Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Local Focus: Hawke's Bay theatre programme shines a light on bullying

Jie Pang
By Jie Pang
NZ Herald·
6 Oct, 2022 08:52 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

These children shared their stories about bullying through poetry, monologues, a skit and songs.

New Zealand has one of the highest rates of bullying in the world. A report by the Ministry of Education last year shows 36 per cent of Year 5 and 38 per cent of Year 9 students were bullied on a monthly basis.

But a programme by Maia Dreams called Confident Me might give us a clue to help solve this problem.

On October 1, 31 children and youth came from Te Kura and Camberley Community Centre to perform a devised theatre piece called Whakawetiweti at St Andrew's Hall, Hastings.

Whakawetiweti in Māori means bullying, and also includes threatening and intimidating. The children and youth shared their powerful stories about bullying through poetry, monologues, a skit and songs.

Kristyl Neho, founder of Maia Dreams and director of Whakawetiweti, said bullying was a massive issue.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Many of our students are actually dealing with this at the moment. We work with about 15 schools throughout Hawke's Bay to deliver our Confident Me programme."

Julia Pearson was a performer in Whakawetiweti. She has seen bullying happen around her.

"One girl got bullied because she was deaf, and some others got bullied because of their looks. We should be kind to others and respect others."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Parents of the performers had their own stories.

"My daughter has suffered from anxiety for quite a few years. She didn't want to go to school and wanted to shut herself in the room. It's really hard," said Laurelee Bowman.

"My son suffers from ADHD. A lot of people misunderstand him. They tend to take advantage of him because his nature is so kind. They started bullying him," said Maru Goodley.

To help these children get out of their shadow and rebuild their confidence, Kristyl Neho and educators started running the Confident Me programme over 13 years ago.

Discover more

New Zealand

Local Focus: Last chance to vote as Hawke's Bay local elections turnout drops

02 Oct 11:50 PM
New Zealand

Local Focus: The social housing transforming lives in Hastings

28 Sep 01:57 AM
New Zealand

The rise of the food truck: More than 100 now catering for Hawke's Bay's tastes

20 Sep 11:54 PM
New Zealand

Do we need passenger trains in Hawke's Bay?

20 Sep 06:16 PM

The Confident Me programme improves children and youths' interpersonal
relationships, problem-solving, cognitive competencies, and a reduction in problem behaviour.

These children were suffering from bullying or anxiety. Now they are learning to be brave and not let other people judge them.

Goodley is glad to see his son come out of his shell and regain his lost self-confidence.

Bowman noticed the same effect on her daughter.

"She's opening up more and getting really into doing a lot more things. She started looking for a job and just got herself into McDonald's."

Neho said her team would keep working on the Confident Me programme to create as many opportunities and resources to offer children a space to be heard and understood.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Being unique and different is actually a beautiful thing. Each individual's voice deserves to be heard."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

A farming mother thought her sore leg was a sports injury - it was a potentially terminal cancer

16 Jun 06:00 PM
Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Big venues, big money: The young golf champ hitting the Australian PGA tour

16 Jun 05:00 PM
Premium
Editorial

Editorial: Unique road-cone hotline for those feeling too safe

16 Jun 05:00 PM

How one volunteer makes people feel seen

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

A farming mother thought her sore leg was a sports injury - it was a potentially terminal cancer

A farming mother thought her sore leg was a sports injury - it was a potentially terminal cancer

16 Jun 06:00 PM

Alicia Brough was fighting fit – now she is fighting for her life.

Premium
Big venues, big money: The young golf champ hitting the Australian PGA tour

Big venues, big money: The young golf champ hitting the Australian PGA tour

16 Jun 05:00 PM
Premium
Editorial: Unique road-cone hotline for those feeling too safe

Editorial: Unique road-cone hotline for those feeling too safe

16 Jun 05:00 PM
'Lots of frost': NZ braces for sub-zero chill, possible 'heavy rain' before Matariki

'Lots of frost': NZ braces for sub-zero chill, possible 'heavy rain' before Matariki

16 Jun 08:21 AM
Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka
sponsored

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP