Want to make a difference? Fund Plunket properly
Saturday, 31 October 2020
OPINION: This Tuesday as Aussie grinds to a halt, shops close, the streets empty, and a nation gathers around TV, and radios , it will have nothing to do with Covid19 and everything to do with something possibly more important, ‘The Melbourne Cup’.
**READ MORE:
* New Zealand's original Karitane nurses: our knowledge is too precious to lose
* Geraldine Plunket branch reaches major milestone
* Good sleep protects children from obesity, study finds
* Plunket throwing the baby out with the bath water
**
It is one of the few things that Kiwis and Aussies can agree on. Our worlds stop at 5.00pm on the first Tuesday of November to watch horses race.
Horses are not my thing. Many of my socially conscious friends hate the Cup because of the animal rights concerns. I’d like to say that was first and foremost at the core of my dis-interest, but mine is just horses in general. They don’t like me. It’s not a fear thing. They just think I’m a dick. They’d not be wrong either.
However this Melbourne Cup I am MC’ing a fundraising event for Plunket. More specifically the Whirihira program that will do much to support the integration of traditional Maori birthing with the promotion of safe sleep, breastfeeding and the fundamentals of Plunket.
Reading all about Plunket and Whirihira has taken me on quite the journey. A journey I feel I should have taken years ago. It actually makes sense that Plunket was the ‘baby’ of two Maori women, ‘Big Mary and Mrs Chicken, and one staunch feminist, mother of eight, and god child of Queen Victoria, Lady Victoria Plunket.
Oh sure, Truby King was in the mix, but had it not been for Mere, Ria and Charlotte, Plunket, the world's finest programme for mothers and babies in the world, would not have even existed let alone be available to Kiwi women today.
Big Mary [Mere Harper] was a healer, midwife, Wahine Toa from the town of Karitane. Another piece of the Plunket puzzle. I remember my Mum talking about Karitane hospitals where mothers would stay with their newborns for several weeks after the birth, to learn how to care for their babies and rest.
That must have been back when the government gave a s…
Big Mary was a Wahine Toa who not only took ailing babies to Dr King, but also was known for her mighty strength, once carrying three gold diggers with swags from a surf boat to the beach. One under each arm and one on her back. She helped deliver the first ‘plunket baby’ and was hugely respected as a midwife and healer in her Karitane community.
Mrs Chicken ‘Ria Tikini’ was 95, when along with Mere she took an ailing baby to Dr King. Both these women were respected as the midwives and women in their community, that new Mums turned to when they had trouble breastfeeding, and with other health issues with their babies. Ria at 95 helped deliver Thomas Rangiwahia Ellison, then took him to friend and neighbour Dr King to stay for several months when he became ill. His elder brother had died in infancy, and Big Mary and Mrs Chicken were determined this would not again happen. Tommy was the first ‘official’ Plunket Baby,
Ria passed away at 109 still helping in her community, and watching boys she’d delivered go off to WW1, many not returning.
Enter one beautiful aristocrat, mother of eight, God daughter of Queen Victoria, wife of the Governor General, and the third of the trio of Wahine Toa. This is the woman behind the idea of training ‘karitane’ nurses, or ‘Lady Plunket’ nurses, who promoted healthy food, good hygiene, fresh air and especially breastfeeding. Move over Jamie Oliver. Victoria Plunket knew this stuff one hundred and fifteen years ago. In 1908, At five months pregnant with her umpteenth child, she travelled the country with this message,
“Up to now mothers have been left to untangle for themselves the great difficulty of rearing their babies, and over and over again little ones have had to suffer through want of knowledge as to the best food to give them under their changing circumstances. All mothers, rich and poor, should have the benefit and supervision of a woman who is specially trained and fully qualified to help mothers.”
So move over Truby King. Thank-you, but at the heart of Plunket there were three Wahine Toa.
Do you know what bothers me? . As a nation we do not fully fund Plunket. Nowhere near it. To survive, the best mother and child care service globally relies on private fund-raising. Thank God for the kind benefactors and tireless event planners, but who are we if we are not providing the most important service we can for mothers and babies of this country? I will proudly host an event to raise money for Plunket.
I would have had a mental breakdown had it nor been for my Plunket Nurse, but by God I’d like to see this Labour Government truly make a difference and show mothers in this country just how important they are, and just how important their precious newborn babies are.
Of course it was strong wahine Toa who started Plunket. Of course it was.