On Thursday 25 October four Maori students accompanied by Mrs Holmes were privileged to be invited to take part in the Year 10 KATTI trip held at Nga Kete Wananga Marae located at MIT. This course, aimed at helping students think about tertiary career options, is making a difference to the number of young Māori who are staying at school and gaining national qualifications. It is a leadership and development programme for high school students from Year 10-13.
KATTI is run by 10 organisations across Auckland including tertiary providers and support services. These organisations include AUT, NZMA, Victoria University and others. The programme was started in 2002 and more than 50 schools participate in the scheme at different venues in the wider Auckland area. The scheme first began with the concern, back in 1986, that 53.4% of Maori students left school with no qualifications. This had dropped to 39% by 1996. By 2006, the figure had dropped further but in the opinion of KATTI mentors, was still too high considering that the percentage across school leavers without qualifications of all ethnicities is just 13%. Dennis Ngawhare, Maori Recruitment Advisor at the Faculty of Education, promoted this course so that these statistics could decrease further.
The course focused on the four walls of our Whare (Hauora). Taha Tinana (Physical wellbeing), Taha Hinegaro (Mental & Emotional wellbeing), Taha Whanau (Social wellbeing) and Taha Wairua (Spiritual wellbeing). At the course we learnt how to speak our own pepeha, make a manu tukutuku (kite) that relates to us, raukau (stick) games and make our own chant.
The trip helped us understand that we should be proud to be Maori and to get in touch with our cultural roots. As well as consider our Rapuara (careers) in the future.
KATTI was such an influential programme for Maori students, as combats the typical stereotype of Maori teenagers which is that they are dropouts and bad influences. But KATTI taught us that we need to believe in ourselves and the only way to succeed is to make sure that we are connected with the four walls of our whare.
Ko au te ahurea, Ko te ahurea ko au- I am the culture and the culture is me.
Gemma Holt
