The organiser of a uniquely East Coast education experience has set an ambitious target to teach bush skills and connect with 90% of Tairāwhiti rangatahi in the next 10 years.
The Bush Kura, run by Te Kura-a-Wao Charitable Trust, teaches rangatahi, aged over 8, practical bush skills such as starting fires, tying knots and firearms safety, alongside teamwork, resilience and connection through camps across Aotearoa.
Beginning as a camp in Ruatōria, where founder and chief executive Keelan Poi has whānau connections, it has expanded while remaining focused on Tairāwhiti.
“We just wanted to take some of our kids back to live in the 80s,” Poi said. “Just simple things like playing spotlight, being out in the paddock, going down to the beach, exploring the rivers.
“A lot of those things, in my eyes, we weren’t getting exposed to it enough for our kids nowadays.”
The programme helps rangatahi become leaders through three levels of camps with more than 260 children taking part this year.
Level 1 focuses on engagement and becoming comfortable away from home, level 2 teaches survival skills and level 3 reinforces those lessons with an off-grid camp.
Poi founded the trust in 2019 after returning to Tairāwhiti from an eight-year stint in the army as a diesel mechanic.
He was drawn to working with rangatahi through existing programmes and schools, which sparked the idea for the kura.
The kura’s focus on resilience, leadership and teamwork drew on values Poi learned in the army, but was delivered in a “Coastie way”.
The programme is aimed at building confidence and independence while creating connections with people, whenua and te taiao (the environment).
“We know that there are a lot of things our kids face these days in terms of this age of technology and being isolated,” Poi said. “It’s so easy to get lost in that world, so we want to make sure that we have this sense of connection, and hopefully our camps can build that.
“The Tairāwhiti region is isolated from the rest of New Zealand. We feel that here. But some of our kids who are living in those smaller rural communities, they feel it even more.”
The kaupapa also brought together rangatahi of all types and backgrounds.
“I think it’s such a huge opportunity and it’s so important for our kids to know that they’re not alone. There’s opportunity for them to learn the same things, be a part of the same circles.”
The relationships built through the camps meant a child in Tiniroto might have a friend in Gisborne, or children in Ruatōria might carpool into Gisborne to see their mates.
“That’s probably the biggest thing we can teach is you’re not alone, you’re not isolated and there’s opportunity to reach out if you need anything.”
Poi said he had seen significant changes in confidence levels during the camps.
“Some of these kids are really quiet, they’re really standoffish ... by the end of our starting programmes, they’re out of their shell, they’re best friends with everybody on the camp, like you just see a huge shift in these kids’ demeanour once they’ve been with us for only three days.
“It’s a sense of pride, sense of community within these kids. It’s huge.”
One highlight was seeing rangatahi who had completed all three levels become tuākana (elder siblings or cousins) for children in the lower levels.
The kaupapa has also expanded to include adult whānau after the trust initially relied on mentors from outside the region to run camps.
The adult camps aim to give whānau the skills to run their own courses and support the kura’s programmes.
Te Kura-a-Wao Charitable Trust will receive $200,000 from Trust Tairāwhiti over two years.
One of four recipients in the first round of funding from the economic development agency, the programme was chosen for its potential for transformational change and ability to deliver measurable outcomes for rangatahi.
The funding will support at least 60 rangatahi and 10 kaimahi through youth and adult courses.
The trust also receives funding from Eastern and Central Community Trust and Lotteries, while volunteers, community support and payments from organisations and school camps help subsidise school holiday camps.
Poi said the funding would allow the trust to employ him as its chief executive and expand its work while continuing to subsidise camps.
“Even though we’re the face of this kaupapa, it’s about our community, about our people.”
He hoped to bring in more staff and resources to create smoother camps and launch a new school programme in the coming year.
Poi hopes to reach 90% of Tairāwhiti rangatahi within 10 years.
“If we can touch the lives of 90% of our rangatahi on the Coast within the next 10 years, then we know that we’re actually affecting change and we’re doing something well in our space.”
The long-term vision is an outdoor pursuits centre in Tairāwhiti similar to the Outward Bound facility.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
