Koro Carman: My story as told to Elisabeth Easther

World Indigenous Tourism Summit at the Waitangi Copthorne Hotel. Koro Carman, of Footprints Waipoua, said it was important to have so many influential people in Northland. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Raised in Northland, Koro Carman has worked in tourism for most of his life but, when Covid dealt tourism a savage blow, he pivoted and is now working as a youth mentor and business development manager at Earth Village, a 385-acre wellness retreat outside Kerikeri, where he helps young people reach their full potential.

My mum was one of 12 children, and her parents are from Taheke and Ōtaua in the Hokianga. Dad is from Dunedin and has three brothers including a non-identical twin. Mum and Dad met in Motueka in the late 60s and I am a whāngai child, which means I was adopted within my immediate whānau. Paparoa Primary, just south of Dargaville, was my first school and an early memory is of sitting in the sandpit as Mum headed out the gate. On my travels I have occasionally stopped at the school – the sandpit is still there – to revisit that first memory of independence.

Because Mum came from a large family, Christmases at my grandparents in Waimamaku were really cool, with lots of kai and cousins. During the summer holidays we'd swim in the creeks, or go fishing and diving with the uncles, or pick blackberries. Nannyma, my grandmother, had green fingers and she'd offer a reward if we caught white butterflies in her gardens. Then I'd be allowed to open the chest freezer and on tippy toes, I'd reach down to retrieve the tub of coconut and marshmallow ice cream.

We were always outside exploring until we got the call for dinner, then me and all my cousins would cram into the lounge on couches and mattresses to go to sleep before being woken by Nannypa, my grandfather. He'd turn the radio on at 5am to prepare breakfast. I still associate the radio with food. Eventually, I'd collect some firewood, then park myself in front of the woodstove and stoke the fire as Nannypa's corn beef stew bubbled away.

Koro Carman - guide, philosopher, entertainer and Hokianga boy in one - at the start of a twilight tour through the Waipoua Forest. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Nannypa and my uncles all worked for the old Ministry of Works, looking after the road that ran through Waipoua Forest, so I spent lots of time there. Then, when I was 10, I got my first after school job. I would sweep, mop, dust and do the dishes at Mrs Donaldson's souvenir store and cafe in Rawene. I was paid $2 a week and Mrs Donaldson always gave me a sandwich or a donut or two. I was raised by a village.

I enjoyed school, and from an early age I wanted to be a teacher, although I wasn't a model student so when my application to Teachers' Training College was declined I shrugged it off. I also enjoyed rugby and secretly hoped to be an All Black. I played with several players who went on to become All Blacks and while I didn't, rugby offered me opportunities to travel and meet people. It also taught me important life lessons including the value of communication and how to work as part of a team. Now I'm older, I appreciate the commitment my parents, aunts, uncles and neighbours made to ensure we could do what we did.

After spending some time on the benefit, or doing casual jobs and short courses, the old man encouraged me to fly the roost so off I went to Auckland to study for a Certificate in Tourism at Best Training in New Lynn. We did a trip to the Bay of Islands and when the Guthrey's bus pulled up outside the school, the first thing that struck me was that the coach driver was Māori. I sat up front to talk to Johnny and he was fascinating. He planted a seed by introducing me to the bus company's owner. Up until then I'd been a bit aimless but Richard Guthrey saw something in me and offered me work experience, then helped me get my passenger service licence. That led to over 25 years of working in tourism, which I've always said was a lot like teaching but without walls and textbooks.

Years later I moved back to Hokianga to help establish Footprints Waipoua, a guided visitor experience to the giant kauri trees in the Waipoua Forest. It started, in part, because the owner of The Copthorne in Omapere - now The Heads - wanted to create activities to increase bed nights. We knew it had to involve the trees, because they were the drawcard, but the biggest challenge was convincing people to pay for something they could already do for free.

Koro Carman is now working as a youth mentor and business development manager at Earth Village. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Working among the trees I learnt to see the forest in a whole new light, as a world of collaboration and competition for survival. There are so many intricate and complex things going on, much more than you can see with the naked eye and most of it, if not all of it, is for our benefit. We think we live in a hectic world, but it's nothing compared to what's going on above, and below, the ground.

The tourism landscape changed dramatically with the arrival of Covid. When it hit, me and some mates had just launched Whakaara Pito Mata - The Māori Tourism Academy, a four-week practical, inspirational, non-academic tourism programme delivered by Māori for young Māori who were unlikely to attend formal tertiary training. As part of that we'd invite speakers in to inspire our youth. One of those speakers was Yewon Hwang, managing director of Earth Village. She delivered a workshop around emotional and stress management and the change in our rangatahi was immediate. It was like switching on a light. Unfortunately, our contract was with the Ministry of Social Development, and the outcome was focused on jobs, but because of Covid the opportunities we'd arranged for our graduates disappeared. Because Earth Village's extensive international tourism had also dried up, they shifted their focus to the domestic market and the youth development space, and now I work for them.

I've always had a passion for human development and - in conjunction with Te Puni Kokiri and Te Hiringa Trust - we are about to deliver our first eight-day group retreat to help Māori rangatahi develop their full potential. Our young people face multiple challenges but the single biggest challenge is themselves. There are other challenges of course, but they all have the potential to do amazing things and some will, I have no doubt, but the critical first step is overcoming the obstacles from within.

I see the recipe for success as containing multiple ingredients. This is in no particular order but you have to find people who are willing to give our young people a chance. So you take a quarter of a cup of chance, then you add half a cup of network, an opportunity to connect them with inspirational people who may have sailed in that same boat but are now doing really cool things. Now add a sprinkle of self-belief, as people have to want to help themselves. There is no point giving people the recipe for the cake if they're not willing to make the next one themselves. And I know this works because that recipe was given to me. I was wandering for ages until someone gave me a chance and I was a willing participant.

I'd always wanted to be a teacher, and now that I'm helping young people realise their potential, I've also found my own.

• www.earthvillage.co.nz