Kiri | Ōhakune, Manawatū -Whanganui

“We moved to Wellington maybe six years ago, and I was working a job I didn’t like. I was studying something I didn’t like. So, one day, I just decided in a week, to pack up and move back home, and it’s probably been the best decision I’ve made this far into my life.

I’ve got my whānau around me. I’ve got a really cool job that I love, and it’s just cool. It was scary, but worth it in the end. I’m doing a job I like. I’m studying something that I really like. I’m surrounded by my friends and my family. This is my safe place. This is home. I learned that it’s alright to come home. There are opportunities at home. We just have to start creating them and finding them, and pushing more people to come home to our community. I’ve learned heaps. Probably a lot more about myself coming back home than I did being away from home. I’ve learned how to be content in where I am. Live within my means.

Home for me is the feeling of being safe, being in a community that’s loving and caring. Home is a feeling. That’s what I think. Especially this place. This place does something special to people. People can’t stop coming.

I grew up here. I was born in Whanganui, lived here till I was 18, moved to Wellington till I was 22, moved home, and throughout all of that experience, I know that the one thing I really wanted to do was help people, especially our rangatahi, our teenage kids. So, the job that I’m in now with Ngāti Rangi, allows me to do that. It gives me the freedom to help facilitate toi workshops, help create a safe place for our kids where they can freely express themselves and learn and create and just be who they are. That’s where my journey is currently. I want to be able to help these kids make the transition from teenagers to adults. Help their mental health, their spiritual health, their physical health, and do whatever I can to push them further to be the great people that I know they can be.

I think if I was their age and I wanted some advice on life, I would say, just keep doing what you’re doing. Eventually, you’ll end up where you’re supposed to be, who you want to be. Just go with the flow. Just do what makes you happy. It’s alright to be scared, but overcome it, to be something better.”