Maori Boy: A Memoir of Childhood by Ihimaera Witi

Author:Ihimaera, Witi [Witi Ihimaera]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781869797270
Publisher: Random House New Zealand
Published: 2014-03-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-five

Journey to Emerald City

1.

AROUND THIS TIME, Dad said he wanted to go to Wellington for a visit. His brother Win was an education officer and he, Aunty Margaret and the children had shifted into a brand-new state house in Rata Street, Naenae. Mum wasn’t keen as she was pregnant with Derek and was as big as a house. But Dad persuaded her by saying, ‘On the way we could stop at Waipukurau and see Cliff.’

Since coming to Gisborne and joining Dad’s shearing gang, Cliff Paine had contracted poliomyelitis. This acute viral disease, which affected the spinal cord and nervous system, had been a somewhat regular visitor to New Zealand. However, the outbreak that began in 1955 and didn’t taper off until June 1956 was particularly vicious, targeting those aged fifteen and over, and mainly people in rural areas; more than seventy people died. Schools went into lockdown, and I remember buckets of disinfectant appearing in our toilet block — the virus was considered to be transmitted by human waste. We had to wipe our hands with towels after using the toilet. It wasn’t until the development of the Salk vaccine in the 1960s that the fight against polio was effectively mounted.

My mother was distraught when Cliff collapsed. After some time at Cook Hospital, where it was clear that his muscles had become paralysed by the virus, he was sent by ambulance back to his family.

‘Yes,’ my mother said, ‘we should see Cliff.’

My sisters and I had never been on holiday as a family before, and the thought of driving all that way to Wellington was exciting. We couldn’t wait. The only sad part of the trip was when we arrived at Waipukurau after a day’s car travel. Cliff was lying in an iron lung, a compression chamber that helped to keep him breathing. We talked to his reflection in a mirror. His speech was punctuated by small gasps as he took air in and forced his lungs to work.

Mum just didn’t want to leave Cliff’s side. Although the plan was that we should go on to Wellington and arrive before nightfall, she asked Dad if we could stay the night and see Cliff again in the morning. Because her pregnancy was uncomfortable and tiring, he saw the sense in an overnight stop. He found a small hotel with a big bedroom and we bedded down together; it was part of the adventure.

My mother always sent money to Cliff’s hospital so that they could give him better care. I don’t know if he was aware of this.

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