Local Focus: Hawke's Bay theatre programme shines a light on bullying

New Zealand has one of the highest rates of bullying in the world. A report by the Ministry of Education last year shows 36 per cent of Year 5 and 38 per cent of Year 9 students were bullied on a monthly basis.

But a programme by Maia Dreams called Confident Me might give us a clue to help solve this problem.

On October 1, 31 children and youth came from Te Kura and Camberley Community Centre to perform a devised theatre piece called Whakawetiweti at St Andrew's Hall, Hastings.

Whakawetiweti in Māori means bullying, and also includes threatening and intimidating. The children and youth shared their powerful stories about bullying through poetry, monologues, a skit and songs.

Kristyl Neho, founder of Maia Dreams and director of Whakawetiweti, said bullying was a massive issue.

"Many of our students are actually dealing with this at the moment. We work with about 15 schools throughout Hawke's Bay to deliver our Confident Me programme."

Julia Pearson was a performer in Whakawetiweti. She has seen bullying happen around her.

"One girl got bullied because she was deaf, and some others got bullied because of their looks. We should be kind to others and respect others."

Parents of the performers had their own stories.

"My daughter has suffered from anxiety for quite a few years. She didn't want to go to school and wanted to shut herself in the room. It's really hard," said Laurelee Bowman.

"My son suffers from ADHD. A lot of people misunderstand him. They tend to take advantage of him because his nature is so kind. They started bullying him," said Maru Goodley.

To help these children get out of their shadow and rebuild their confidence, Kristyl Neho and educators started running the Confident Me programme over 13 years ago.

The Confident Me programme improves children and youths' interpersonal
relationships, problem-solving, cognitive competencies, and a reduction in problem behaviour.

These children were suffering from bullying or anxiety. Now they are learning to be brave and not let other people judge them.

Goodley is glad to see his son come out of his shell and regain his lost self-confidence.

Bowman noticed the same effect on her daughter.

"She's opening up more and getting really into doing a lot more things. She started looking for a job and just got herself into McDonald's."

Neho said her team would keep working on the Confident Me programme to create as many opportunities and resources to offer children a space to be heard and understood.

"Being unique and different is actually a beautiful thing. Each individual's voice deserves to be heard."