Te Aute students hailed for US mission on reservation

Uenuku Hoerara hard at work helping restore a church after damage from a storm.

Two Te Aute College students spent their last school holidays travelling through California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah on the way to Red Shirt Village, South Dakota.

Head boy Uenuku Hoerara and deputy head boy Tyrone Reedy-Callaghan were part of the Tairāwhiti Anglican Church Delegation along with Sione Veituna and Christopher Douglas-Huriwai.

The group was participating in the Red Shirt Project, where young adults come together every summer for a two-week mission trip helping poorer communities on Pine Ridge Indian reservation, home of the Oglala Lakota tribe.

Uenuku and Tyrone mowed lawns, helped tidy cemeteries and restore a historical church damaged by a storm, built a softball pitch dugout and even found time to teach rugby to the locals.

They experienced the Oglala, Lakota Nation Pow-Wow which brings everyone together over two days to celebrate Native American and Lakota culture.

The boys performed haka and waiata and shared stories with the locals.

"It was fascinating to watch our young men draw connections and parallels with our own tikanga and whakapono (culture and beliefs)," Christopher Douglas-Huriwai said.

"Right from the outset the whānau from Tairāwhiti threw themselves wholeheartedly into the work they were assigned.

"Uenuku and Tyrone braved the sun, heat and bugs to really come through and lead the way on the work that needed to be done.

"They were an awesome example to the entire group and fantastic ambassadors for Te Aute College."