Your whanau will all be... happy to... party with you when they see you. - Although Billy is a Pakeha man, his whanau are a mixed family, and so they have decided to follow Tikanga Maori. And so they want to take Billy home for the duration of the funeral. - It's a beautiful thing when different ethnicities are able to care for two tupapaku in a Maori way. I'm now transferring Billy home. His whanau... await his arrival. Awesome. SPEAKS TE REO MAORI: 'I have now arrived at their whanau whare here in Howick,...' And heading up. '...and it's now time to transfer him inside. But we...' hit a bit of an obstacle. 'We needed to carry him over the veranda, 'and it posed a challenge for the whanau.' Sorry` I need you down here, because we're going to turn him down here. You're going to take the majority of the weight around to you. All right? I'll need you both to hold on this side. Back towards you again. Yep, towards you. And this way. That's the one. And in. Ka pai. I believe he would have been laughing at the pallbearers ` giving them a bit of a task trying to get into the whare. But that was his character. But we managed to get in there in the end. He's home now. - Yeah. - He looks like he's ready to party, eh? - Yep. - (CHUCKLES) So I'll be back in two days' time to uplift Billy and take him on his final journey, to Manukau Memorial Gardens. (JAUNTY MUSIC) - Today, we are with Gee Gee, who is a makeup artist extraordinaire, and he's going to give us some lessons on how to apply makeup on wahine and tane tupapaku so that they have a lifelike look and don't look... dead. First up to be our model canvas is Stephanie, and what a beautiful model she is. Just the perfect-looking, you know, dead person for us. - She's got beautiful skin. - She does. - Yeah. Mm. - As we move through those rigor mortis stages, we look different. And you all know we start to go really cool around here. - Yep. Around here as well. So don't be shy. Just get that product all in there. Keeping them slightly warmer is always more favourable, and it'll provide whanaunga some comfort if they're looking at loved ones as they remember them. - I have a question. - Yes, absolutely. - Especially with our elderly ones, how they have` Obviously if they're fair and they've got white hair,... - Mm-hm? - ...and if you're bringing the makeup to the hairline, how would you make that not look like they've got a mask on? - Always apply from the centre of the face towards the edges. If you're right-handed and you know you're gonna be using your tools with your right, just block with your left. Can you see? It's never going to be coming up into the hairline. - Barbie is right into all of this. She is totally fangirling. - Excuse me! (LAUGHS) - We need a dark model. (LAUGHS) - Fehi, you're a troublemaker. - Get her over here. You fullas are not playing attention! Come! Fehi's being an egg and having a bit of a giggle at the back with Nona. She just can't contain herself. - Stop being a clown! - She was distracting us, cos we were` I look at her and I just wanna laugh too, but I have to make sure` (CHUCKLES) You know, we have to concentrate on the lesson at hand. - Skin's looking good. This is that Pearly Gates beat, girl. - (LAUGHTER) - 'Let me in!' (CHUCKLES) Tell the bouncers, 'Let me in, honey. I look good. 'I know Jesus. That's my homeboy.' - (LAUGHTER) - 'Hey, boo! 'He's expecting me. I'm on the list.' - (LAUGHTER) - Beautiful. That's really nice. - Gee Gee is awesome. I really respect and love what he does, and he is firing on all cylinders. - Oh my gosh, she is looking amazing. She looks beautiful. She'll be a great-looking... tupapaku. (CHUCKLES) - Now it's time for the male model. Aue, it's me. - So, would there be much of a difference when applying makeup between a female and male? - 'Undetectable' would be the best word to use. - You're not putting a whole lot on the eyelids. - No. - Cosmetics that we use with moisture in them, it's always a good idea to finish with a powder just to lock that all in place. I'm just pressing a little bit of powder in just those very common areas ` you know, your hongi, kisses on the cheeks, forehead... Just so that when people come in and stoke their hair and give them kisses, they're not left with bare patches. - Now, I'm trying to lie still like a good tupapaku and not move. Nona's tickling my leg like a little brat, and it's making me move and laugh. - Rigor 'mitis' is kicking in. - (LAUGHTER) - Don't use words such as 'kicking' when you're down there doing that. Cos he can still move. - By the way, my hands are very up` - (CHUCKLING) - FEHI: It looks good. - It does look good, eh? - Well and truly good. - You know, a lot of family do like to take photos. - Mm. - Like, that is a nice photo. - GEE GEE: Oh, thank you. - We've come to the end of the session, and look ` my husband looks great. I think he suits the makeup. I feel like practising on him when I get home. (LAUGHS) (GENTLE MUSIC) (SOMBRE MUSIC) The time has come for me to uplift Billy and take him on his final journey, to Manukau Memorial Gardens. The whanau have had their final moments with him, and now they are about to follow him through to the crematorium. Does he have any favourite jams? - Dr Hook. - Dr Hook. All right. - (WOMAN SOBS) - I have now arrived at Manukau Memorial Gardens with Billy. You know, I can feel the mamai of his wife. I'm just grateful that the whanau are present with her to help her through... her pouritanga ` her grief. After Billy's cremation, in true kiwi fashion, the whanau have organised a party for Billy at the Pakuranga League Club, cos he was a bit of a party animal. - SPEAKS TE REO MAORI: - In his time, Billy was a great league player. He played in New Zealand and Australia. Billy was a fishing enthusiast, and he started the fishing club at the Pakuranga League in 1968. - Billy's brothers say that he was the modern version of Robin Hood ` a very generous man who'd give the shirt off his back to anybody. - He was the cool dad that I would tell all my friends he looked just like Hulk Hogan... - (QUIET LAUGHTER) -...from WWE wrestling. - He and his wife were known dearly to his friends as Rod and Rachel. - KAIORA IN TE REO: (SOMBRE MUSIC) - Today in our care, we're looking after a gentlemen we shall call Robert, who is 72 years old and died due to COPD. SPEAKS TE REO MAORI: He was a recluse gentleman. He liked to be by himself, alone. A very independent man in life, right through to death as well. Robert was meant to go straight for a cremation upon his death ` and they call it a direct cremation ` but we wanted to make sure that he looked good. Foliki, thankfully, popped up to buy him some new clothes, so we were able to dress them and then lay him in his casket. - Today we have Robert's funeral, and we've invited all the kaimahi to be part of his tangihanga. There are no whanau close by, so we are his whanau today. The staff are leaving messages on his... on his lid, and we want to celebrate his life as a whanau, ae. - SPEAKS TE REO MAORI: Let us sing together. Nice and strong and powerful for Robert, eh? - # Oh Lord my God,... - (GUITAR STRUMS) - # CONGREGATION: ...when I in awesome wonder # consider all the works Thy hands hath made... # - I feel, you know, it's important that we... that we have a message shared today, even though we don't know him personally. It's important that we celebrate life. - If I can invite Vanessa to come forward to say a few words or give us a spiritual thought, dear, and then we'll conclude after that, eh? Haere mai. - Robert, I just wanna say thank you for letting me have this opportunity to speak at your final farewell. But someone also said that there's no endings, only eternal beginnings. Though we say goodbye on this side, there are others, we know, that are welcoming you on the other side. - The words that Vanessa shared were so beautiful, and there were a few tears amongst us as a whanau and as a staff, and that made everything so worthwhile and meaningful. - CONGREGATION: # ...sings my soul... - It's an honour and a privilege to be holding your loved one, because it's their final journey with you. And I kind of felt that... You know, you kind of wish that his family were present. But at the same time, I felt honoured that I could do that for him. - And I hope and pray that if Robert was a recluse man and he didn't like people, that` we meant no disrespect, but the intent was to send him off with a beautiful farewell to say, 'Thank you for your 74 years of life here on Earth.' - KAIORA IN TE REO: (GENTLE MUSIC) Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we have a funeral home... in Porirua. (WHISPERS) Yay! (QUIRKY MUSIC) On day one, and we're checking out the place, and, man, she's windy! Oh, look at those trees! - Look at the trees. Oh, they're gonna fall. - Oh yeah, I think one of them's gonna fall over already. - And they say that if the wind stops blowing in Wellington, everyone falls over. So I think the only thing that will fall over is my beautiful trees out the front. So we need to get some reinforcements put in there in the little pot plants. - I think you're gonna have a bit of a battle with Tawhirimatea and your leaves. - The new leaf blower that we've got for Porirua branch is the leaf blower of all leaf blowers. Better than the one my wife got me. I'm getting goosebumps thinking about it right now, but if you` Yeah, I want everyone to touch it. So when you see me blow, you'll know that... it's` it's the one. And I need to show my wife so that she knows what she should've got. Tradition would have it that we have karakia ` a small prayer and himene outside of the building. - We want to invite the wairua to be present with us to help us on this journey and hopefully achieve the goals that we would like for... Poneke ` Porirua. And it's amazing who shows up for karakia today. - (RECITES KARAKIA) - We don't know these people at all, but it's nice that they want to be present and be part of karakia. They asked us, 'What are we doing?' We tell them we're having a karakia, and they feel like they, you know, wanna be part of that. That's beautiful. - Take care, guys. - OK, thanks, Katrina. Thank you. I guess we gotta let the work beginning now, and get the tradespeople in and start building. As we walk through the building and have a look, it's pretty bare and, you know, messy at this stage, but that's to be expected. It'll probably get worse before it gets better, with all the mess from the builders. The wall's coming here for the reception, so they come that way. And then the mortuary's gonna be sort of over this way. So the body will come out of the car and straight into the mortuary for preparation there. So everything starts with the mortuary first, and then we work around... you know, work around it. There's a lot of work that needs to be done. I mean, the toilet, the Venetian blinds, the ceiling... We've got to get in there and do the mahi, but I'm looking forward to the end result. - (SIGHS) Yeah, I can already see my budget. It's... blown already. - Brady and Lync have set up a casket display just in case people come and look through the window, they can see caskets beautifully presented, or they could choose one prior to their departure. That's why you don't need an alarm system here. This is alarming enough. - I can picture how it's all gonna flow. You can see an arrangement room; you can see the mortuary; you can see the chapel; you can see the reception area. And I'm feeling really hopeful for Porirua. I'm ready to serve the people in Poneke. Awesome. - We're expanding, and so everything is looking good on the horizons. And so I want to thank everyone for their support and aroha towards the wharemate.