Market a triumph for trust

OPENING: Terrence Kuru lifts the lid on a steam hangi, watched by Cadence Rippon.

Matipo Community Development Charitable Trust's first market was a success - and there may be more to come.

The market was held at the trust's community garden at 69 Matipo St in Whanganui on Saturday morning, and there were stalls selling candy floss, sausage sizzles, toffee apples and 240 hangi meals.

Trust chairman Carlos Rippon said other parties raised money by selling jewellery and knitted baby clothes.

The cost of having a stall was a koha - "Whatever they think they can afford."

There were activities for children - a bouncy castle, an egg-and-spoon race, a sack race and a lolly scramble.

About 90 Black Power members from across New Zealand attended and Mr Rippon said they loved it.

"They loved that we are training the young fellows - they want to duplicate it where they come from."

The day was a success, with "a bit" of money raised for the trust and for an unveiling of the headstone of a former trust leader, the late Craig Rippon, the former Black Power leader who was killed on November 8.

There are nine trustees, with Rawi Minarapa a secretary, and the main focus is education, so that people from the area can get jobs or start their own businesses.

Mr Rippon said none of the members got far at school, but they were finding it easier to study together as adults.

Twelve are doing an NZQA level 3 course in organic horticulture, based at the community garden and a former Housing NZ house nearby. The course is run with Agriculture New Zealand in conjunction with the Wai Ora Christian Community Trust.

The Nga Hononga Marae Trust provides the gardens with a rich compost and the gardens provide food for the families.

About 12 people are doing courses with the YMCA - adult education courses tailored to the individual students' needs. These can include intensive literacy and numeracy, and information and communications technology.

The students can slant this learning toward their own interests - some are doing early childhood education, some business and administration and some cooking and food hygiene.

Next the trust has 12 people lined up for a carpentry course run with UCOL and using a member who is a qualified carpenter as tutor. It starts on April 18 and runs for a year, getting the students to NZQA level 4.

"We went to look at the Palmerston North [course]. It was mean over there, and we wanted to use that," Mr Rippon said.

The students will be working on Housing NZ houses.

After that the trust is looking for training in engineering and mechanics.

"We have three different education providers that want us. We will find out what's the best and go with them."