Kia ora
Welcome to AA Directions’ inaugural digital issue – the first to be published purely online. We will continue to print and post issues in March and September (and they will also be online) but for our Winter and Summer issues, in June and in December, Directions will only be in digital format.
Think of this e-magazine as a menu of some of the fresh content we have produced. Within these pages you will find a taster of the cover feature, travel stories, motoring content and lifestyle articles usually found in the Home & Living pages of Directions. But there is way more for you to enjoy on Directions’ website. If you enjoy the short excerpt of the story you read here, click on the link for the full version and to discover more.
Our main feature this issue is a celebration of young energy. We spoke to a selection of Kiwi kids and young adults who are focusing their time and efforts on a range of passions. From environmental and community activism to sport, art, business and innovation, these New Zealanders represent an exciting and promising future.
Happy reading!
CONTENTS
WINTER 2023
FEATURE
The Power of Youth
Ten young New Zealanders talk about their passions and what motivates them to do well.
1 aadirections.co.nz WELCOME
5
3
Q&A
Meet the dynamic duo behind the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s latest production. Choreographer Loughlan Prior and composer Claire Cowan talk about readying Hansel & Gretel for tour.
17
WHEEL LOVE
John Reisima‘s 1981 Mitsubishi Mirage is a car with character and charm.
19 TOP SPOT
Meet New Zealand’s newest star. Mea Motu, world champion boxer, talks about her favourite places.
21
AUCKLAND SOUTH
Through rolling Waikato landscape, past historic sites, farmer markets and world-class gardens to pretty Cambridge and beyond. This family adventure is made even more special with a rented EV.
23
COOK ISLANDS
A holiday on Cook Islands’ Aitutaki and Rarotonga could go either way with a toddler in tow. Read the story and learn how it could be your turn next!
25
MEET THE MAKERS
A New Zealand couple has developed a range of paint with no nasties. Find out how the Natural Paint Company is making a difference to home makers.
2 WINTER 2023
CONTENTS 17 23 19 25 3 21
Royal New Zealand Ballet Composer Claire Cowan
and
Choreographer
in
Residence
Loughlan Prior have collaborated on Hansel & Gretel reinterpreting the classic fairy tale to commemorate the company’s 70th year of production later this year. They spoke to AA Directions’ Deputy Editor Monica Tischler about what’s in store.
Claire, you previously described the process of working with Loughlan as “some kind of weird telepathy”. How do the two of you even begin to build a ballet?
Claire: We have what we call ‘The Show Bible’. It’s basically a Google document that we can both edit. It’s complete with columns and rows, timings and action points, emotional qualities, types of dancing and other random notes about how we want each moment in the ballet to go including the story changes that we have implemented, especially if it’s a fairy tale as we like to mix things up a bit. Once I start writing the music, Loughlan then has something to feed back on. I make orchestral mock-ups on the computer and send them to him. It sounds much like it will with the orchestra, just a bit rough around the edges.
Loughlan: Whenever I get a file from Claire, it’s like opening a Christmas present. Imagine listening to a piece of music for the first time. It contains all the thematic and emotional hooks that we have talked about in our document. The set and costume designer is usually the third collaborator in our projects; we work with Kate Hawley in Hansel & Gretel. I must admit it’s sometimes hard to articulate how it all comes together, but ‘magical’ is a good way to describe it.
Watching the synergies between your art of dance and music during a live ballet performance really does feel like magic.
Claire: I try to make what’s happening with the music very clear so that Loughlan can hear all the action points. We talk about the timings in advance, but sometimes I’ll put in random gestures and then he’ll take them to the studio and create little moments of golden comedy and beauty. It’s always exciting to see what he does.
Loughlan: I'm like, ‘oh that’s a hip flourish there; that’s a kiss on the cheek there’.
I love that your work is about reinterpreting the fairy tale and exploring new themes (the 2022 production of Cinderella in which you both worked on put a rainbow twist on the traditional happily ever after). Why is that so important to you?
Claire: We want to convey stories to our audience through a modern lens. We wanted to make Gretel a strong female lead; she’s really the heroine of the story. She outsmarts the witch and saves her little brother, who’s a little bit hopeless. We’re using the witch as a double male/ female role – an innovation we wanted to do as a little nod to the world of drag. The show is camp and fun, that’s who we are as well. We want to inject a lot of humour into it; it’s not a dry, old tale to stop children wandering off into the woods or speaking to strangers. It’s also got themes of poverty. Ballet is not an art form that has any spoken words in it… Loughlan: Therein lies the beauty of ballet because it is a wordless art form, we are able to talk about things without actually talking about them. You can do a lot with inference, gesture, the body, and music. We always ask, ‘what is the contemporary relevance of what we’re doing?’ We are really trying to fuse these age-old tales with a modern sensibility so that they are entertaining, but also relevant. Otherwise, I don't see the point. When we’ve been given the gift and the pleasure of being commissioned to create something new, it should have something to say.
Tease us a bit more as to what we can expect from this rendition of Hansel & Gretel? Claire: We’re very audience focused, especially in this ballet in terms of having all the senses stimulated. The scent of fresh gingerbread is piped through the theatre when the gingerbread house gets built on stage. And guests have the opportunity to eat gingerbread during intervals.
You’re
kidding?
Loughlan: No! And icing sugar comes down from the roof! It's delightful, the whole thing. Claire: The music is updated as well. The score is heavily influenced by the period in which we set the show, the 1920s and 30s. There’s a lot of fun jazz influence. The orchestra includes non-standard instruments like saxophone and harpsichord.
Loughlan: And pots and pans.
Pots and pans?
Claire: We have lots of percussion instruments that are taken directly from a kitchen like pots, pans, and baking trays for the scenes where the witch is in her kitchen. And real animal bones are used for the scene where Hansel puts a bone through the cage. One of the percussionists literally went to the butcher, bought some cow bones and hung them out to dry. He uses xylophone mallets to play them. It’s really fun to have literal elements from the story played in the orchestra pit. There’s also a moment where the witch is snoring on stage and a trombonist has written in the score “make snoring noises.” I’m always surprised at how they interpret different elements.
What’s going through your mind when sitting in the audience on opening night?
Claire: We’re absolutely terrible to sit next to!
Loughlan: I remember the opening night of Hansel & Gretel in 2019; we were just squeezing each other’s hands and rocking, terrified of any slightly wrong note or for something to happen on stage. I made the mistake of having my mum sit next to us and I could tell she was thinking, ‘Oh my god, what’s going on?! His career must be over!’ from our tensile responses! But at heart, we're both perfectionists and even though our work is very fun and lighthearted, we take what we do very seriously, so we want it to be at its highest quality.
3 aadirections.co.nz COMP A SS
PHOTOGRAPHER GARTH BADGER / MAKE UP KIEKIE STANNERS
4 WINTER 2023 Click here to read the full story and details of our reader competition
THE SKATEPARK was once a terrifying place for Amber Clyde, so much so it left her with crippling anxiety.
Not because she didn’t enjoy the sport. In fact, that couldn’t have been further from the truth for the then 12-year-old Auckland school girl who now, as a 26-year-old mum of two, coaches multiple weekly skateboarding classes across Auckland as part of Girls Skate NZ, the girls-only skateboarding school she founded in 2018.
No, Amber found the skatepark unpleasant for another – more devastating – reason altogether.
“I found the space incredibly intimidating due to having boy skaters say nasty things to me,” Amber recalls. “This caused severe anxiety and I couldn’t progress with the sport and didn’t have the motivation to continue.”
How then – since abandoning the skatepark and her board for the next six years – did Amber become to run her own skate school?
It wasn’t until she fell pregnant at 18 with her eldest daughter Ella, now 8, and overcame post-natal depression that a new-found inner strength and determination bubbled up inside the young mum.
“I thought ‘man if I can give birth, I should not be scared or intimidated by boys at the skatepark’.”
So, she dusted off her board and headed back to Birkenhead Skatepark on Auckland’s Northshore – the park she was once left traumatised at – and set about perfecting her skills. For a year and a half, she skated as much as she could.
During that time she never once saw another female skater. Then, early one morning, and far away from the cliques of male riders, she encountered a young girl of similar age to when Amber had stopped skating due to bullying.
“I introduced myself and invited her to skate with me. She reminded me of how I once felt, and I didn’t want anyone else to ever have to go through what I did,” Amber says.
It would seem coaching was engrained in Amber back then, long before she recognised it herself and turned it into a career. Amber recalls seeing huge improvement in the girl under her guidance, and it didn’t take long before more girls joined in. Soon, there were about ten young women skating with Amber; the bones of Girls Skate NZ had begun to form.
Fast-forward to now and Amber works alongside other coaches – young women she’s recruited from her skateboarding classes –teaching lessons which attract about 25 girls ranging in age and ability. Although most skaters who attend are aged under 16, Amber encourages older keen skaters to jump right in. Girls are taught how to skate in an encouraging environment, where they can feel safe and can progress with tricks at a level that is comfortable for them.
Girls Skate NZ helps break down multiple barriers in skateboarding including social intimidation, gender and financial discriminations (boards, helmets and safety gear are all provided to new skaters), making skateboarding more accessible to those who ordinarily couldn’t participate or who’d find skateparks too intimidating. Students are also taught the correct safety measures and skatepark etiquette to prevent injury.
Amber says it’s a privilege witnessing how skating grows confidence and allows friendships to blossom.
“What we offer is a community. That’s what makes me feel the proudest,” she says.
Click to read the full story online
FEATURE 5 aadirections.co.nz
Fresh ideas, courage and energy to burn. These are the attributes of those we interviewed for this celebration of young Kiwi winners. From creatives making innovative moves into business, to sport mentors, environmentalists and entrepreneurs, they collectively bring positivity and hope to the future. That's the power of youth.
Monica Tischler talks to the founder of Girls Skate NZ.
GENERATION Z
26-year-old Amber Clyde has created a skateboarding community through Girls Skate NZ. Photo by Jessie Casson.
6 WINTER 2023
What we offer is a community. That’s what makes me feel the proudest.
LAUNCHING AN ART CAREER when you’re still at school is impressive and courageous in anyone’s sketchbook. For Christchurch Ōtautahi-based Ella Ward, it came so naturally she didn’t even recognise that that is what she was doing at the time.
Even now, five years on, she’s reluctant to go with the artist label.
“I would like to describe myself as an artist but I think an artist would be doing so much more than I am… but I guess I am. It’s just sometimes I think I’m not doing enough to claim that,” Ella says, more humble than coy.
The 20-year-old is in the final year of a Bachelor of Design degree at Ara Institute of Canterbury. While painting is what she most loves to do, she has pursued graphic design and illustration because she figures there are more career opportunities down the design path.
“A lot of what I do is finding visual ways to communicate ideas. I love painting, it’s a passion of mine that I want to continue, but as a career I know that can be hard… and I have a passion for design as well, so I’m going into that.”
And her course sounds truly inspiring: “I work with all sorts of media. For the latest study project I made paintings then scanned them into the computer and manipulated them onto furniture.”
Ella has ‘always’ loved art. It was the one subject that got her excited at school and she excelled in it. This is cute: she won The Painter’s Cup when she graduated from Intermediate School. She was stoked! People liked her art! It gave her confidence and, further nurtured in the art room at Cashmere High, she started submitting work to competitions and began to imagine herself as an
artist. And when she was 16, something happened to turn the dream into a reality. She was accepting into the Creators’ Room.
Ella explains: “The Creators’ Room (now called ArtStart) takes in work by high school students – they select a few through a judging panel. They purchase works and exhibit them and take prints and you get commission off the prints and the original, if that sells.
“The first year, I got two of mine selected. That was a big starting point for me, going to the exhibition and seeing my works on the wall. And then they sold – and woah!”
Another significant milestone for Ella was winning a commission to paint a huge mural on a wall in the Princess Margaret Hospital earlier this year. Her colourful, uplifting style was deemed perfect for the child and youth mental health outpatient space and it was an experience that resonated with her personal approach to art.
“What I want is for people to look at my art and feel happy, to feel joy. I want it to brighten up a space and to provoke emotions. Art for me is a happy escape and I would like my art to be the happy escape for others as well.”
She plans to shift into more of a design focus as she builds a career, with painting on the side. “But I’m set on eventually building up my art so that one day I can just be making art,” Ella says.
“I want to be able to do anything – I don’t want to be confined. I want to experiment and explore.”
Click to read the full story online
20-year-old Ella Ward is a successful artist in Ōtautahi Christchurch.
FEATURE 7 aadirections.co.nz
Photo by Jim Huang.
Kathryn Webster talks to a student with designs on the future.
IT TAKES A SPECIAL kind of person to simultaneously recognise the environmental damage of plastic waste, and its potential to be upcycled and repurposed.
But then again, the brainpower behind sustainable homewares business Utilize Studios – which turns rubbish into treasures using 3D printers – is extraordinary, perhaps even more so given the founders are 25-year-olds Matthew O’Hagen and Courtney Naismith.
Using recycled PET and bio-based plastic filament from medical trays and food packaging (prepared by a Netherlandsbased company), Matthew and Courtney create baskets, planters, bookends, and fridge magnets in their signature-style of happy hues and tantalising textures.
“Starting a business has been so much to take on,” Matthew says. “We’ve sacrificed seeing friends and family and any travel plans are now postponed. But it’s simply a matter of reminding ourselves why we’re doing what we’re doing.”
And the answer to the ‘why’ is simple: “We were looking at climate change and all the negative things that are happening [to the planet],” Matthew says. “What’s kept us going is the pursuit to do our part to use waste materials again – to show the beauty of them – and to reduce what’s going into landfill.”
Their bright idea was ignited in 2020 when Matthew and Courtney – partners in life and now business – were completing their master’s degrees in industrial design at Wellington’s Victoria University. Their thesis projects became award-winning designs, created from upcycling a range of waste materials through 3D printing. Matthew was doing cool things with waste from the New Zealand commercial fishing industry, repurposing abandoned plastic fishing gear and used buoys into uniquely designed seating.
Meanwhile, Courtney was flexing her talent working with the aviation industry’s rubbish, transforming filament from Air New Zealand’s inflight polystyrene coffee stirrers into stunningly thought-out light pendants – now hanging proudly in Koru lounges across the country – as well as
turning the airline’s soft plastic bags into beautiful home storage baskets.
Then, shortly after graduation, the Covid-19 pandemic struck and the dynamic duo were left scratching their heads about what to do next. “We loved what we had done at university and thought it would be a shame if we didn’t take it beyond that space,” Matthew says.
They approached a few local companies about how they could ‘utilize’ company waste, but admit they were met with dead ends because of their youth and the fact they were new to the industry with no reputation.
But that didn’t stop the couple. “We just focused on what we knew, which was
design,” Matthew says. He and Courtney purchased their first 3D printer and launched their first line of homewares.
Fast forward to just over a year later and the business has grown to include four 3D printers with products stocked in a collection of homeware stores in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch – an exciting progression from exclusively online, Courtney says.
“Our work is quite tactile. We work with a lot of textures and our materials have a way of interacting with light that draws people in. It’s nice to see a physical, tangible product.”
Click to read the full story online
8 WINTER 2023 GENERATION Z
25-year-olds Matthew O’Hagen and Courtney Naismith founded Utilize Studios, a company turning plastic waste into homewares.
Photo by Nicola Edmonds.
Monica Tischler chats with two clever eco-friendly business founders.
FEW TEENAGERS would thrill to the sight of a beribboned rat trap birthday gift. Fewer still would actively request one. But Elizabeth Werner, Community Outreach Officer at Predator Free Wellington, was never your average teen. She remembers cheerfully lobbying her parents for a rodent-thwarting device when she was 16: “The only present I wanted was a rat trap.” Now 22, she’s one of the most impassioned young environmentalists you’ll likely meet.
Her teachers probably saw it coming. By Year 4, Elizabeth was showing early signs of creature devotion and galvanising prowess. “When I was in primary school, my goal was to save every single bumblebee I saw on the footpath to school. I would wait patiently for the fluffy insect to crawl onto my hand, cradle it to keep it warm, and then place it on the lavender garden beside my classroom. I started showing friends what to do and the lavender garden soon became a bumblebee hub.”
She was also a self-confessed ‘bird nerd’. Her parents took her on trips to the local bush reserve and Zealandia to feed this interest but her bird questions soon outran the bounds of their avian knowledge. So Elizabeth took matters into her own hands: “I saved my pocket money up and bought this little hand guide to New Zealand birds. Whenever we’d go on holidays I’d memorise all the different birds in the book and then test myself. I’d pop open a page, look at a picture and then try and remember the species name.”
A desire to protect vulnerable bird species led Elizabeth to acquire her first rat trap from the Predator Free Plimmerton crew. “Using Google maps I planned where I should place my trap and watched YouTube clips on trapping. I was pretty dedicated.”
Soon thereafter, one of the deans at Tawa College spotted the bird evangelist in their midst and nudged Elizabeth towards a
Zealandia Senior Youth Ambassador role in her last year of high school.
Keen to encourage her peers towards predator control, Elizabeth set up a trapping group at her school. She realised that rodent eradication wasn’t everyone’s idea of a good time (one of her best friends even kept pet rats). So she opted for some clever marketing to get a Pest Free Tawa College group up on its feet.
“I didn’t want it to be all about killing, so I had the idea of giving the students titles and roles. We had a photographer who’d take pictures of the students heading out to trap, a student who designed a logo, another who designed a webpage, a first-aid officer and a cultural advisor. Everyone’s skill sets are so important and involving lots of different people made the club more accessible and social.”
Pest Free Tawa got wind of an environmental champion whipping up a trapping storm in the community and invited her to join their committee. She was in Year 13 at the time and the youngest person there by far.
While completing a Bachelor of Science degree in Ecology and Biodiversity with Environmental Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, Elizabeth was selected to work with the Department of Conservation’s Takahē Recovery Team as a Blake DOC Takahē Ambassador. She also continued working at Zealandia as a Visitor Experience Volunteer.
After finishing her degree, she was snapped up by Predator Free Wellington to work as a Field Operator. Five months later she moved to a new role as a Community Outreach Officer, helping to advance Wellington’s goal of being the world’s first predator-free city. This was a better fit for someone with such shiny communication skills.
“I love sharing conservation stories with people and inspiring action in communities.”
Click to read the full story online
FEATURE 9 aadirections.co.nz
22-year-old Elizabeth Werner is an ardent advocate for conservation.
Photo by Nicola Edmonds.
Claire Finlayson meets a super-focused environmentalist.
10 WINTER 2023 GENERATION Z
MAX DONALDSON’S entrepreneurial success owes its genesis to a herd of contented cows on a Kerikeri farm in Northland. It was their bovine vitality that caught the eye of this enterprising teen and set him on the path towards founding his own company, GreenKiwi Supplements New Zealand.
The cattle belonged to Max’s neighbour, Ian Sizer. “I was helping Ian clean up his olive grove and my job was to load the pruned branches up on a big trailer and take them down the hill to the livestock. The cows loved the leaves and finished them off quickly. Ian said there’d been a noticeable difference in them too – they all had shiny coats and looked amazing.”
Around that time, Max had been feeling a bit run down (due to school sport exertions and family upheavals). When his mum arrived home one day with a bottle of son-boosting natural health supplements, something on the label caught his eye: “The active ingredient was Queensland-
grown olive leaf. That got me thinking, ‘why are these leaves coming from Australia while I’m dumping them in my back yard? And why are these cows getting all these health benefits rather than me?’”
So, Max disappeared down an internet rabbit hole and read up on the properties of olive leaf. He Googled his way through many research documents and discovered that olive leaf was high in active compounds long used for cardiovascular health and natural immune support applications. He also noticed that local businesses were importing leaves from across the globe to fulfil New Zealand’s health and wellness market when there was a primary industry by-product going to waste onshore.
He was in Year 12 at Kerikeri High School at the time, and he and his classmates were scoping out ideas that might work for the Lion Foundation’s Young Enterprise Scheme (YES).
“I started GreenKiwi Supplements NZ with about $16,000 that I’d saved up from
doing odd jobs for various businesses from an early age. I got the sense that people thought it wasn’t a good idea putting that much money into something that had quite a lot of risk attached to it. My family and friends wondered what the hell I was doing. It was certainly an exciting time.” His hunch paid off. GreenKiwi Supplements NZ was the YES Entrepreneurship Northland Regional Competition Winner in 2020. Max was only 17 at the time. The following year, he was joint winner of the Global Kaitiakitanga Project (run by YES and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise). This gave him the opportunity to promote his flagship product, OliveXtract, at the New Zealand pavilion at EXPO 2020 in Dubai last year. He was one of the youngest New Zealand entrepreneurs there: “It was an incredible opportunity, a real eye opener. It showed me that even if you’re from a small town in the middle of nowhere you can still go places and achieve things you never thought would be possible.”
Now 19, Max is in his second year of a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing at the University of Canterbury. Though still the sole owner of his company, he acknowledges many mentors and helpers. It’s a mindset he saw modelled by YES: “It takes a village to raise an entrepreneur. There’s no such thing as a self-made millionaire. ”
Click to read the full story online
FEATURE 11 aadirections.co.nz
19-year-old Max Donaldson created GreenKiwi Supplements, a company making health supplements from olive leaf extract. Photo by Jim Huang.
Claire Finlayson talks with a brand-new businessman.
AT THE TENDER AGE of 12, Georgia Latu founded a company that would become the largest manufacturer of poi in the world.
The Dunedin teenager and student at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ōtepoti is now 16 and balances her studies with running her successful company, Pōtiki Poi.
“I started Pōtiki Poi in 2019 as a fundraiser to go to wānanga (place of learning) in Rotorua,” Georgia explains. “But in just three days we managed to raise $1,000 which made me realise that making poi was more than just a fundraising opportunity, it was a business opportunity – not only for me, but for my community and my whānau.”
In 2019 Georgia and her mother, Anna Latu, had only ever made poi for themselves or as gifts, so after the initial success of the fundraiser, they had to learn how to scale up their production.
“The fundraiser was a kaupapa that we knew we could expand on. But we’d never seen something like that happen within our whānau before.”
Georgia attended the Soda Inc NZ Startup Bootcamp in Kirkiriroa (Hamilton) and Pōtiki Poi won the people’s choice award. “From that point things took off!” Georgia says.
Pōtiki Poi really hit the big time with the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2022. The company were tasked with making 30,000 pairs of poi, and since then their poi are now sold in retailers across Aotearoa and Australia, including the gift shops at Te Papa and Waitangi.
Today, at age 16, Georgia employs 40 staff and has infused the business with a social conscience. “We have employed a lot of our whānau because we wanted to give back and everyone is paid living wage.
“We also founded the company on a platform of tino rangatiratanga and being eco-friendly,” Georgia continues. “We try and use as many secondhand materials as possible to make our poi, normally sourced from op shops. We take the thousands of pillows from university halls of residence that would normally go into landfill and give them new purpose as poi. And we use biodegradable plastic.”
So, what makes a good poi? “I believe that poi is an extension of who you are,” Georgia says. “For me, it’s an extension of mana motuhake, tohu Māoritanga – my identity as a young Māori wāhine. But with the
actual poi itself – what makes a good poi is the people who make it. With the aroha you put into a taonga, no matter how it looks at the time, it still holds mana and value.”
“My vision for Pōtiki Poi is to continue revitalising as many taonga as we can.
Not just poi, but tītītōrea (a traditional Māori stick game) and other Māori arts that are slowly coming back, I’d would love to share those with people.”
Click to read the full story online
12 WINTER 2023 GENERATION Z
For me, it’s an extension of mana motuhake, tohu Māoritanga – my identity as a young Māori wāhine. But with the actual poi itself – what makes a good poi is the people who make it.
Jo Percival meets the founder of a particularly special business.
16-year-old Georgia Latu employs 40 staff in her business Pōtiki Poi. Photo by Alan Dove.
RADHA PATEL is a Year 13 at Auckland’s Western Springs College, and she has packed more into her 18 years with regards to ecological and humanitarian causes than most of us do in a lifetime. Currently in her final year of high school, Radha is studying history, geography, Mandarin, environmental sustainability and health. “I chose a broad range of subjects because I’m interested in so many different things and while I don’t have a solid plan for next year, I do know I want to be involved in important issues.”
18-year-old Radha Patel is an ambitious campaigner for sustainability and humanitarian causes. Photo by Jessie Casson.
As to what those important issues are, Radha’s is referring to sustainability and humanitarian causes, a path she embarked on aged 11 when she joined Ponsonby Intermediate’s environmental group, Ecowarriors. “We learned about things like climate change, and we also helped spread awareness by presenting at assemblies and making posters about everything from waste reduction to sea level rise.”
Since then, Radha has been devoting her time and energy to a range of organisations including Kelmarna
Community Gardens, Auckland University’s Animal rights group Engage and Sunday Blessings, a charity that serves hot meals to unhoused whānau in Auckland’s CBD.
When asked what inspires her to be so public-spirited, Radha has a simple answer. “When you see someone in need, or having a hard time, you simply have to help, if you have the capacity. It’s a matter of empathy.”
Radha’s drive to do good saw her volunteer for The Green Party at the last general election. “The Green Party appeals to me because they focus on important issues with compassion. Even though they don’t have the money or the backing some parties have, the Greens have a really strong sense of community.”
Radha intends to volunteer at the next election, when she’ll be voting for the first time too. “I’m so excited to be voting, as it means my involvement matters a tiny bit more, and I’ll be ensuring all my friends enrol too.”
Connecting with people who are passionate about social causes helps Radha stay inspired and informed. With that in mind, Radha attended last January’s Ōtaki Summer Camp, a residential event for 17-30 year olds interested in politics, justice, anti-racism, equality and the environment.
During her time at high school Radha has attended climate strikes, she’s been on a Blake Inspire Leadership Course in Rotorua and she attends Western Springs College Board of Trustees meetings as the studentelected representative. She is also a driving force with her school’s Travel Wise chapter, an Auckland Transport programme that aims to make school travel safer, healthier and more fun by reducing congestion and speeds around schools.
As a member of Travel Wise, Radha took a petition to an Auckland Council local board meeting last year. The petition supported building a pedestrian crossing on a busy thoroughfare near the school, with the intention of making it safer for students who travel by bus.
“Everyone cares to some extent, but for all sorts of different reasons not everyone has the capacity to help. Maybe that’s partly because, with climate change at least, some people think things have gone too far, and there’s nothing they can do. Which is why it’s important to inform people about climate change, but at the same time give them hope, because there are so many things we can do.”
Click to read the full story online
FEATURE 13 aadirections.co.nz
Elisabeth Easther meets a committed community activist.
14 WINTER 2023 GENERATION Z
When you see someone in need, or having a hard time, you simply have to help, if you have the capacity. It’s a matter of empathy.
EVERYONE IS YOUNG in motor racing.
It’s the nature of a sport requiring sharp focus, quick reflexes, and a particular kind of fitness. Next time there is an event at Hampton Downs, just south of Tamaki Makaurau Auckland, look out for Breanna Morris. She has already been into motor racing for a decade, yet at 19 she is still a teenager.
Breanna started driving go-karts back in 2013 when she was just 10 years old. And everyone starts in go-karts, she says.
Breanna clearly had the gift, though. At the age of 12 she was NZ champion in the Vortex Mini Rok, the premium karting event for junior drivers. In 2019 she stepped up to Formula First (entry level single seater road racing) and a year later competed, with podium finishes, in the Formula Ford Championship. This year has been busy with a season driving in Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania
Championship, adding to her trophy collection in the process.
It’s a demanding sport. Obviously, keeping fit and spending time in the car is essential. During the racing season she will train at least six days a week and tries to be on the track one or twice a fortnight.
“You make a lot of sacrifices to time and it requires a real commitment but that’s a good thing for me,” Breanna says . “I enjoy being focused on something that I love.”
She’s tried other sports – netball, rugby, touch rugby and swimming – but racing became the most important to her and basically won her heart. “That’s the environment that I feel most comfortable in.”
Is she ever scared? “I don’t think I have ever been scared in a car … unless it’s not me driving.”
There are not many women racers. It’s building, with more international troops including females, but rather
than emphasising gender Breanna enthusiastically promotes motor racing broadly, encouraging anyone keen on the idea to give it a go. “You’re never too young to start!”
While developing a full-time driving career is the ultimate goal, whatever happens in her future she hopes to keep loving the sport and to always be involved in it. She meanwhile appreciates what motor racing has taught her, crediting the sport for life skills including independence, determination, and an ability to speak comfortably and confidently to whoever she is facing.
“I think it teaches you a lot. It makes you grow up faster because you’re driving for something you want in life instead of slowly puttering along. It’s made me be sure of what I want.”
To anyone wanting to get into this or any other sport, Breanna’s advice is to give it your all.
“I think if you’re seriously wanting to do something, don’t make excuses. You have to have determination and you have to put the hard work in. You can’t do it half-arsed.”
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FEATURE 15 aadirections.co.nz
19-year-old Breanna Morris loves the sport of motor racing and hopes to always be involved in it. Photo by Mark Smith.
Kathryn Webster meets a young woman zooming into her future.
FOUR YEARS AGO, a teacher gave everyone in Ed Malcolm-Taite’s class at Wadestown School a plant to look after. His was a dahlia and the miracle of it producing a glorious flower made a serious impression. “I thought it was really cool,” he says, “so I bought another and another and another…”
He was aged nine at the time and caught the flower-growing bug in a big way. The now 13-year-old has more than 50 dahlia growing in his family’s Wellington garden. It’s not 100% dahlias; the superkeen gardener grows other flowers and vegetables - but it’s mostly dahlia.
This is understandable to anyone who knows dahlia: they are generous plants in sunny gardens, delivering multiple variations of bright, happy blooms of every imaginable colour. Some the size of a child’s face, some tight balls of precision, others pretty, spikey or frilly, they wear glorious hues ranging from eggy yellow to scarlet, deep reds, rust oranges, creams and pinks; some rock differing shades seemingly painted up their petals in explosive streaks. The sheer variety probably explains the addictive quality of them.
Of course, Ed is not the only Kiwi to collect them, however he’s possibly one of the youngest. And it’s probably safe to say there are not many teenage boys who are obsessive – his word – about growing them.
“I do have other interests,” he says and we do believe him. “I’m not just focused on one thing! Although yes, I am fairly interested in dahlias. I play hockey, I play video games and I like stand-up comedy…
“It might be a bit of a problem for my parents, because I have taken over the garden. But they support me growing dahlias; they like that I’m not playing video games all day.”
Ed’s mother and sister are gardeners (when there is space on the property for their planting projects) and his grandparents are, too. They have given him good gardening advice and gardening-related birthday gifts. Unsurprisingly, Ed subscribes to gardening magazines, has a decent library of gardening books and has Bulbs Direct, an online bulb supplier, on speed dial. And while none of his year-nine colleagues are gardeners to his knowledge, he knows plenty of young people who are driven to achieve and is happy to share
advice to those wanting to be extra good at something.
“Just keep trying. Persevere. Find something you really like doing and put your energy into that.
“I love growing because it’s like you’re taking care of something and when the dahlia blooms and it’s really beautiful you can think, oh wow I did that, I nurtured this plant and made this happen.”
Ed is trying to create a new dahlia, too, combining the characteristics of two
favourites with the pollen of one fertilising the other. If it goes well, he may enter the blooms in dahlia shows next season – and even if not, some of his regular specimens are potential prize-winners.
Also on the cards is the possibility of recouping some of his investment by selling bouquets of those of us who love dahlia but don’t have enough sun in their gardens to grow them.
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WINTER 2023 GENERATION Z
It might be a bit of a problem for my parents, because I have taken over the garden. But they support me growing dahlias; they like that I’m not playing video games all day.
13-year-old Ed Malcolm-Tait is a keen gardener with a passion for growing dahlias.
Photo by Nicola Edmonds.
A young gardener talks dahlias with Kathryn Webster
