Grave concerns
When Covid-19 shut down New Zealand, most of us were worried about our jobs, staying safe and navigating this daunting new world. Kaiora Tipene, however, was worried about the dead.
As a businesswoman, TV personality, wife and mother of five boys, Kaiora had enough on her plate, but it was dealing with those who’d died – whom she affectionately calls “the loved ones” – that eventually broke her.
Kaiora, 37, and her husband Francis run Tipene Funerals, the day-to-day workings of which form the basis for the hit TVNZ series The Casketeers. The show has become beloved in New Zealand and around the world because of its focus on Māori and Pasifika culture, but when lockdown hit with strict rules around gatherings and close contact, that special way of doing business was threatened.
“You had families forced to go for the cremation option when they’ve been brought up to be buried back in their urupā, but they couldn’t because we weren’t allowed to travel,” Kaiora explains. “They had to bury in the nearest cemetery or choose cremation and then consider later, after lockdown, taking the ashes back. Accepting the loss and then accepting the rules on top of that was
