Great to help young people get ahead

Continued from page 1

Aroha Puketapu, who runs Te Rito Maioha with her husband Brian, approached Ginny about a year ago, saying they needed more space and that a prefab would be perfect.

“I made a few enquiries with the Ministry of Education and found there was indeed a prefab that was surplus,” Ginny says.

“After a few lengthy discussions I managed to secure it for the Marae and it was able to be transported as well.

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“It’s a great feeling to be able to advocate for my community and get things that help our young people to get ahead,” Ginny says.

“I’ve seen the work Aroha and Brian do and it provides huge value to our community,” she adds.

Ginny’s work to secure the prefab for Te Rito Maioha was “fantastic,” Aroha says.

“We were just shocked and really, really grateful.

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“It’s a good outcome for the community.”

Not only is Te Rito Maioha grateful to Ginny Andersen, they are also appreciative of the team at the Ministry of Education, who were “fantastic,” Aroha says.

She is also very appreciative of other organisations involved in the project – Resene who provided paint and Naylor Love who put in the foundations for the prefab. They have been “great,” Aroha says.

Te Rito Maioha is a training programme for rangatahi, providing weaving for the girls and carving for the boys with the aim of linking them up with employers or with other training providers.

“We get them employment ready, but if they are not ready for employment we move them on to another education provider.”

For the boys that may mean trades training, such as carpentry or auto engineering, and for the girls it means training in such roles as hairdressing, barista work and hospitality.

“We are the only place in Wainuiomata that does employment training every day of the week,” Aroha says.

Te Rito Maioha provides this training for 20 rangatahi every school term. Every year it works with 80 students.

During their 10 weeks on the course, the rangatahi achieve a number of credentials –including first aid and swimming certificates, micro credentials and a level 4 certificate from Te Pouhono Ki Tio, which covers the whakapapa of weaving and carving.

For their level 4 certificate the girls learn to harvest flax, prepare it and weave it, and then make ornamental pois.

The boys make a wheku, a carved face, which involves them sketching the face, making a clay model of it and then working on the timber with chisels.

“They love it,” Aroha says.

“Anything we can do to help rangatahi get good skills and make a positive contribution to our community is worth it.”

Te Rito Maioha aims to “uplift the young ones, for them to have a place to stand and feel good about themselves.”

The prefab newly installed at the Wainuiomata Marae will be used for seven days a week.

The Te Rito Maioha programme runs on week days and during the weekend a group of wahine, aged 55 and older, use the facility for activities such as raranga (weaving).

Now in its third year, Te Rito Maioha began with Lynda and Ivan Olsen, who are now kaumatua for the project, leading its establishment along with Aroha and Brian Puketapu.

Q: What 3 things do you always have in your fridge and why?

Feta cheese, spinach and bacon. I can make so many different snacks and meals with those three ingredients in winter or summer.

Milk - essential for a cappucino. Black Olives - because they can be used in so many things. Cheese - because let’s face it, it’s just so good!

Cheese, it’s so versatile. Butter because it’s natural and I don’t like margarine type spreads. I always have free range eggs. All you need is bread to make a lot of quick easy meals.