Captions by Kristin Williams. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2022 (BELL TOLLS) (CURIOUS MUSIC) - And there's still three dead bodies and one unembalmed body on the table. OK. Wonderful. I've just been told we should have power here by 1 o'clock. - Francis and I are here at Princes Street, at our mortuary branch, and... (SIGHS) there's a problem, and that is a power cut. Oh, well, at least you got a bit of light back here, eh. So, your generators out here. - When the petrol ran out, oh, instant blackout, CHUCKLES: so you have to run outside and top it up and... (LIPS SQUELCH) - Are you leaving that open? - It's my air conditioning. But all I can smell is food from next-door. - You all right, dear? (CHUCKLES) - So, we had wires everywhere. You would think someone just threw a whole packet of noodles everywhere. (CHUCKLES) - All right, dear. Well, I think Francis is gonna come in and have a look at what` - Well, I'd better clean the cords. He'll complain about them. - ...what the situation is. - The power cut down at Princes Street is the last thing I could ever want for the business and for the funeral home, and more so, for the tupapaku. Oh, dear. - Welcome to the Dark Ages. - Oh! How did you get all the lights going? - Daniel. - Ooh. - The cord runs up through the plug around the corner. - (SMACKS LIPS) Aw, hello, everybody. - 'It's not ideal at all. (CHUCKLES) You know, what can we do? 'We're quite a busy firm, so we just have to keep going or find alternatives.' - I hope that soon we can tidy up this huge mess which has taken me by surprise so that we can think about what we need to do rather than wire and cable everywhere. It's not the best of sites. I mean, if I don't like it, just imagine what the tupapaku are thinking. Well, apart from all the cords, everything's OK, eh? - Stress free day (!) - That's it. And you know the beautiful thing is the vacuums still work cos they're all battery. So, I'll go and vacuum. - (CHUCKLES) Of course. - Mum... - Yeah? - Just vacuum all this mess up. - I can't. Isn't that` - 'I can't.' It's battery. - His obsession with vacuuming and stains, I'm unsure how to describe that. I think he's just... He's... - Can you call Daniel later on? He's gotta explain to the electrician how we hooked up all of that stuff there. - Oh. - I'm not sure. What is this? - 'We're supposed to be here to fix the power, but he's cleaning stains.' - And there's another one over here, so I wonder what it is. Aah. (VACUUM WHIRRS) - 'He's always had a cleaning problem. And it doesn't matter how many times we clean, it's just... not clean enough. - I'm so grateful that our vacuum doesn't need power. It's fully charged. And so, we can continue cleaning and vacuuming up the funeral home even though we have no power. We've got about 20 minutes of suction, after which, it'll be all over. So I'm hoping that the power will be put back on before we use all that battery from the vacuum. Cleanliness is next to godliness. So, we all want to go to God, so let's, you know, be close to him and be clean. Looks like it's dead. There are already enough things dead around here. (TINKLY MUSIC) (POIGNANT MUSIC) - Morena, whaea. Today in our care, we have whaea Rachel Phillips, who was 91 years old and passed away due to Covid infection. Shall we have a look and see what it looks like with a double knot? - FRANCIS: The day has finally arrive where alert levels have dropped to Northland, and the whanau have decided that they're going to have Mrs Phillips taken back north. And so, this morning, Kaiora and Aniwa have the beautiful task of dressing Mrs Phillips for her final journey. - 'We have a busy morning. We have Matua Stan who will be assisting with us as well.' He will be chauffeuring Whaea Rahera to Takahiwai. Francis is also trimming the casket. He just wants to make sure that everything is running smooth and perfect for Whaea Rahera's day. - Aniwa Collier is our receptionist at the Onehunga branch, and when we found out that Whaea Rachel would be coming into our care, Aniwa, being a Maori girl brought up so strongly within te ao Maori, she grew a real connection, you know, a hononga with Whaea Rachel. And so this grew into something that has taken my wife and I by surprise. - 'She's treating her like her nanny.' And I love watching this. I love observing. And I can see that she's definitely giving the manaaki and the tiaki that Whaea Rachel needs. We're just grateful now that the government are slowly easing restrictions. They are allowing families of the same bubble as the loved one to view. There's still a limit, but at least whanau can come through and view. (PERSON WAILS) - 'Whaea Rachel was from the Pirihi whanau. 'And she was like the mother of the nation to the iwi and the people out here in West Auckland, 'with her close affiliation to the marae of Hoani Waititi.' - (SPEAKS TE REO MAORI) - 'Whaea Rachel's son Hohepa has arrived with the whole whanau. 'You can hear te reo Maori being spoken, and it is so beautiful to hear it, 'because it's very normal and very empowering to have a sense of normality given back to tangihanga. 'It was just truly beautiful.' - (SPEAKS TE REO MAORI) - 'Once we close Whaea Rachel's casket this morning, it will not be open again. 'And so, they've got, like, one hour together before they depart north. 'And so, they're just being very real and very normal. 'And it is truly a sight and something beautiful to listen to.' - I always felt like you couldn't die, Nan. (SNIFFLES) It always felt like (SIGHS) you'd just keep sitting in your chair, keeping walking around the walk. And I'm so blessed to have spent our whole lives under Nan's wings. Felt like for the last 10 years, you've been fighting the good fight. Get a broken hip and you'd start walking. - (CHUCKLES SOFTLY) - And I feel like you did that for us. I love you, my nana. (SPEAKS TE REO MAORI) - And another thing I witnessed was Aniwa just outside the chapel doors with my wife, Kaiora, you know, paying their own respects. It was good for them to let whaea go, because now, from our whanau, giving Whaea Rachel back to her whanau is what everyone wanted. (GRACEFUL MUSIC) (POIGNANT MUSIC) - Today in our care, we have Mr Samiuela Likiliki Masima, who tragically crashed his truck here on SH1 in Auckland. Unfortunately, when Mr Masima crashed the truck, his truck exploded and it turned into flames. I'm assisting Fehi with the funeral of Mr Masima, and together, we're gonna place Mr Masima into his casket, which the family have chosen for him. - Pull that down. Nah, pull that down. We have a tapa. It's what we call 'ngatu'. 'We have decided to fold it and place it on the bottom of the casket for him to lie on.' - We're gonna a pillow with this, eh, this end. - 'Ngatu, there's a lot of work that goes into that. It takes days and days.' And yeah, that shows a lot of love. - Do you have your phone? If we can just take a photo of... Just so we can show the family. (CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS) Beautiful. - 'And at this time, Auckland is still at alert level 3 with Covid-19, 'and so, there's not been an opportunity for his work colleagues and his wider whanau and friends 'to come and pay their respects. 'And so, this is important for Fehi and I to get it right,' especially with his whanau not being able to attend. - One, two, three. There we go. All right? - Mr Masima has been placed into body bags with a sheet, and then we'll place a blanket on top of him as we place him into his casket. - This is gonna help us slide him... - Slide him on, eh. - ...ever so gently. (AMBIENT ELECTRONIC MUSIC) - Unfortunately, due to the accident, the family have not been able to view him as much as they really wanted to, and his wife really wanted to see a part of his body, be it a hand or a leg, just to give her comfort of knowing that that is actually her husband. But through mine and Fehi's experience, we've decided that it's not the best to see what we've seen and to leave that mamae and pouri for us to carry through. - Very nice, eh. - Oh, wow. Look at this. Nice, eh. (AMBIENT ELECTRONIC MUSIC CONTINUES) (POIGNANT MUSIC) - We've arrived at the family house, and all the whanau have come out to the roadside to see and acknowledge Samiuela for the last time. And this is a huge and stark reminder of the times that we're in. Ordinarily, if Auckland or New Zealand was at alert level 1, it would be a very, very big funeral with his work colleagues, with his whanau, extended whanau, church members. They'd all be in attendance. But those who can't come, they've been given an opportunity for them to have a few moments, after which, we continue his final journey to the Manukau Memorial Gardens. (POIGNANT MUSIC) - Do you wanna hold this? Good girl. (SPEAKS TONGAN) - You're allowed 10 family members of different bubbles, and then on top of that, five extra funeral staff, clergy, for Maori families, a kaikarana, a kaumatua. - (SPEAKS TONGAN) - In total, there are 15 of all of us at the grave. And so, those are the guidelines which have been put in place for us at alert level 3 and are very, very difficult, very hard. But thanks to the technology, we are able to make it work and live-stream some of the service to whanau who can't attend. - Yeah, on three, we're gonna lift together. One, two, three. Up together. Hold there. And down we go gently. - Slowly there. (SPEAKS TONGAN) - Down we go. Slowly, slowly. No rush. - 'The committal prayer from the priest, the tears, the hymns conclude the service for Mr Masima. (SPEAKS TE REO MAORI) (TINKLY MUSIC) (BRIGHT MUSIC) - Oh, look at that. - We have power. - We have power, dear. - Oh. (SIGHS) Yes, the power is back on. And I'm so happy that we have power. (GIGGLES) I am. I know Jay is. And there's no more wires everywhere. I know he can just go to the kitchen and switch on the plug for the jug to just boil for him. - I'm loving it cos we can have the air conditioning back on. It started to get a little bit hot in there for me. But other than that, yeah. We're all good to go now. - Yay. So, what was wrong, Jay? What did the electrician say? - Apparently, there was water inside our metre board. - Oh. (MUMBLES) Well, turn the flowers on. Oh. - Oh, it's on the blink. (CHUCKLES) - Oh, Jay, I think we've gotta call the electrician back again. (LAUGHTER) At least the flowers are going. (SIGHS) (LIGHT SWITCH CLICKS REPEATEDLY) Yes, I'm just trying to think what sort of mood we're in. - Red. - Red, eh? (LIGHT SWITCH CLICKS REPEATEDLY) Oh, are we in a multi-coloured mood today? - Oh, that's it. (CHUCKLES) - Ah, lovely. Oh, and the vacuum's charged. - (LAUGHS) - Lovely. (CLEARS THROAT) (VACUUM WHIRRS) Oh, fantastic. Beautiful. Do you think we have too many lamps? (CHUCKLES) That might've blown the power. (CHUCKLES) - No, the lamps make this place. - You're quite right. (FUN MUSIC) - We're looking after the late Mrs Rachel Phillips, who died at the North Shore Hospital and was aged 91 years, and her cause of death was due to the COVID-19 infection. - (SPEAKS TE REO MAORI) (KAPA HAKA GROUP PERFORMS HAKA) - As we take Whaea Rachel out to the hearse where matua stands awaiting to deliver Whaea Rachel to her people in the north, we hear a haka happening outside in the rain. This is Te Taha Tu kapa haka paying their tribute to their matriarch of West Auckland, and it is just something we haven't seen or heard in such a long time that it brings everyone to tears. (HAKA CONTINUES) - I'm just grateful that they were there, and that their voices were carrying her to the hearse. It was something else. And I felt... that... they represented everyone that couldn't be there. (WOMAN CHANTS IN TE REO MAORI) - (CALLS IN TE REO MAORI) - (CHANTS IN TE REO MAORI) (POIGNANT MUSIC) - Mrs Phillips' hearse has arrived to the northern border, where the whanau meet together for another final small farewell. Because Tamakimakaurau is still in alert 3 and the rest of the country is in alert level 2, there have only been a number of family who have been granted exemptions to go through the border north to bury Whaea Rachel. So the whanau have given themselves a small opportunity for those who can't go through to say one more farewell together. - (SPEAKS TE REO MAORI) (ORCHESTRAL MUSIC) - 'That is where a lot of whanau have to have their final farewell. And it's hard to watch when you just wanna carry on with your loved one. (PLAYS GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC) (GROUP SINGS WAIATA) - 'I'm so proud of our people. They just` They do what they do.' (WAIATA CONTINUES) They need to do in order to get the words said, in order to express and to sing. And so from their, Matua Stan departs with Whaea Rachel to Northland to take her to the doorway of its sacred house ` te whare tapu o Ngapuhi. - (KAIORA SPEAKS TE REO MAORI) (TINKLY MUSIC) Kia ora, everybody. - Now that the power's back on, I've learnt that we should never take things for granted and that it's important to always spend time with your work companions or loved ones and just enjoy time with one another. Cos time that you spend with one another creates memories, and memories are the only things we get to keep. - (SIGHS) You know, you guys work so hard. I just wanted us to take a minute to be appreciative of the power. You know, the other day when it wasn't here, we were all stressing out, and not for our own sakes, but also for our tupapakus' sakes. So, you know, we've got power now. We've got warmth. We've got a light. And so I just want you to enjoy the power. This is your favourite space, isn't it? - Mine? - Is this your favourite space, dear? - This is the longest survivor I've ever sat in here. (CHUCKLES) - (CHUCKLES) - Oh, yours is under the carport smoking. What about you? - I actually enjoy this space. - Mm. If you sneak into that corner, see my camera up there, they hide there. - (CHUCKLES) - 'I have thought about taking the room divider away, but I thought, 'No, waiho.' You know, we all need that little bit of privacy, possibly, to get some shut-eye and not let me see that you're sleeping. So, yeah. - But do you know how I know someone's here? Because the TV's on and the Netflix is on. - (CHUCKLES) - I can see the Netflix on the TV. - Thank goodness that the power's back on. Francis can still watch us. But truly, I'm just grateful that we are able to now serve our whanau and mahi can continue. - Oh, it can be dangerous, this spot, though. This would make me go to sleep. It's very comfortable. - This is the electric couch? - It is, yeah. - I don't even know where the buttons are. Oh, there we go. (CHUCKLES) Wow. - Wow. - I don't know what you guys are doing today, but I know what I'm doing. - (BOTH CHUCKLE) - Very, very nice, that chair, eh? - Yes. Now it's your favourite spot, I'd say. - Francis can see me from here. - (CHUCKLES) - 'Yeah, I find that camera a bit creepy. I find them all creepy.' - It's quite relaxing, that fireplace, eh? - Mm-hm. - It's beautiful. - Mm. - Ka pai. - Have you had your moment? - Yeah, come on. - Haere mai. Let's go. And let there be light.