Potiki Adventures help Maori youth
Auckland based Māori tourism company Potiki Adventures have built a strong reputation as a provider of quality day tours allowing international visitors the opportunity to connect with contemporary Māori culture. Another major part of their operation involves working with at risk Māori youth in Auckland.
Company director Bianca Ranson works closely with the Young New Zealanders Challenge using the outdoors as a pathway to help Māori youth.
The relationship started out as a small contract to provide services as an outdoor instructor but after one overnight tramp with a group of 'at-risk' Māori and Pacific Island teenage boys from South Auckland who had never been into the forest or onto the beaches of West Auckland, Bianca was hooked.
'So many of our rangatahi (young people) are growing up in urban settings, with no knowledge or connection to traditional Māori culture or the whenua (land) They end up grasping onto other things to fill that gap, be it drugs, alcohol, vandalism or whatever. My aim is to re-connect them with their culture and sense of place and to use the outdoors as a means to do this,' says Bianca
In addition to delivering the outdoor training and expeditions, Bianca is working hard to bring marae (Māori community centres) on board and help them to facilitate the skills building and community service parts of the programme.
'It's important for the kids to realise that opportunities don't just fall in your lap - they have to be earned. So the community service aspect is an important part. Being a valued, useful member of the community is going to increase these kids' esteem and sense of belonging. The skills building component gives them the motivation to learn something new and stick at it over a period of time.'
Bianca has been working with a wide range of young Māori people. She has facilitated the programme in Māori schools, through community marae and even a youth prison. Taking the young prisoners (and guards) for an overnight tramp on an isolated island has been one of her highlights.
'Giving them a really unique experience outside of the prison walls, showing them that there is more to life outside than the patterns they were previously stuck in was an amazing experience for me. It is important for them to know that there are people who do care, and do want them to have positive experiences. I do believe that for some of them it will make them think twice about their future options and choices they make.'
Potiki Adventures work with at-risk youth is driven by a firm belief in the importance of building a strong community of future Māori leaders and that these kids especially deserve the right to enjoy a unique connection to the people, the land and the heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand.
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