What has brought you the most joy or strength this year? 

Simeon | Te Tai Tokerau

Drawing on her personal experience in the system, Simeon explains the benefits of creating a youth-led space where rangatahi can be heard, discover their talents, and build confidence.

“I’m now on a bit of a journey to try and get our youth voices at the table for our community. Kaikohe is made up of a lot of youth.

We do have a lot of youth in Kaikohe and we have a lot of people who like to do things for the youth and run events for the youth, but nobody actually talks to the youth and asks them what they want or need or what will actually help them flourish in life. So not only just having a space for our youth to go and hang out but we want to provide them with opportunities.

We want to help them figure out their talents and just enable them to go as far as they can in life.

Growing up here in Kaikohe I also had some challenges in life. Being in the system and things like that. So me personally, if I had a space like this back when I was younger, 15, 16, I would have been here all the time.

And I think it’s important to have that space for our young people. Where they can be heard, they can be safe and not be out on the streets getting up to no good.

They get to design the space, they get to be leaders in this space and it’s basically just building them up to have the confidence to know where they want to go in life and be great.

So what’s given me strength this year is actually stepping into a new opportunity and being given the space to grow and be confident in myself and also having the chance to try and help the youth in Kaikohe as well.”