Captions by Faith Hamblyn. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2022. - (MUSIC CONTINUES) (MUSIC CRESCENDOES) (CONTEMPLATIVE MUSIC) - I've ordered some lights from overseas, and they've finally arrived after months and months of shipping delays. And it's time now to spruce up Onehunga reception area. - I don't even know why they're changing the chandelier. Because the one we have at the moment, I like it. They've unboxed it, and it's... looking like a... bird's nest. There's so much. I dunno. It's like a massive puzzle. This is my husband and his... (SIGHS) lovely ideas. - A new light. - New lights, of course. - (BOTH LAUGH) - That's cool. - Yes. No, we put a new one in the Porirua branch. - Oh nice. - Well, actually, I brought them last year, two of them, - to put down in the hallway. - Oh, OK. Yeah. - But I saved them. - Yeah. - So one for the Porirua branch, one for here. - Yeah. - Just because one little light wasn't enough. - Yeah. - You go to Porirua, and it's amazing. - Yeah. - So we just want amazing there and amazing here. - Of course. - Yeah. So, what did you think of it when you saw it? - It's really nice. - Oh, it looks like a bit of a puzzle. The three round lights that are hanging, they, like, represent... And they're so heavenly, you can almost hear angels sing. Well, I was wanting to show you the Porirua branch and what they've got. - You see how they've? So that's the reception counter there. - Yeah. - And if I zoom in a tad, you can see. - They're on an angle. - Yeah. Well, actually, the big round one's flat. - Oh, the big one's flat. OK. - And those other two are just on angles in the middle. - On angles in between each other. - BOTH: Yeah. - Absolutely. - Yeah, that's cool. - There's, uh, ladders in the main entrance. There's people still coming and going. There's our receptionist, poor thing; there's a lot of noise. All in the name of... beauty. - (WHIMSICAL MUSIC) - The three round chandeliers are being held by lots of wires, and so as the electricians were hanging the chandelier in the reception area, they were twisted, they were mangled, and the poor gentlemen just were scratching their heads, trying to figure out how to untangle this disaster. And I tell you what ` I'm glad it wasn't me hanging that chandelier. Mm-hm. - And then this one. - Oh, deep. Nice, eh? - Yeah, about the right angles? - Yeah. - Yeah. It turns on as well, so I'll turn that on for you. - (GASPS) Ooh! - Cool, eh? - Like heaven, eh? - (CHUCKLES) - Beautiful. - So, my husband says that the three rings represent... Matua, Tama, Wairua Tapu. - It's so good. - I've got nothing to say about that. (LAUGHS) - You know the little one ` just a little bit more like that. - OK. - Yes. Perfect. Go. Finalise it. It's beautiful. So beautiful. - At the end of the day, all of my husband's... shenanigans contribute to the service... that we provide for our whanau. We want them to feel cared for. And all of what he does... adds to those feelings. Hopefully. - (WHIMSICAL MUSIC) (TINKLY MUSIC) - Today in our care, we have the late Ngaio Kemp, who passed away due to pneumonia. Oh, kia ora, auntie. Oh, tena koe, whaea. Choice. Oh, yes, well, hopefully, you can stay in this nice warm room here. Eh? Ngaio was of Maori descent. And she is also of the Muslim faith. It is my first time that I have... cared for both... culture and hahi ` and religion. So... it'll be interesting and beautiful to learn today, with Ngaio and her father. Because Ngaio is of the Muslim faith,... the family have requested less material. They wanted to show humility. From what I understand, it was an expression of their hahi. We're moving now the oyster satin side set... and replacing it with a simple look. - They actually just wanted to have the MDF. - Just plain? - Just plain. They didn't want any of this. - But they were just wanting to accommodate for the marae. - Yeah. - And their needs around viewing. So yeah ` different, but beautiful. She will be placed in the casket, and she will be wrapped in her... traditional wrapping. Whaea, you look so beautiful. It's lovely. Look at you. Look at this. This is so... simple. And lovely. One, two, three. Up. Bring her down this way. Haere mai, whaea. One, two, up. There we go. There we go. Beautiful. Yeah. Simple, very simple, eh? It's lovely to see... our Maori whanau come and... takai their mother in... traditional wrapping. It wasn't so long ago that Maori... also had traditional wrapping as well. There's also a lot of similarities there with our Maori culture and... Muslim faith, and I feel that's beautiful to witness. And there is also a lot of similarities with the humbleness. The Muslim humbleness reminds me of the Maori whakatauki ` iti to iti ka haerenga koe ki te ao turoa, which means stay humble, and hold others in high esteem as you travel into the world. - (SPEAKS TE REO) - Ngaio's youngest daughter insists that... her taha Maori, her Maori side and taha Muhirama, her, uh, Muslim faith, run side by side. - It's imperative that we blend te ao Maori and also the religion of Islam together, so there's no, um... you've gotta choose one over the other ` it's very much, um, the conduit working together for Mum. And she gave everyone those to choose from. So we're just trying to make her wishes and her blessings come to light, and we have so far. So we just continue to celebrate for life together, to be happy, allow her to move on, on her next journey. - Her mother would be proud of her. - Whaea, we don't need this. - You don't need that? Oh yeah. Ka pai. The whanau are now leaving our care, and they will be travelling to their marae to celebrate Ngaio's life. - No reira, haere e te whaea e Ngaio. Hoki atu ki o tupuna, ki o matua, e whanatu ana ki a koe. - (SOMBRE MUSIC) - (SOMBRE MUSIC) - Today in our care we have Grace Jasmine Adams, who passed away from cancer. - She's at peace now. We are dressing Grace. It will be myself, her sister Poia and her daughter, Esther. Grace is a person that really didn't do too much make-up and hair, but the daughter and sister has requested that we, sort of, give her a bit of a touch-up. So that's not my expertise. I'll call in Fehi to do the hair and make-up and just make it nice and light, but very elegant. It is a very emotional time, as Esther is the only child for Grace. - (SOMBRE MUSIC) - That's nice. - So, we'll get you to just to go wait in the lounge for now, huh, and we'll place her in a casket. Then you can come back in, once we do the make-up, huh? So, Mum will go into that chapel room in there, eh. Just take a seat in there, huh? - Grace is very beautiful. She is very elegant. She really doesn't need much make-up, and she is very petite. For us Samoans, usually, we're a bit heavy boned. But in this case, Grace and her sister are the, sort of, similar petite-type Samoans. And I don't feel like she needs much, because she's such a beautiful person. We are taking her into the lounge for her viewing with her family. She will remain with us one more night, where tomorrow, we will take her to her final funeral service. - (SOLEMN MUSIC) (TINKLY MUSIC) - Today I have acquired, maybe purchased, two 1m-tall angels, and my wife doesn't know. - What do you think? - Very angelic. - If you say, 'Can I please buy the angels?' No ` everything's always no. And so if you do it, then later on they see it, they go, 'Oh wow,' so that's what we want. A wow, and a happy wife. Just think we need to touch them up a little bit. I mean, they are heavenly. The angels and the plinths are different colours, so we need to get them all one matching colour. And so we've got my son Nikora and Brady in to help. Stop, stop, stop. I think what you're doing there is good. I think maybe don't cover it fully. I think as long as we get it, cos look, we've still got the effect. - I'll do it. Here. Yeah. - Oh, can you go, like, this way, because you're making lines. I like to believe that the boys are as enthusiastic as I am about these angels and about all the projects I throw at them. Fortunately, I don't think they're that enthusiastic. OK. I'm just gonna step away for a minute, because... - But I won't be a minute, eh? - Yeah. So I'll leave them to do their mahi, as they explore their creative side and make these beautiful angels look even more beautiful. - (WHIMSICAL MUSIC) (TINKLY MUSIC) - So, I've come back and had a look at the angels. Oh. Yeah, it looks... There's just a couple of things that I just need to touch up on the angels to make them perfect. I know that the boys appreciate me coming in to do the final touches and making sure everything looks on top and amazing. And so I just wanna make sure that they know I'm there to support them with the finishing touches, so that it looks immaculate for when my wife comes. You guys did a good job. I'm just doing all the bits you, um... you may have overlooked, but it doesn't matter. We just gotta show, uh, Mum now. I'm sure she'll love it. She loves everything you do. Just tell her you guys did this, eh. Cos you did. You know, you and me, brother. You should be proud of your guys' work. It's time to reveal to my wife. We done a makeshift set-up of what a viewing area or a room could look like with the casket. We've put everything in place in the garage, just to give her the vision of what, you know, the potential could be. Instead of just having two angels there ` she'd be, like, 'Oh, what are these?' But when you set it up, you know, again, it's like building a case. You have to actually physically build a room to make it look beautiful. - Oh, no, move it. - This looks beautiful. - No, it doesn't. Take it off. - (CHUCKLES) - Get just a red one, red-and-green casket spray. And maybe, just maybe, I'll be appreciated. - (CHUCKLES) You've been missing all day. So, I'm walking in next door into our warehouse. Is this what you fullas have been up to all day? - No, not all day ` for the last hour. - I usually disagree with most of his purchases,... but he's put a lot of effort into it to surprise me, so, look, let's just... Let's just go with it and say that I like it. - Do you like them? - I love the angels. - Yeah. - They're lovely. - They are. Beautiful, eh? I actually didn't expect that. I honestly thought, 'Oh, here I go again. I'm gonna get it.' Because they're not, you know, things that she likes me to spend on. But I think, um, you can never deny heavenly things. - Well done, my darling. - Yeah. Ka pai. - Funny how the staff know where you are and I don't. - All good. - (SOMBRE MUSIC) - Wow. Who placed her lipstick on? - Fehi. - Beautiful, Grace. - Apparently she loved the red. - Oh, well, she suits it. - Mm-hm. - So nice. Today I'm assisting Fiona with the final funeral service of Grace. So we're going to transfer her from the funeral home through to the Manukau City Baptist Church, where her final funeral service and the gathering of her friends and whanau will be there. - Your lights on? - Yes. - They're the flicking lights? - Yes. - Oh. Amazing. - (SOMBRE MUSIC) - (CHOIR SING SAMOAN HYMN) - Got all your stuff? - Yep. - (CHOIR CONTINUE SINGING SAMOAN HYMN) - Grace. A family request is to have Grace there early. We have placed her into the smaller side chapel, where the family will come and farewell Grace. It is a very difficult time for the family to farewell her. But we give them that time so that they can farewell her in their own way. - It's always a tender moment when the family have to say their final goodbyes. So we let the family do their thing and have their time before we move into the big chapel. - So come and do that. - Do the top one for Mum, eh? - This is the first time for me and Francis at the Baptist Church, and it's absolutely beautiful. You walk in, and you see fairy lights all over the place. It's very elegant and beautiful, and it, sort of, suits Grace to a tee. - WHISPERS: Cos it's not good for us to go with her head first, huh? Can we? - It is. Our church always goes head first. - Oh, so, then, when the time comes, shall I turn her around? - Yeah. - Haere mai ra e te wahine rangatira e! - It's so beautiful how we're so diverse here in Aotearoa, and we have this strong staunch Samoan lady being called in with the motherland tongue of te reo Maori, and we guide her into place for her final service. It's just so beautiful. - (ALL SING SAMOAN HYMN) (ALL CONTINUE SINGING SAMOAN HYMN) - Family, we especially wanna welcome you today. Esther, I wanna tell you, you're amazing. You've had to juggle being a mum and caring for your mum, and none of that is easy to do. I know you're a treasured and deeply loved daughter. - Her infectious smile, her love of life, her kindness and her joyous spirit drew many to her. - To top it off, a Siva Samoa for Grace's family to farewell her in our salmon culture. Absolutely beautiful to witness. - (SAMOAN MUSIC PLAYS) (MUSIC CONTINUES) - (SOMBRE MUSIC) (MUSIC CONTINUES) (MUSIC CONTINUES) - We are heading now to Grace's final funeral burial service. - Backwards. (CLEARS THROAT) - This end? - Yep, placing her first. Just reach your hand out. Lovely. And then just down gently. I've got lots of room down this way. OK. Yeah? You're all right up there? - In our Samoan custom, it is a blessing when it is raining ` God's blessings. It is quite wet. I am drenched, and Francis is under an umbrella. - Father, we just entrust Grace into your care. Thank you for how we've seen you in her. And we just entrust you to her now. Pray these things in Jesus' mighty name. - ALL: Amen. - OK, gentlemen, nice and slowly. - Even though it's pouring down with rain, there is beautiful singing taking place for Grace's lowering of casket. Her daughter, in particular, is singing loud and proud. And it's beautiful to witness that even though it's raining really hard, that our family are singing praises to God for Grace's life. - (SPEAKS TE REO MAORI) - (WHIMSICAL MUSIC) - (FOOTSTEPS APPROACH) - (SIGHS) - BOTH: Morena. - (SPEAKS TE REO MAORI) - No. Kao. I don't know where he is. - (TUTS) Yes. Is Francis busy? That is an interesting question. When he is missing, you know, I start to wonder where he really is. Yeah, Francis says that he has to go to a service, come back, do another service. - Hi. - How are you today? - Very good. Thank you. Can I have two steak and cheese pies? I mean, I know some of the staff are probably thinking, you know, 'He's not even working. 'He's just eating pies.' But that's not entirely true. - (PLASTIC RUSTLES) - Mmm. - I just don't know where he is. I prefer not to know where he is, to be honest. We're both on this kaupapa, eating kaupapa, losing weight kaupapa, trying to, so I hope he's not eating anything. Like a pie. - The thing about the pie is that it's a whole full meal, really ` you know, probably not the best thing for you, but... (SPEAKS TE REO MAORI) - (WHIMSICAL MUSIC) - He's doing so well, not eating any pies. - Beautiful. The feeling after eating a pie ` it's like your gas, ne? Ready to go again. And when you're busy, just eat what you can on the go. Ka pai. But remember, ka pie means awesome, not like, 'I want a pie.' Mm. Captions by Faith Hamblyn.