Gisborne youth learn device refurbishing to help families

Horouta Wānanga students Edward Siale, Okaire Lewis, and Hone Katipa learning how to recycle old laptops. Photo / Paul Rickard

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Tōnui Collab is training rangatahi at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Horouta Wānanga to recycle and refurbish electronic devices to save them from ending up in the rubbish.

The kaupapa called RAD, Recycle a Device, is a nationwide initiative developed by Digital Future Aotearoa.

It was brought to Gisborne by Tōnui Collab through partial funding from Tapuwae Roa and the Gisborne District Council.

Tōnui Collab Stemm navigator Kiri Wilson said the rangatahi had enjoyed the first day of training where they learned how to take devices apart and what needed to be replaced.

“The point of today is to get familiar with the process so they can learn the skills to refurbish devices,” she said.

Once the devices have been restored, the rangatahi will find a whānau with few devices and gift it to them. They will also provide one-to-one support to learn how to use the device.

Kiri Wilson said during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic it was realised some households only had one device.

“This made it hard for whānau to manage all their responsibilities.

“Kids needed to be online at a certain time while their parents might need to be online for work.

“So at some stage someone would be missing out,” she said.

Rangatahi will do surveys around the kura to help identify who needs a device.

Along with the components of the device, they are learning the history and language of technology to understand how things are communicated and what they are called.

The devices are from businesses that have upgraded their technology so they donate them to kaupapa like this.

“Recycling the devices is stopping them from becoming e-waste.

“If we can look after our taiao by refurbishing devices then that is our part of it.

“Getting rid of a single battery is better than a whole computer and all the cords.”

The kaupapa will run all year. If other schools are interested, they can reach out to Tōnui Collab.

Matai O’Connor, Ngāti Porou, has been a journalist for five years and Kaupapa Māori reporter at the Gisborne Herald for two years.