Every day brings a chance for young poets to be heard

Annonica Mavaega and Rebecca Sang Yum say it is empowering for young people to come together to voice what they feel matters.

Being young can often mean a lot of people will disregard what you have to say.

So a group of friends from South Auckland's McAuley High School are using poetry to make sure their voices are heard loud and clear.

"When you put yourself on stage, you're putting yourself in a very vulnerable state," says Annonica Mavaega, 16. "Anyone can just stand up and say: 'Be quiet!' They can mock you.

"But once you're up on that stage, people can't help but hear your story. They can't help but respect you."

Annonica and Rebecca Sang Yum, also 16, are two members of the school's ASO Collective - a group that practises performance-based poetry.

"It stands for Adolescents Speaking Out. It also has a double meaning because it's the Samoan word for 'day'. So with every new day, there are new opportunities, new stories to tell, new friends to make and every day there is something for us to discover."

The group, which also includes Roimata Prendergast and Elfi Tafiti, has been writing poetry and performing for two years.

They are to travel to Brisbane this year to perform and attend workshops with international poets.

That trip came after they won the first Auckland secondary schools spoken word competition - Word: The Front Line - this year.

Rebecca, from Manurewa, said it was empowering to see dozens of young people come together to voice what they felt mattered.

"One of our friends spoke about safe sex, which then evolved into rape and then evolved further into the concept of heaven and hell. People start thinking seriously when you put it a certain way."

On the web
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