Showing their aroha for the activist ‘power couple’ of Māngere East

Asia Pacific Report

Māngere East community stalwarts and activists from across Tamaki Makaurau Auckland have gathered at the local Village Green to pay tribute to their popular ‘power couple’ and entertainers Roger Fowler and Lyn Doherty with their whānau.

MC Emily Worman of Science in a Van summed it up best yesterday morning by declaring the event as the “perfect opportunity to show our aroha for both Roger and Lyn” after a lifetime or service and activism for the community.

Fowler recently retired from his community duties at the Māngere East Community Centre and is seriously ill with cancer.

• READ MORE: Roger Fowler’s Kia Ora Gaza page

The community presented both Fowler and Doherty with stunning korowai and their “main stage” entourage included Māori land rights lawyer and activist Pania Newton and former MP Aupito Sua William Sio.

“This is the perfect place to acknowledge them,” said Worman. “Right in the heart of our community beside the Māngere East Community Centre which started out as Roger and Lyn needed after school care for their kids — so you put your heads together and started an after school programme in the late 1990s.

“Right in front of the library that you campaigned to protect and rebuild back in 2002,
over the road from the Post Shop which you organised the community to successfully fight to stop its closure in 2010.

“Next to the Metro Theatre where the Respect Our Community Campaign, ROCC Stars, met with the NZ Transport Authority over 10 years ago now to stop a motorway from going through our hood.

‘Putting in the mahi’
“Next to Vege Oasis which would have been another alcohol outlet if it wasn’t for you and your whānau putting in the mahi!

“Right here in this festival — where, in previous years, we’ve gathered signatures and spread the word about saving the whenua out at Ihumatao.”

Worman said her words were “just a highlight reel” of some of the “awesomeness that is Roger Fowler”.

“We all have our own experiences how Roger has supported us, organised us and shown us how to reach out to others, make connections and stand together,” she added

Former MP Sua said to Fowler and the crowd: “In the traditional Samoan fale, there is a post in the middle – some posts have two or more — usually it is a strong post that hold up the roof and everything else is connected to it.

“And I think, you are that post. You are that post for Māngere East, for our local community.”

While paying tribute to Fowler’s contribution to Mangere East, Sua also acknowledged his activism for international issues such as the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

Fowler had set up Kia Ora Gaza, a New Zealand charity member of the global Gaza Freedom Flotilla network trying to break the siege around the enclave. He wore his favourite “Kia Ora Gaza” beanie for Palestine during the tribute.

‘Powerful man in gumboots’
Worman said: “Roger, we all know you love to grab your guitar and get the crowd going.

“But you’ve shown us over the years, it’s not about getting the attention for yourself — it’s about pointing us to where it matters most.

“I’ve never met such a quiet yet powerful man who wears gumboots to almost every occasion!”

Turning to Roger’s partner, “Lyn, on the other hand, always looks fabulous.

“She is the perfect match for you Roger. We might not always see Lyn out the front but — trust me — she’s a powerhouse in her own right!

“Lyn, who knows intuitively what our families need, and then gets a PhD to prove it in order to get the resources so that our whānau can thrive.”

The work of health and science psychologist Dr Lyn Doherty (Ngati Porou and Ngapuhi) with the Ohomairangi Trust is “vast and continues to have a huge impact on the wellbeing of our community”.

Worman also said one of the couple’s biggest achievements together had been their four children — “they are all amazing, caring, capable and fun children, Kahu, Tawera, Maia and Hone”.

“And they are now raising another generation of outstanding humans,” she said.

The three grandchildren treated the Village Green crowd to a waiata and also songs from Fowler’s recently released vinyl album “Songs of Struggle and Solidarity” and finishing with a Christmas musical message for all.

The whānau are also working on a forthcoming book of community activism and resistance with a similar title to the album.

Fowler thanked the community for its support and gave an emotional tribute to Doherty for all her mahi and aroha.