A planned peace march and a proposed house-burning highlight the heartache, hope and anger - and the need for healing - of a Whangarei suburb that has been racked by violence. While Otangarei Primary School organised a peaceful hikoi today to foster positive aspects of the neighbourhood, other locals are circulatinga petition to have destroyed a house in which a teenager was bludgeoned to death in August. Both are ways members of a hurting community feel they can express concern at what is happening in low socio-economic, high-crime Otangarei. But never the twain shall meet, says Marama Reweti-Martin, principal of Otangarei Primary School which has organised the peace march, or hikoi of hope and reconciliation. The school would not be aligning itself to the petition, she said. "We've heard something about it but that's not our way of dealing with issues affecting this community. It's not an issue that involves us. "We want to make a peaceful expression of our concerns, take a positive, proactive approach toward changing attitudes. We want to be good role models. "Burning a house is one approach to saying a particular situation must end, but it's not our way. What kind of message would it give?" The school's whanau liaison worker, Ross Smith, said the purpose of today's hikoi, which was due to step out from the school around 11am, was to promote reconciliation and peace, not anger. It was also a chance to empower the school's children to say: "This is my home, I've got to live here, but I don't need to live with what's happening". Ms Reweti-Martin said that coincidentally the school had just received new curriculum material that focused on children becoming life-long learners who were positive contributing community members. "This has got the students very excited," she said. "Could our march be a forerunner to positive change at a local, national or international level? Could Otangarei students bring about the start of a `children for peace' movement?" Ms Reweti-Martin said the march would be one way the rest of the community could stand beside its children and support their peaceful call for change.
