Moerewa—trust, training and baby eels

If you drove through Moerewa in May this year you'd have seen dozens of people on the side of the road holding up signs asking drivers to toot for support. And a great many did.

 

They were locals standing outside the AFFCO meat works but locked out byabitter industrial dispute that dragged on for 12 weeks and which was only resolved when Northland iwi leaders, fed up with the impasse, stepped in to arbitrate and bargain a return to work. But that wasn't all. Also in May the Moerewa School board was sacked after the Ministry of Education accused it of taking back senior students in defiance of an order to shut down a unit. What was going on in this little pocket town?

 

It's fair to say Moerewa hasn't always enjoyed the best of reputations probably derived from the now out-dated stigma of gang association and like other small New Zealand towns it suffered in the eighties as several major employers moved elsewhere. In Moerewa this corporatisation spawned a couple of generations of benefit dependents and consequent social ills and it's still tempting to assume that only bad stuff happens here.

But times are changing. To scratch the surface is to discover inspired leadership and a strong commitment from elders to break the cycle of problems initiated by circumstances not always within the town's control.

 

This is Ngati Hine territory and home to Otiria Marae. Historically the population was largely made up of transients

who arrived when job opportunities were there and who brought hapu and iwi along with them and there are at least three other communal focal points central to the town's reviving spirit- He Iwi Kotahi Tatou Trust, the Christian Fellowship Trust and the Tuna Cafe. Many of the local leaders are found inside these unofficial marae.

 

First, there are the so-called 'mayors'-Ngahau Davis, his wife Debbie, Laurie Anderson who is a part-time minister and driver trainer, Laurie Nankivell and Victor 'Papa' Scott who just over three years ago chucked in a secure job because he didn't like what he saw in a town over-run with graffiti and bored youth and decided to do something about it.

 

"I walked the town from 1am until 6am on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and saw a great need. There wasn't enough for the young to do and I wanted to support the town and try to understand where these kids were coming from."

 

It was surely stretching the edges of personal safety but he believes his strong spiritual faith protected him and, besides, he had a past (long since relinquished) that had taught him how to handle ugly situations associated with boredom and booze. But it's more than that. This quietly-spoken man commands considerable respect.

 

A year ago he started the youth centre which is housed in the once notorious pub which was bought by the Christian Fellowship Trust and is now manned by volunteers as a first step towards what Victor calls small packages. Forestry courses are taught here today.

 

"We are building self esteem, incorporating belief in Moerewa and taking the emptiness out of the days by being constructive."

 

Ten of the students have just completed the first 19 weeks and will move up to the next level of another 19 weeks'

duration. Papa Scott is there every day guiding and mentoring and yet it was only 16 months ago that his own life came crashing down when his wife died suddenly and unexpectedly. He is courage personified.

 

Down the road is the Tuna Cafe and although it's not new to the town, it closed just as Del Bristow opened her

Tatou Design Gallery next door. She was undaunted too and spied an opportunity.

 

"There was alreadyaNorthTec course in automotive engineering with Joe Tipene and the forestry course in the

club rooms so we talked through things and opened the cafe as a training centre," she says pragmatically.

 

It hosts a NorthTec Level II Hospitality and Tourism course. Behind the counter and in the kitchen are professionally presented students whose ages range from 15 to 51, learning barista skills, baking and customer service. Most have previously known nothing but a benefit and it's here that Del Bristow's three passions reside - teaching students, running the gallery and eyeing the future of Moerewa.

 

Then there is Albert Barber who over Easter organised what was called the Motown Streetwarz - a street versus

street competition designed to cohese the community. Out came the kapa haka costumes, whanau returned from

Australia, and three days later the fund-raising endeavour had produced money in the bank for community projects and the genesis of mana restored. It was, as Victor Scott describes, no longer 'Moerewa of the broken arse.'

 

That's not to say there aren't still problems and no-one is pretending otherwise. There is probably no better precis of Moerewa's reviving spirit than that quoted by Del Bristow in the shape of a Maori proverb: ''Baby eels have to swim against the current to get to the sea,'' she says. But get there they do.