Mourners gathered at Hongoeka Marae in Plimmerton, north of Wellington, on Thursday to farewell longtime HIV advocate Marama Martin, who, according to her whānau, died after battling cancer for the past year.
Among them was her friend and fellow HIV researcher Clive Aspin of Ngāti Maru and Ngāti Whanaunga.
Clive said people around the world are mourning her death.
“I first met Marama over 20 years ago at an AIDS conference in Auckland and from then on she just took the AIDS world by storm. And we travelled around the world; we went to conferences in many different countries and it was like travelling with a rock star because she was adored by so many people.”
Labour MP Ingrid Leary, a close friend who worked with Marama on documentaries, said her impact reached far beyond New Zealand. One documentary explored how people living with HIV could have tamariki who were not HIV positive.
“Marama was a taonga and she touched people’s lives all around the world. She was one of the first indigenous people to have a really public profile so not only did she inspire people with HIV in New Zealand to speak out about their status and demand rights but also, she inspired people all over the world,” Leary said.
Marama was diagnosed with HIV in 1993 after an encounter with Kenyan musician Peter Mwai, whom she met at a gig at the Waikanae Hotel on the Kāpiti Coast. When it later emerged that Mwai had knowingly infected other women, Martin was tested and received a positive result.
Her case became central to a landmark criminal prosecution, with Mwai later convicted of knowingly infecting others with HIV, the first highly publicised criminal HIV transmission case in New Zealand.
Friends say she refused to let the diagnosis define her. She went on to co found the first Maori HIV advocacy organisation and dedicated her life to challenging stigma and discrimination.
He tirohanga Māori
Jane Bruning of Positive Women said Martin paved the way for Māori living with HIV and inspired indigenous people globally.
“For Māori, there was nobody for Māori, no voices for Māori in the HIV sector, and she managed to start INA and get funding for INA, and as a result of some of her work, especially with the decriminalisation stuff, she was approached internationally.
“She was part of the International Indigenous HIV Network, and she was also the chair of the International Coalition of Women Living with HIV. So she made change all around the world, not just in New Zealand.”
Tohu whakamānawa
I te tau 2017 whakawhiwhia ai ia ki te tohu New Zealand Order of Merit ki te whare kāwanatanga i Te Whanganui a Tara. I taua wā, i kī atu ia ki ngā kairipoata, i puta i a te Kāwana Tianara, i a Kahurangi Patsy Reddy te kōrero he tangata ranga wairua ia.
Nō te ata o te Taite kawea ai tōna tūpāpaku kia tahuna. Engari mō tōna whānau, ka titi kaha tonu ia ki ngā whatumanawa, ā, haere nei te wā.
