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Students from a school bearing Sir Edmund's name were given an
extra special task by Lady Hillary.
Pupils from Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate were given just four days
to learn the words and actions to a haka written specifically for
their patron, and performed it as the casket was taken from the
church to the waiting hearse.
As they prepared for the day, they were fed words of inspiration from their Kaumatua.
"Otara is on the map, not only with Sir Edmund Hillary, but for you people, without you this school is nothing," said their Kaumatua.
The words to the haka were written by their Kaumatua for the man who gave his name to their school.
And on Tuesday morning, they nervously filed out, ready for their chance to shine with the world watching.
"I was proud of those young ones, cause they've only had I think it was four days to learn the words and the actions itself, I think they pulled it off real well," said the man who led the haka.
The haka encapsulated the ideas and values held by the great mountaineer.
"We wanted Sir Ed to hear our gift to him, our final gift to him and I think that our children certainly gave the power that we wanted him to receive," says Kallie Ngakuru-Syder, the middle school principal.
