Outward bound provides an alternative for rangatahi Māori

Te Aana Mission Trust, established in 1973, was formed to work with disadvantaged youth. Aided by funding from the PKW Trust, they have sponsored rangatahi to attend the Outward Bound Mounga Course for the past two years.

Howie Tamati, trustee for Te Aana Trust, and Karla Paotonu from Outward Bound spoke with Whenua about the importance of programmes like the Mounga Project for rangatahi in Taranaki.

Whenua: Who is Te Aana Mission Trust?

Howie: Reverend Moke Couch, the resident minister in the Taranaki area for the Māori Methodist Church, helped set up Te Aana Mission Trust to provide an accommodation and work based centre for all kinds of community needs. After his death in 2008, the property fell into disrepair. I was approached by the trust lawyers to get involved and we sold the property, using the proceeds for the original purposes of the Trust.

Whenua: Why did your Trust form a relationship with Outward Bound?

Howie: During my time as Chief Executive of Sport Taranaki we worked with kids who had dropped out of school. We put them into the Outward-Bound programme because we heard about their kaupapa of experiential learning.

Not all kids are academic or happy in the school environment that they’re in. Giving them the outdoors is an opportunity to do two things at the same time, to get fit and to get job ready, is a better outcome than just dropping out.

Te Aana Trust decided we could support something specific with Outward Bound. So we worked out a programme where we would focus on five Māori rangatahi from five different schools per year. They didn’t need to be the best kid in school, rather they had the potential to be leaders given the right incentive. I spoke to the schools who were supportive and spoke to PKW to help to spread our funding that little bit further.

Whenua: What is the Mounga Course?

Karla: The Mounga course is part of national programme at Outward Bound. In Taranaki we partner with 12 secondary schools, who select a Year 12 student to come to Outward Bound. Together they all journey to our school in Anakiwa, Marlborough Sounds, where they spend 21 days learning more about themselves, about what they can give to the world. A big part of the kaupapa is ‘service above self’, to look at how to be your best self, live your best life, and then how can you be of service to others.

Whenua: How has the support from PKW helped?

Howie: One of the worries of Te Aana Trust was how to sustain our support. Having PKW’s contribution is great – and one day one of those rangatahi might go and work on their farms. I am hoping that we can get wider buy-in from across our iwi in Taranaki.

Karla: The great thing is that the rangatahi have written letters to their sponsors which tell their appreciation and the impact of being on the Mounga course. The value of that support is demonstrated in those letters.