The Maori language community is mourning the death of award-winning lecturer Materoa Haenga.
Mrs Haenga, of Ngati Porou and Ngati Kahungunu descent, died on Wednesday on the campus of EIT Hawke's Bay.
She died at EIT's Te Manga Maori, where she worked as a senior lecturer until late last year. She had since assumed the role of kuia with Hawke's Bay District Health Board and of honorary teaching fellow at EIT.
Mrs Haenga was an exponent of the Maori language for more than 50 years and was renowned nationally for her extensive knowledge.
She received Te Ahorangi o Te Kupa, the Supreme Language Teacher at Tertiary Level Trophy at the inaugural Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated Maori Language Awards in 2013. After graduating from teachers' training college in Palmerston North, she taught at Tamatea High School for two years and moved to EIT in 1994.
