Fed up with seeing lots of rubbish thrown away at Kaitāia’s children’s playgrounds, local man Tatana (Tattz) Soanes decided to do something about it.
So he set up a weekly clean-up session where he gets teams of the town’s youths to pick up trash discarded around the town to make the place better for all.
It started small but now has up to a couple of dozen children turn up on Sunday mornings to help Tattz and his children do their bit to tidy up their rohe.
He said he’s doing the mahi as he wants to make Kaitāia look better and tidier and instill a good work ethic among the town’s youth by paying them to help clean up the mess others had left behind. It would also show them that littering was not a good thing and that they were the kaitiaki (guardians, protectors) of their environment and they had a part to play in keeping it clean.
He wasn’t looking for recognition, but, as they say, good deeds don’t go unnoticed, and friend Jo has dobbed him in for doing great work and wanted his outstanding efforts known.
Soanes got motivated in December after seeing plenty of trash lying around the town’s playgrounds that he took his children - Jay-T, Shakahn and Jermayne - to.
It disgusted him and he decided to do something about it to teach his children that littering was not good, and to show them the advantage of meaningful mahi.
Now he has up to two dozen youngsters join him on his Sunday clean-up efforts. He pays them $10 and some lollies each. And while Kaitāia McDonald’s gives him some vouchers to give to the youngsters as well, he paid for everything from his own pocket.
‘‘I was sick of seeing the whenua full of rubbish when taking the kids to the playground. There was so much rubbish lying around, and the sad thing was much of it was just thrown near the rubbish bins,‘’ he said.
‘‘I’ve always been firm on getting my kids to put their trash in the bin, like it should be, and thought I’d do something to support that kaupapa and hopefully teach others as well. It just looks so ugly to have this trash all over our town and it’s not a good look, so I wanted to change that.
‘‘Another reason is it gets the kids out of the house and into the fresh air. It also gives me a good feeling and teaches the kids that having a good work ethic can make changes.‘’
He said initially he put the call out and word soon spread, with many kids now ringing him up to ask ‘hey uncle, where’s the mahi today’.
On some expeditions they can get five to 10 rubbish bags full of rubbish with alcohol containers, fast food wrappers and discarded clothing being among the main items found. And a big frustration was that much of what was found could be recycled for free, implying it was just laziness behind the littering.
It costs the Far North District Council about $150,000 a year to clean up illegally dumped rubbish, with much of the trash recyclable.
Anybody wanting to help Soanes on the Sunday clean-up sessions around Kaitāia van get in touch via his Facebook page TattZ koha page.