A Northland teenager is hoping to make his late father proud by sharing a message of anti-bullying to schools.
Santos Cachay, 16, has been bullied for much of his school life, picked on partly because he has autism and ADHD.
When daily bullying saw him stop attending a regular school and start correspondence through Te Kura, Santos decided to start an anti-bullying campaign.
The Far North resident developed a talk for schools, sharing how bullying hurt him and encouraging schools to better enforce their bullying policies.
But Santos now has new impetus to deliver his anti-bullying message in schools: he wants to make his late father proud.
Raul Cachay, 54, drowned at the isolated Maunganui Bluff on Northland’s west coast on August 3, after fishing off the rocks.
Santos’ mother Rozana Cachay said her ex-husband would come up from Auckland for one week every month to spend time in the Far North with his son.
Raul Cachay, who was originally from Peru, loved fishing and was keen to catch a decent-sized fish off the rocks at Maunganui Bluff, she said.
On the day he died, Rozana Cachay was going for a drive on the beach and dropped him off so he could fish, originally off the sand.
When Raul Cachay said he wanted to fish from the rocks which divide the north and south side of the Bluff, she warned him not to turn his back to the waves.
“He knew it was dangerous because a person I took up there three years ago got washed off the rocks but survived,” she said.
Raul Cachay later rang to say he was getting big bites from the rocks.
But when Rozana Cachay returned to the rocks to pick him up at about 2pm, she was unable to find him.
“I rang his phone eight times and it went to answerphone. I went out on the rocks and his bait bag was still there.”
Unsure if something had happened to him or he was simply fishing elsewhere, she searched back and forth on the nearby beaches to see if he was around.
But when she drove back to the rocks, she could see something floating in the water and realised it was his body. He had been in the water about 45 minutes.
After calling emergency services, she managed to flag down another vehicle to help pull the body out of the water.
“It was starting to get rough by then and he could’ve gone back into the water or anything; we had to get him out.”
Cachay said she felt grateful to be able to recover her ex-husband’s body, as she was told many who go missing at the same spot are never found.
An autopsy was done in Whangārei and police said his death has been referred to the coroner.
With much of Raul Cachay’s extended family still in Peru, only a small funeral service was held in Whangārei to mark his passing.
But Rozana Cachay said Santos’ father was very proud of him for speaking out about bullying, including buying him a new jacket and shoes so he was well-presented for his talks.
“He kept saying, ‘that’s my boy’. He was so proud of what he was doing.”
Cachay is now trying to help Santos spread his message among more Northland schools but needs some support or sponsorship to help cover travel costs.
The few talks that he has done have been warmly received by students, with one class even sharing their own experiences with bullying.
Santos said he wants students to understand the hurt they can cause through their hurtful words.
“Just to [know] what they’re capable of doing when they say something to someone else – what their words can mean and what they can change,” he said.
Santos also aims to shed light on disorders such as autism and how children with autism should not be discriminated against just because they act differently.
“It’s just a different kind of normal,” he explained.
Santos also wants teachers to better understand the impact of bullying and more strictly enforce any bullying policies.
“They may have a policy in place or posters around but unless they follow it up with actual, proper repercussions, it’s not going to do anything.”
As well as the talks, Santos encourages other students to share their bullying stories through his Facebook page, I am the Voice, so that he can be a voice for those too afraid to speak up.
Meanwhile, he is continuing his studies through correspondence, with an interest in history and film-making.
Anyone interested in supporting Santos or finding out more about his talk can email cachayenterprises@gmail.com for details.
Denise Piper is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.