Rev Mua Strickson-Pua speaking to students at Mangere College. Photo / Dean Purcell
Rev Mua Strickson-Pua speaking to students at Mangere College. Photo / Dean Purcell
Presbyterian minister Mua Sofi Strickson-Pua has made it his ministry to help troubled youth through arts and poetry, and feels the Covid-19 pandemic has made his work even more crucial.
The 63-year-old minister marked 39 years of his ministry at Mangere College on Tuesday, where he spent the morning speaking to some at-risk students over chocolates and doughnuts and the afternoon performing Pasifika urban poetry to senior students.
Soon after the pandemic started last year, an internal police report predicted gang and criminal activities to rise.
More people could be exploited by gangs or turn to crime as they struggle with financial hardship as more people lose jobs and businesses fail.
"What we're seeing are some young people are now considering joining a gang to escape the troubles exacerbated by the pandemic at home," Strickson-Pua said.
"More students are now falling into the vulnerable group being targeted for recruitment by gangs, and part of what I do is look for warning signs and show them there is an alternative pathway to life."
Former gang worker turned Presbyterian Minister Mua Strickson-Pua. Photo / Dean Purcell
Strickson-Pua is no stranger to gangs and to having brushes with the law. He was a King Cobra gang worker in the 1980s, and was arrested six times and prosecuted once during the anti-Springbok Tour protests. In 1982, he was arrested for jumping out in front of the US Ambassador's car.
Both he and his wife Linda were ordained as Presbyterian Ministers in 1990, and continue their poetry ministry as a way of helping troubled young people.
"We've taken our poetry journey on the streets, starting in Palmerston North and then chapters around Aotearoa grew in response like the Polynesian Panthers had done in the 1970s," he said.
Poetry, Strickson-Pua said, was an effective way to help facilitate healing, self-awareness and personal growth.
"I'm not perfect. My life is not perfect. I tell the students that. And it is never too late to start anew or turn away from a life of crime," he said.
At his sessions, Strickson-Pua would make students write what they felt was going wrong in their lives on a piece of paper, and burning them as a way to help them let go of the past and move forward.
Herman Arp, education mentor at the Mangere College Achievement Centre which caters for students who have not experienced success in traditional education settings, said students could identify with Strickson-Pua.
"For many of the students at the centre, they are lacking in having a role model and it's good to have someone like Rev Mua, who they can relate to and feel like he's 'one of them'," Arp said.
Principal Tom Webb said it's the first time the college has had Strickson-Pua come to meet and speak with students.
"From our students' perspective, it's also about learning more about the Pacific Panthers and Pacific people in general," Webb said.
"Spoken word and poetry, and the performing arts are something that our students are really passionate about, so I think this will go down really well."
