+
A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM UPWORTHY
We are a small, independent media company on a mission to share the best of humanity with the world.
If you think the work we do matters, pre-ordering a copy of our first book would make a huge difference in helping us succeed.
GOOD PEOPLE Book
upworthy

new zealand

Friendship

American coworkers surprise grieving Māori man with haka after he missed family funeral

He was stuck in America for his grandmother's funeral so his friends brought New Zealand to the states.

Representative photo Gary Stockbridge|Get Archive

American friends learn haka for grieving Māori man

It's not easy living away from family, especially when you live in a completely different country. The distance can become increasingly more difficult to adjust to when tragedy strikes your family back home. It can be cost prohibitive to fly back home and depending on your employer's attendance policy, it may be nearly impossible.

Jarom Ngakuru recently faced this very situation. The New Zealander of Māori descent is living in the United States while his family still resides in his home country. Unfortunately, when Ngakuru's grandmother died, he was unable to make the trip back to the island to give his proper goodbye.

Not being able to attend his grandmother's funeral left him sad and broken. He wanted nothing more than to be there with his family. Ngakuru's friends knew how important it was for him to send his grandmother off properly so the group of American colleagues worked in secret to learn the haka.

Haka is a traditional dance performed by Māori people for important events like weddings, funerals, and significant life events as a sign of respect. The dance has been known to bring viewers to tears, and this haka is doing the same. Not just because of the haka itself, but because of everything that went into a group of American men learning a dance from another culture to honor their friend and his grandmother.

Ngakuru uploaded the video to his TikTok page with the caption, "Hardest part about living in America is that we live so far away. I couldn't make it home for my nan's funeral and I was BROKEN! So my boys at work learned the haka without me knowing and brought home to me."

See why commenters could not stop crying below:

@jaromngakuru

Hardest part about living in america 🇺🇸 is that we live so far away. I couldnt make it home for my nans funeral and i was BROKEN! so my boys at work learned the haka without me knowing and brought home to me 🇳🇿🏠 #haka #grateful #maori #newzealand #brothers #fyp #foryou

"I don't think they even understand how beautiful of an act this is," one person writes.

"There is so much depth of emotion attached to the Haka I uncontrollably cry every time. This was beautiful," another says.

"Well I'm sobbing like a baby in my office now," a commenter reveals.

"You can feel the mana [spiritual power] and the aroha [love]they have for you they know your mamae [hurt], what a beautiful tribute to you and our culture. Arohanui [deep affection] for your loss," someone else writes.

Ngakuru explains in the comments that it's his brother-in-law, who is Tongan, leading the chant. He is also the one that taught their friends the haka in a single day. What an impressive show of love for their grieving friend. There's no doubt that Ngakuru will remember this for the rest of his life.

From Your Site Articles
american friends haka
Joy

Bullied 'Rabbit kid' gets beautiful smile after kind strangers donate $100,000 to help

His family couldn't afford to fix his teeth.

via Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels

A dentist improves someone's smile.

A touching story out of New Zealand shows a community's power to fight back against bullying and uplift the spirits of a young boy who badly needed medical attention.

It all began in 2011 when 12-year-old Evan Hill of Christchurch appeared on “Campbell Live,” a local current affairs show. Hill had severely buck teeth, and it made him the target of relentless bullying. Because of his appearance, the kids at his school called him “Rabbit kid.”

"They make me look funny and silly," Evan said about his teeth. "(The kids at school) call me a bunny rabbit and I'm not."

To add to the problem, Hill’s family was going through some very hard times after a devastating earthquake that struck New Zealand earlier that year. One hundred eighty-five people died in the quake and thousands of homes were destroyed.

"Since the earthquakes, I've had a death in the family, my mum passed away and my dad's house was virtually in the red zone. He found it hard to cope with that and had a stroke, and now he's in a rest home,” Evan’s father, Stephen Hill, revealed on the show.

The family didn’t have the $12,000 needed to pay for Evan’s dental work or a car to drive him to any appointments. Dental care is free in New Zealand to people under 18. However, Evan’s case was too severe to qualify.

If Evan didn’t get his teeth fixed, the bullies wouldn’t be his only problem. According to Medical News Today, buck teeth can lead to difficulty with chewing or eating, problems speaking, teeth grinding, mouth breathing, jaw problems, tooth decay and headaches due to pressures in the jaw joint.

The family’s neighbor, Phil Cooper, appealed to the people watching the show to help the family. "A lot of us judge others by their covers and who they look like on the outside, but actually he's a really nice kid,” Cooper said.

Boy bullied for buck teeth gets new smile after donations pour in | Newshub

After Evan’s story aired, “Campbell Live” was inundated with donations from its viewers and thousands of contributions added up to over $100,000 for the family. The money was used for Evan’s dental work and for the family to get a car. The family placed the rest of the money in a trust to pay for other children with similar dental problems.

Five years after appearing on television and sharing his story, orthodontist Ronald Sluiter took Evan’s braces off, revealing a beautiful smile. Over the course of the procedure, Evan’s teeth had to be moved 15 millimeters (⅔ of an inch) to be in a healthy and aesthetically appealing position.

“It’s about time,” Evan’s mother, Barbara Erickson, told Newshub. “I don’t know where we would have been today without the generosity we had. We had been looking to mortgage the house to pay for them.”

When asked how he looked after having his braces removed, Evan said: “Good.” Now, Even is looking forward to a career as a train driver.

From Your Site Articles
kindness
Joy

Teen performs emotional haka at mom's college graduation in honor of her achievement

People have collectively gotten something in their eyes.

Shay Ana|TikTok

Teen does the haka at mom's college graduation.

Graduating college while also raising children is a huge accomplishment and should be celebrated. One family sat waiting for their mom to walk across the stage to receive her bachelor's degree when her teenage son decided to honor her. The teen stood up in the wide aisle between folding chairs right before the announcer called his mother's name.

It was clear that his focus was on the woman that raised him when he started the familiar call and stance of the haka. He stood alone in his suit while his sister, who was filming their mother getting ready to walk, noticed her brother starting the dance.

The haka is a ceremonial Māori dance generally performed in groups to represent pride, unity and strength according to New Zealand's official website. Thanks to the internet, the passionate dance has been seen all over the world, from players doing it at sporting events to people sending off loved ones at the airport.

The haka is performed in all sorts of contexts, including celebrations, so it feels beyond fitting that this son would honor his mother in this way. You could feel the pride in his voice, and the graduation halted while he finished, with the master of ceremony waiting to call his mom's name. Even others in the crowd joined in singing the ceremonial chant with him in support.

In the text overlay, his sister wrote, "My mom graduating her bachelor in social work & my little brother getting up to Tautoko the best way we know how."

"Tautoko" means to support, prop up, verify, advocate, accept, agree, according to the Moāri dictionary. Support and propping up is certainly what this proud son did. Thankfully, it was caught on video so others could take part in his pride.

Currently, the video posted by Shay Ana on TikTok has over 4.3 million views, and commenters shared their support, with one person writing, "He didn't care what anyone thought. He was going to pay his respects to his mother."

"Whenever I see these done I always get so emotional! They are so powerful. What a beautiful part of your culture," another wrote.

See the moving tribute below:

@shay_anar

Very proud of you mum 4 very long and hard years finally paid off!! 💯

From Your Site Articles
haka
Democracy

New Zealand prime minister's vulgar insult of political rival has ended in the best way

If only all political disagreements could end like this.

www.flickr.com

New Zealand prime minister's hot mic insult helped raise $100,000.

Not every moment is our best and sometimes those not-so-great moments are caught on tape or, in Jacinda Ardern's case, over a hot mic. Ardern is the prime minister of New Zealand and recently, during a parliamentary debate, she was feeling a bit frustrated with a colleague, ACT leader David Seymour. During the exchange, Ardern turned to her deputy and muttered "arrogant prick," referencing Seymour, who was apparently on the prime minister's last nerve.

The problem was, her mic was still on and picked up the hushed insult so others could hear. Probably not her proudest moment but, to be fair, they were discussing really heavy stuff like hate-speech and immigration. She didn't let the comment hang in the air, according to RNZ. Seymour told reporters that the prime minister texted him shortly afterward to apologize.

Later, the two were photographed holding a framed copy of the parliamentary debate where the insult was hurled. Turns out they've used the moment to raise money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation by allowing people to bid on the framed debate via Trade Me.

Surprisingly, the framed photo has been viewed almost a half million times, with more than 280 bids, according to RNZ. Which makes you wonder if people have really strong feelings about Seymour being an "arrogant prick" or if they were just good Samaritans donating money solely based on the charity. I'm going to assume the world will never know, unless the winner of the auction would like to come forward and explain why they spent so much money on a transcript of the exchange.

If you're curious what the highest bid was, it was $62,899 (100,100 New Zealand dollars). Now, there's something to get excited about, and if you ask Seymour, he's happy about the outcome of the disagreement. Seymour told RNZ, "Taking the particular politicians out of it, it makes me so proud to be a kiwi. Political commentators have said to me they couldn't imagine this in any other country, not even Australia, and I think that says something special about New Zealand's culture and politics that we should always seek to hold on to."

Overall, it seems that Seymour was a good sport about the entire situation. He accepted Ardern's apology and said that he's been called much worse. Others in the chambers were also on board with supporting the prime minister's lapse in filter.

It's great to see politicians coming together to not only move beyond an unfortunate moment but to turn it into an opportunity to raise money for a good cause. I'm sure there will be more lively debates that come out of parliament chambers but it seems like they've got a handle on how to make lemonade when needed.

You can watch the entire exchange below to hear the expensive insult:

From Your Site Articles
jacinda ardern
Trending Stories