Manaakitia Trust...

Tu Tangata, Issue 13, 1 August 1983, Page 4

Manaakitia Trust...

Take/business

Mrs Piki Takiari could see young Maori were having difficulty coping with the modern world even in a small city like Wanganui. To help them she became involved with Mahi Tahi in Wanganui. It was a drop-in centre started by the YMCA in February 1979. It was a place where people mainly young could go and feel at home. Until April 14 last year it continued as a kind-of club for people who were having difficulty surviving. But in April Messrs John Ward and Graeme Stephens decided to extend the bounds of Mahi Tahi. With the assistance of Mrs Takiari they started a work skills programme. There was a little conflict as Mahi Tahi moved from a protective nest to what was hoped would be a self-sup-porting co-operative business. Mrs Takiari resigned as director of Mahi Tahi so she could concentrate on the social aspects of the group. Graeme Stephens became the director and John Ward the supervisor. The name Mahi Tahi was replaced with Manaakitia Trust, which, according to Mr Ward, would allow the group to cast off the old and start anew in a different direction. Mr Ward said at the time the trust intended handling the effects of unemployment in a Maori way. He hoped they would eventually be able to cater for 20

people. He said the trust faced a difficult job. The people it was dealing with had left school with no hope of finding a job. The expectations were low as was their faith in their own ability. He said people not used to working were not aware of the responsibilities that went with a job or could not be bothered with them basic things like turning up everyday on time. From the start he took a firm hand. “Mind you, I have to be reasonable and lenient too. I allow them so much freedom and then I clobber them,” he said. Now, after almost a year, his methods seem to be paying dividends. The trust has 25 people being paid to learn work skills and employs five supervisors. (Wages are supplied by the Government as part of its unemployment relief). It now has five plots of land around Wanganui which are used for gardens about 12 hectares are involved. In July the trust leased one hectare of land from the Railways at Aramoho. The disused section was over-run with scrub, small trees and long grass. Mrs Takiari and a group of young people mainly girls cleared the land and it is now in gardens. The supervisor of the clearing gang was Miss Pat Thomasen. Before taking on the job she had been a dressmaker in Wellington.

“It’s hard work but we get stuck into it,” she said. “The girls are good. They really amaze me— they stick to a job. The boys tend to give in but the girls stick with it.” Though the work was harder than she was used to she enjoyed it. “I like it, You are not confined within four walls. You also learn a lot about yourself we have to push ourselves. You learn how to cope with it.”

She said the trust did a lot of free gardening for old people.

“A lot of them are lonely and they want to have a talk. When you are sewing for people they come for a fitting and all you learn is their body measurements. Here you get to know people,” she said.

Since then, Mrs Takiari has left Manaakitia to start a PEP renovation of the Kaiwhaiki Marae. Mr Stephens has left to work as an accountant with the Imlay Freezing Works though he is still the director of the trust and is on hand when his expertise is required.

The day-to-day business of the trust is now run by Mr Ward. His trump cards are his senior supervisors: An A grade mechanic and a “pommy ex-army man” Mr Charles Mitford.

“I had to go and find him, the Labour Department did not have anyone suitable. The kids take to him because they talk to him on a one-to-one basis.”

By late February the trust had found 11 of its members permanent work, five had gone on to the PEP and three were self-employed: One as a paper-hanger, one in horticulture and one in forestry.

When Mr Ward started with the trust it owned one old van that ran “mostly on the gift of God”. Now it has a reliable ute, a TK Bedford seven tonne truck with a full canopy and the van.

And while the trust has prospered materially, Mr Wards says its main aim is still to help people cope.

“With no names mentioned I will tell you about a 14 1 /2-year-old. Last Christmas she ran away from her parents away from everybody. For three weeks she existed on the streets, I don’t know how.

“Her parents brought her down to me and said could I do anything with her. I said I couldn’t employ her because of her age. They said they wanted somewhere she could go during the day. Somewhere she could do something without causing the trouble and strife she had been.”

Mr Ward agreed to let her work at the trust as long as her parents dropped her off and picked her up.

“Within three days her parents were back and said the change was astounding. She stopped here till she went back

to school in February. On her last day here her parents came and picked her up and she said ‘hooray’. Her parents thanked me. “She disappeared but her parents car was still out the front and I thought that was funny. About five minutes later there was a timid knock I didn’t even look up. This kid came in in tears, she wanted to know if she could come back at the end of the first term. “In my opinion that’s what this caper is all about. What they are not getting at home we have to give them here. Her supervisors gave her a good record I’m pleased to be able to make a statement like that.” The trust has concentrated on gardens. Members built a large glass-house at the back of the St George’s Gate base, mostly from things other people had thrown out. It produces 5000 plants a month and provides plants and seedlings to trusts and charitable groups throughout the Wanganui and South Taranaki regions. Over Christmas it gave away 49 cases of

mixed vegetables and 25 sacks of potatoes. Mr Ward now hopes the trust will eventually employ 40 people but to do that more buildings will be needed so work does not stop then the weather is bad. “I can’t see us looking back now. We started slowly and I hope to continue building-up slowly. Should the work skills programme finish we would have a financial battle but I think we could continue as a co-operative, and still hold our own.’’ While leadership is provided from the top and though responsibility is demanded, Mr Ward said everyone contributes to decisions. “We don’t want anybody standing there like Hitler. We sit down and talk about it then we come up with a decision.’’ Early on he was criticised at a house meeting. “I have a loud hailer on the truck. One day I wanted to talk to one of the people who was working up the road.

“I didn’t walk up but called out to him on the loud hailer. He took exception to the fact that I used the loud hailer on him. “At the meeting he said it was getting more like a police operation around here. “I think we have been lucky that people have stuck. Where they have been turned-off it has been possible to get them back on the rails, sometimes by leading them and sometimes by pushing them. They seem to get it together eventually. “You can see for yourself that the quality of the place has improved it’s business-like. The place is viable. “When we first started we rang people and said we were Manaakitia and they wondered who the hell we were. Now I can ring them and say, ‘lt’s Manaakitia, John Ward speaking’ and they know who we are. And when we need it they are ready to give us help and advice. “I think we’re underway at last I’m prepared to admit that,’’ he said.