E taka ka taka, e taka ka taka, ka taka te mōtoi, ki te pō uriuri, ki te pō tangotango, ki te pō tiwhatiwha, ki te pō kerekere.

E taka iho ai te kuru o te marama, kei raro rā e.  Kei te tūtara kauika, kei te tōtara haemata kua hinga nei i te wao nui a Tane, moe mai, okioki mai , takoto mai ra.

Whāia te ara whānui a Tane, ki te marae o Tuakirikiri, ki Paerau , haere whakaoti atu.  

Kua hinga nei tō tātou rau mā a Danny Hona, tētahi o te tini o Toi Kairākau, Toi te Huatahi.  Ka tīraha mai tō tātou rau kawakawa ki te poho o Tu Teao, ki Te Teko.  

Nō reira, kia rere te puna roimata, kia tangi hotuhotu te ngākau me te tuku i o tātou whakaaro ki te tāonga o te mate me te whānau pani.  Kei o tātou whakaaro koe e te rau piopio o Māui, ao noa, po noa. 

Te Wānanga o Aotearoa is mourning the passing of one of its regional leaders in education after Danny Hona – the lead of Educational Delivery in Gisborne passed away. 

Danny  Hona died last Thursday at his Te Teko homestead aged 56 after a battle with cancer. 

Danny was a long-term kaimahi with Te Wānanga o Aotearoa commencing in 2003 at the Mangere campus where he held a managerial role and was instrumental in the development of the Bachelors degree in Social Work that he also later taught in Waiariki from 2010 before he moved to Gisborne in 2014.

Of Ngāti Awa, Tūhoe and Tūwharetoa, the former head boy of St Stephen’s College also worked tirelessly in youth development.

He held positions as a lecturer at Waikato Institute of Technology and as a programme leader at Manukau Institute of Technology. 

Former work colleague Lynda Coley said Danny was a well-respected leader for the contribution he made in collaborating and the development of the Tohu Paetahi Ngā Poutoko Whakarara Oranga and will be remembered for being dynamic, courageous and humorous.

“He was innovative, eloquent in both the Māori and non Māori world and was absolutely uncompromising to the legacy that we leave our mokopuna,” said Lynda.

Danny is survived by his wife Tania Rose Tutaki, and his four children Haka, Takirua, Haupaeroa, Paora and his mokopuna.