Whāingaroa Youth Collective is a group dedicated to supporting youth, creating positive messaging, building support networks and events for youth.
We value manaakitanga and Whānaungatanga and believe Whāingaroa youth need a group which advocates for youth. We actively create the space for youth voice and try to create opportunities and connections for youth with our community.
We also are a support group for people working with youth and a connecting point for community groups. We meet monthly and welcome new members and contribution from the community.
Our WYC Rangatahi Page is about profiling our awesome rangatahi and the contributions they make to our community. This will become a regular page dedicated to youth. It is also a space to advertise as an employee, for youth to advertise that they are looking for work, for events and trainings for youth.
To kick things off we have interviewed Sean Dillon, Dailyn Tukiri and Olivia Dean-Chambers. They have been supporting our WYC and grew up in Whāingaroa.
SEAN
Growing up in Whāingaroa:
I was the sporty kid so I was always doing activities; I always had things to entertain me. We had a really great community and group of parents and older people around us that supported us. There wasn’t a problem we couldn’t solve as we had people to help; we fundraised for a lot of stuff and that brought people together; we were all working for each other. There was a spirit of Whānaungatanga.
How’s life for young people today?
You get jumped on for every little thing because everything is so public. Everyone knows about everything. Half the time for youth today, when you do something stupid someone is going to record it and that’s going to get out.
Today, Social Media is like a competition to do the next coolest thing, the next most extraordinary whatever that might be.
Why did you want to get involved in WYC?
I feel like I owe it to the community to give back! I have had a lot of support from a lot of people. There’s no way to really pay it back but I want to contribute and pay it forward to the next person.
I’m inherently invested in this community, especially if you have Whānau connections.
What advice would you give to young people?
The world’s telling you to grow up so fast. Enjoy your youth, take your time, enjoy your life. There’s so much time for you to grow up and be an adult; why would you want to start before you are ready.
OLIVIA
Growing up in Whāingaroa:
I was reflecting on when I was younger, 15 or 16, and one feels not really included in the community. You have your school community, but the outer community; it feels like you have this pressure to be the certain way but you just want to have fun! And I remember wanting to just do dance all the time and there was nothing for teenagers.
There weren’t enough opportunities for teenagers to just let themselves be wild and have fun in a safe environment. I feel like as a teenager you are going to push the limits anyway but how can you do it in a safe way while still learning and growing? I feel we need that in the community – opportunities for youth to just be themselves but making sure their wellbeing is protected as well.
What advice would you give to young people?
Having a strong relationship with the environment has really helped my growth as a person in this community. If you have this strong relationship you naturally want to protect it and the people also.
What made you want to support the Whāingaroa Youth Worker Collective?
I studied a degree in population health and it made me think about the wellbeing of communities and I feel the young people in our community need to be cared for. I want to give back now that I am a bit older!
DEILYN
Growing up in Whāingaroa:
Growing up in Raglan for me was a lot of family time; everybody is connected; you are either from Poihakena or Motakotako or somewhere in between. There was a lot of wandering around the streets doing whatever we could to try and entertain ourselves, whether it meant running onto the pillow at Te Kopua or going for a swim at the pool after hours, but we had a sense of responsibility and we knew to clean up after ourselves and not to ruin things. We had a sense of respect and always cleaned up our mess.
How’s life for young people today?
They are going through the same emotions we went through growing up. You find out Raglan’s pretty small and you have to create your own fun.
Social Media is playing a really big part in the situation for young people. When we were growing up we had social media but no one used it to the extent it is used today.
The way we used it was to message a friend to see how they are and see if they wanted to meet up.
Why did you want to get involved in WYC?
I want to be able to be there as a person so that if young people don’t want to go to their Whānau, or their teachers, at least we will be there for them.
What advice would you give to young people?
Don’t be afraid to make a mistake; it’s the only way we can learn. Learn from your mistakes. It’s really easy. You are going to keep making mistakes so take something from those mistakes.
This page is exclusively dedicated to the youth of Whāingaroa. Each month, you will discover interviews, events, and other valuable information tailored for local rangatahi to foster connections and actively participate in our community.
INTERVIEW BY JOSEPH RAJARAM RAO
