Some of the offenders outside Waikawa Marae. As well as gaining carving skills,
participants also learnt to build self-esteem through researching their whakapapa (family history).
Bone carving is the craft that cements a tikanga Māori programme started in Marlborough this year.
More than 30 offenders completed the programme over two recent weekends at Waikawa Marae. The programme was run by the local Māori health provider Te Rapuora o te Waiharakeke, who have been delivering tikanga Māori programmes in the area for a number of years, and was jointly funded by Corrections and the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board.
Corrections staff were actively involved in the stages leading up to the programme, with some staying over at the marae to offer their support.
Carving is a therapeutic component of the programme, says tutor, and Anglican priest, Graeme Grennell. He says the carving is intended to give participants an activity “to do with their hands” and an opportunity to “complete something”.
Local carver Reg Thompsett helped participants create two taonga (treasures) - one to keep and one to give away.
Graeme says “it’s interesting to see who they give their taonga to…a mother, partner or uncle for example. Of the 30-odd guys who went through the programme, five showed a lot of talent at carving, and Reg is hoping to develop them further”.
Named Tapuwae Oranga (Footsteps to Wellbeing), the programme was the largest tikanga Māori drug and alcohol programme the area has seen, and was run over two consecutive weekends - a move which has seen the popularity of the programme grow as offenders don’t need to take time off work. Keeping the sessions close together also helps to keep participants motivated.
The success of it means two more are planned for next year - one for women only, and one for men and women together.
In addition to carving, the programme covers alcohol and drug education; anger management, including exploring the causes of domestic violence; and Te Ao Māori (living in the Māori world).
Graeme says the whole programme is “geared towards helping people find themselves – to find out who they are and where they belong”.
Many participants have experienced the worst side of society, says Graeme.
“They feel worthless, and that ‘nobody cares about me so I might as well do what I want’.”
The programme is designed on the simple premise that an individual’s whakapapa (family history) is hugely influential.
“From the Māori world view that is the part played by ancestors. For example, when considering an offender’s violence you say ‘where does that come from?’”
Participants are encouraged to research their wider family, and in doing so model themselves on a positive family member or tipuna (ancestor or grandparent).
“Once they know their tribe they can pick out a tipuna who might have been, for example, a good navigator.
“We work with their whanau to help them get their pride back and develop greater self-esteem. The participants get very proud of what they do on the course and when they research their whakapapa it is a self-generating way of building up self-esteem.”
Since the programme finished, some of the participants have continued to keep in regular contact, requesting to do their community work hours at the marae, and using Te Rapuora o te Waiharakeke as a support base while they complete their sentence.
A tikanga Māori programme is 60-80 hours long, and offenders who undertook the Tapuwae Oranga programme were from the greater area including Motueka and Greymouth. Mostly Māori and with a history of lower level offending, the majority of the participants were in their 20s and 30s. However, the group ranged in age from 18 to 58.
Graeme says “it’s sometimes hard to engage with teenagers as they haven’t had the pitfalls and they think everything is ‘great’.”
But, he says, the programme can act as a “wake-up call” to adult participants still leading a life of crime and drug-taking.
Graeme has been undertaking drug and alcohol treatment work for Te Rapuora o te Waiharakeke for four years, since moving to Blenheim from Nelson where he ran a men’s anger management programme for many years.
He says he is pleased to be part of tikanga Māori programmes for people living in the Marlborough area, who may have a history of offending and be undertaking community-based sentences such as community work.
An offender shows off the carving he made as part
of the recent tikanga Maori programme in Marlborough.
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