MĀORI MAKE UP 15% OF

NEW ZEALAND’S POPULATION.

BUT OVER HALF OF ITS PRISONERS

EASTERN:

I was in serious trouble and it was either do good, or go to juvie.

Q / What’s juvie?

Juvenile prison.  Yeah, I don’t want that.

NEW ZEALAND HAS THE HIGHEST RATE

OF TEEN SUICIDE

IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD

EASTERN THOUGHT TRACK IV (4C / 52.21):

I went off the rails a little bit.  I tried to take my life – at the age of 12.

CAN MĀORI CULTURE SAVE MĀORI BOYS?

ISAIAH (2C / 39.16):

If all Maori men had tikanga, I tell you what – we wouldn’t be filling up the prison systems, we wouldn’t be putting our hand out and begging for extra money, for food allowances.  We would be running New Zealand.

THE KIDS ARE NOT ALRIGHT

Amos Roberts and Naima Lynch

MAP - New Zealand, Auckland & Russell

EASTERN OVERLOOKING TOWN (4D / 17.59):

So we’re in Russell in the Bay of Islands.  I’ve lived here my whole life and I reckon it’s a boring little town.

EASTERN IV THOUGHT TRACK (4C / 51.12):

As a child, it was amazing.  There was heaps to do. But as a teenager it just gets boring. There’s just nothing to do.

Once known as “the hell hole of the Pacific”, Russell was the first permanent European settlement in New Zealand.

With only 720 residents, it’s more popular now with tourists than with local teenagers like 15 year-old Eastern Petford Smith.

EASTERN WALKING (4D / 40.29):

So this is the middle of town.  And this is where all us Russell boys loiter. (laughs)

New Zealand Maori are famed for their warrior culture.

But many Maori boys are losing their way.

This small country has the highest teen suicide rate in the developed world.

EASTERN TOUR (4D / 35.28):         

So over there is a good fishing spot.  Me and my old man used to go there when he was alive and we used to cast into the channel between Mill Island and the rocks.

EASTERN WALKS UP TO GRAVE (4D / 44.12):

Hey, dad. So this is, ah, this is my dad.

QUESTION (4D / 44.36):

Tell me a little bit about him.

EASTERN BESIDE GRAVE:

(laughs) Well, he was tall.  Tall as.  Funny. Great fisherman.  Legendary skipper.  And a blacksmith.

EASTERN THOUGHT TRACK (4D / 44.56):

And an awesome dad.

EASTERN THOUGHT TRACK (4D / 45.05):

He passed away in 2013 from cancer.  It was a huge turning point in my life.  My life started going downhill.  Not having a male role model in my life was really hard.

EASTERN THOUGHT TRACK IV (4C / 52.21):

I went off the rails a little bit.  I tried to take my life – at the age of 12. And…

Q / That’s pretty full on.

Yeah. It wasn’t… I just wanted to be with him.

(53.22) I didn’t want to be in this world.  I hated it.

MAORI TV PRESENTER (00.00):

Latest statistics show the suicide rate continues to climb in New Zealand.

AL JAZEERA (00.12):

NZ has the highest teen suicide rate in the world, over twice the global average.

JOHN CAMPBELL RNZ (00.11):

A recent report found 60% of people aged 10 – 14 who killed themselves between 2012 and 2016 were Maori.

Maori boys are in the grip of a crisis – many don’t make it to adulthood without encountering violence, addiction, poverty and prison.

EASTERN INTERVIEW (4C / 55.41):           

I just… so much anger and rage and depression it just bottled up inside me and I just started fights. 

A few months ago, Eastern had his first brush with the law – it was a turning point in his life.

EASTERN IV THOUGHT TRACK (4C / 56.45):

(56.45) So I was with my mate and

(58.24) we broke into garages multiple times and took their golf carts for drives around their property.  But one day we were driving down the driveway and the son of the owner came up the driveway. 

58.04 they just called the cops

(4C / 59.12) That was the first time police had ever got a hold of me.

(59.27) It wasn’t that frightening, but once court came into the situation, then it was frightening.

EASTERN:

I was in serious trouble and it was either do good, or go to juvie.

Q / What’s juvie?

Juvenile prison.  Yeah, I don’t want that.

ISAIAH IV THOUGHT TRACK (2C / 13.18):

A lot of our whanau, family, have a lack of knowing or have a lack of identity. And it's part of my goal, to work with those people, to install “tikanga” - values and principles that have been written by our ancestors.

ISAIAH CHANTING MAORI (00.51):

To my ancestral house, call to me, call to me, call to me. Acknowledge your descendent as I enter the warmth of your house.

(1.13) My name is Isaiah Matthew Apiata. 

(1.30) At present we are standing within the ancestral house of my people.  Of Nga Puhi.

ISAIAH INTERVIEW SYNCH (2C / 14.21):

Tikanga at its essence, is the “rongoa”, the medicine, to fixing up all our whanau that are currently making up the high statistics within New Zealand. 

ISAIAH THOUGHT TRACK IV (2C / 1.40.24):

Easton Petford-Smith is // one of these fellas from what I've seen that's easily led astray.  And that’s part of the issue. But when he lost his father, he also lost his connection to his taha Maori.

ISAIAH (3C / 1.09.56):

You know the old structure of living was, everybody would raise a child in the village, it wasn't just the parents.

ISAIAH CONT.:

Which is where I come into the picture.

Isaiah works as a youth justice coordinator for New Zealand’s Ministry of Children, or Oranga Tamariki, which supports kids whose wellbeing is at risk, or who’ve broken the law.

The fact that 70% of those kids are Maori is yet another damning statistic.

ISAIAH DRIVING (3D / 32.46 / GOPRO / 33.48):

What we’re going to do today is learn about that word “tikanga”.  What’s tikanga to you?

EASTERN: Dunno.

ISAIAH (36.08):

Tikanga basically means, doing things right.

Could Isaiah turn out to be the male role model that Eastern needs?

ISAIAH WALKING UP TO GATE (4C / 4.01):

So the purpose of today is first, we got to get to the top of our mountain. But it’s once we’re at the top, where we start to get a better appreciation of the direction, through tikanga maori, that we want to go in the future. Acknowledging the harm that has been caused, why you’re here, but actually giving you the opportunity to seek out another route.

This mentoring is actually Eastern’s stay-out-of-jail card.

With the help of Isaiah and other professionals, he came up with a plan to show he’s serious about taking a different path.

ISAIAH INTERVIEW (2C / 21.25):

Once we agree to the plan, and if the young person sticks to the guidelines

(21.38) effectively the charge will be wiped, as if it vanishes, as if it never happens. (21.49)

ISAIAH WALKING (4C / 9.14):          

You know in life nothing’s easy.  It’s about working hard to achieve a particular goal. Which is similar to what we’re doing. 

ISAIAH INTERVIEW (4C / 30.02):  

The essence of the pepeha hikoi is for the young person to make a reconnection back to their land, but the land that their ancestors once walked. 

(31.30) And the essence of tikanga is having that strand that associates you personally to your ocean, to your mountain, to your river. To your meeting house.  To your family. And gives you that understanding of purpose in life.

Today Eastern is climbing Pouerua, a volcanic hill that was once terraced and fortified by local Maori, surrounded by a maze of settlements, gardens and smaller forts.

ISAIAH (4C / 23.58):  

Here we are at the summit of your maunga.  Your mountain.  Where your people established themselves. Where tikanga was created and where tikanga continues.  This is who you are.  Smell the breeze.  The fresh air. Feel the wind on your skin.

EASTERN (4C / 35.11):

It’s amazing really.  Mindblowing.  Just trying to take it all in at once. 

Q / What are you thinking about when you come up here?

Just how my ancestors used to be here. Yeah.

QUESTION (4C / 35.34):

Did you know any of this stuff before you met Isaiah?

EASTERN:

No I didn’t.

(36.18) He’s made a big difference.  I never used to feel as Maori as I do now.  Yeah.  I’m glad I’m up here.

QUESTION (4C / 36):

Was your Maori identity something that you thought about?

EASTERN:

Yeah, I thought about it quite a lot.  And I just really wanted to connect with it. And ever since my dad passed away I couldn’t.

(38.16) And now that Isaiah has got onto my life, it’s a lot better. Knowing where I’m from.

QUESTION (4C / 38.30):

Changes the way you feel about… yourself?

EASTERN:

A lot.  A lot. 38.35

(38.47) Trying to change, turn over a new leaf now.

Q / Is that partly thanks to Isaiah?

Yes, yes.

But helping a troubled teenager isn’t always so straightforward.

ISAIAH INTERVIEW (2C / 12.57):

What I’m up against is five generations of dysfunctional families.

ISAIAH CONT:

What’s affecting our people is alcohol, is drugs,  it’s sexual abuse. Boredom, lack of employment, lack of role models.

Moerewa is a town that’s almost entirely Maori –people are proud of their town, but it’s often in the news for the wrong reasons.

It’s here I get a real sense of the inter-generational issues Isaiah is trying to tackle.

MARJ (4D / 1.28.43):

We’ve had a few, actually quite a few family members too, children, who have committed suicide.

Q / How do you make sense of something like that?

You don’t.  I don’t know.

Marjorie Strongman used to work with Isaiah at the Department of Corrections – now she helps released prisoners find jobs.

This is her daughter, Alana.

ALANA INTERVIEW (1.55.56):

I’ve tried committing suicide myself. Quite a lot.

Q / How old were you when that happened?

I was about 12.  12 years old. Yup.  Right up to probably about 23 or so.

Q / Why do you think it happens so much?

Just a lot of abuse and family sexual abuse I think.

EXTRA ALANA INTERVIEW (4D / 1.56.41):

You just don’t want to be here anymore you just want to go. (1.56.45)

Q / It’s something you struggled with for a long time.

Yup.

UPSOT JAEDEON (1D / 44.48):

OK, I can’t even get the back one off.

(45.08) Hey.  Fuck off!

And this is Alana’s son, Jaedeon.

MARJ THOUGHT TRACK IV (4D / 1.12.49):

Jaedeon’s actually a nice boy if you get to know him. It’s just that he gets himself into trouble.

JAEDEON UPSOT (1D / 47.09):

Your dad’s front brakes are f***d.

MARJ CONT.

Not gonna use his ADHD as an excuse. But sometimes that’s part of it.

MARJ THOUGHT TRACK IV (4D / 1.13.44):

I just think Jaedeon’s had a lot of challenges in his life. Being brought up by a single mother. Father in prison.

ALANA WATCHING JAEDEON (1D / 1.27.13):

He’s been pretty interested in bikes since probably about 10.  He’s right into them – fixing them, riding, wheelies.  Pretty much anything to do with bikes.

ALANA INTERVIEW (4D / 1.39.42):

I got into trouble myself and went to jail and did not good things and I sort of missed out on a lot of things with him.

ALANA WATCHING JADEON (1D / 1.3027):

Love watching them do their wheel stands.

(1.30.22) They try to teach me but I can’t even get the wheel off the ground so…

UPSOT JAEDEON (1D / 1.33.58):

Now my chair is crooked.

A: So you got no front brakes?

J: I got no brakes at all.

MARJ (4D / 1.14.07):

My experience of my grandson’s naughtiness is that he stole his grandfather’s truck. And then the police became involved, there was a little bit of a car chase. They ended up going through the fence on it.

Soon after Jaedeon’s arrest, someone turned up to keep him out of jail – and teach him a lesson.

ISAIAH (1.32.13):

I knew his grandmother. And I’ve got much respect for his grandmother.

(1.32.26) I said I'll work with him, let me work with him and I'll share with him his tikanga.

ISAIAH IN CAR:

That’s where we’re gonna go.  We’ll go there first, and then we’ll go to your marae.

Jaedeon recently did his pepeha hikoi with Isaiah, which means reconnecting with his ancestors’ land…

UPSOT JAEDEON PEPEHA HIKOI VIDEO (00.08):

“He wanted to learn his pepeha, so we took him to his maunga, awa and marae.”

“My mountain is Whakataha.”

…And the video they made helped him stay out of jail.

ISAIAH IN CAR (Gopro 22.44 & 1C / 41.28):

So what happened in court?  What did the judge say?

JAEDEON:

Oh he just said if you let me watch your pepeha, I’ll let you go free – like a free man.

JAEDEON IN CAR (Gopro / 23.31):

And then he go, I hope I don’t see you in here again.  You might, maybe not.

ISAIAH:

How can we keep you out of that place?  What do we need to do?

ISAIAH THOUGHT TRACK IV (2C / 1.28.42):

I have respect for Jayden because he is what he is. A jokester. He acts as if he's not listening but you know he's engaged.

JAEDEON IN CAR (Gopro / 24.20 & 1C / 43.04):

That’s 30, Amos.

AMOS:

30 what?

- $30

$30 for what I just filmed?

- Yes. Keep it up man.

I reckon 20 cents.  Do we need a contract Isaiah?

No don’t make one Isaiah!  $10 a shot.  I gotta make something out of being filmed.

ISAIAH THOUGHT TRACK IV (2C / 1.29.14): He's raw, he's real he hasn't been trained, he hasn't been controlled. That's what I like about him.

ISAIAH IN CAR (26.49):

So how do you be a good boyfriend to a good girl?  What does a good boyfriend look like?

J – doesn’t hit her?

I - Doesn’t hit her, yeah yeah.

ISAIAH (27.26): Do you wear a rubber?  Put a condom on?

Sometimes

Sometimes?  Should be all the time.  It’s fun for the first two minutes for you.

Fuck off, I don’t go that long... I don’t go that short.  I go for maybe 30, 40 minutes

Just as long as you do it in a safe manner.  You’re 16 now.  So you gotta remember, wear a condom, rubber up, put a hat on. Are you ready to have a baby?

Not really.

Yeah, well.

Once out of the car, it doesn’t take long for Jaedeon’s sense of mischief to re-surface.

It leaves me wondering whether he’ll be open to what Isaiah has to teach him.

QUESTION (1C / 1.10.27):

Where’s he gone, Isaiah?

ISAIAH:

He’s gone rogue.

ISAIAH (1C / 1.11.16):

How did you even get up there?

(1.11.25) Please don’t hurt yourself.  Slide down the pole

QUESTION (3C / 1.05.12):

Neither Easton or Jayden have dads in their lives - how much is that a factor in what you're dealing with?

ISAIAH INTERVIEW (1.05.32):

In every household, having a male and a female figure plays a vital role.

JAEDEON (1C / 1.13.44):

Oh, is this the place where we’re going?

ISAIAH INTERVIEW (3C / 1.08.12):

A father is firm, firm.

(1.08.24) A father is there to build resilience. So a lot of our children nowadays don't have that resilience.

ISAIAH WITH JAEDEON (1C / 1.14.35):

That second hill is your pa.

JAEDEON:

What is that?

ISAIAH WITH JAEDEON (1C / 1.14.49):

That was the village, or the pa where your ancestors lived.

JAEDEON (1.14.58):

Are there houses there?

ISAIAH:

No, not any more.  Back in the days of our tupuna there were.  There were little residences that were built under the ground.

Jaedeon seems to be giving the discussion, or korero, his full attention.

ISAIAH (1C / 1.15.37):

When it was winter, they would live closer inland.  When it was summer, they’d come close to the moana.

JAEDEON (1C / 1.16.22):

We’re done? That was a korero.

But then the moment passes.

ISAIAH (1C / 1.16.31):

What’s it like being here, now that you’re here?

JAEDEON:

Boring.

JAEDEON WALKING OFF (1C / 1.17.41):

I’d rather eat junk food than stay in the bush.

AMOS:

Even somewhere like this?

- Yeah.

AMOS (shouting): I don’t think we’re finished!

ISAIAH (1C / 1.18.07):

He’s disconnected with us. It’s part of that process, ay, they either want to or they don’t. And I don’t know what’s on his mind at the moment which is troubling him, ay, keeping him not on task, not focussed. Unfortunately that’s what we’re up against.  (1.19.13) Young people that aren’t brought up with values or principles. 

ISAIAH AS JAEDEON WALKS OFF (1C / 1.22.45):

Special young man he is.  So much potential though, ay.  So much untapped potential that he holds.

ISAIAH INTERVIEW (47.25):

Suicide is more of an issue amongst our people now than there has ever been.

45.56   It’s rampant, it’s happening here there and everywhere.

ISAIAH INTERVIEW (2C / 3.27):

We live in a dysfunctional world, from a Maori point of view.

(2C / 1.24.08) 178 years, pakeha or western practitioners have used their tools to shape our people, to reform our people.

Since then, to this very day, it hasn't worked.

ISAIAH (19.42):

What I see is not these young people standing here, but their uncles, their grandparents, their ancestors.

(19.58) Pushing them.  Making them strive.

(20.09) It’s empowering.  It’s uplifting.

ISAIAH IV (3C / 1.15.39):

As you saw with those children, they loved every moment of it, because it's theirs.

ISAIAH:

And when you see that sparkle in their eye, yeah... It keeps you going back, give more, give more, give more.