On the right side of the tracks

Jake Leger is one of South Auckland's success stories - the kind you don't hear much about. While other teens from the much-maligned region have hogged the headlines with their violent outbursts, this Matamata youth - a former troubled child and ex-Crips gang member - is at work carving out a new, straighter path.

"I probably would have been in a boys' home now if it wasn't for Man Alive," says Leger, 16.

The Year 11 Matamata College student first came under the wing of the men's support movement - which celebrates its ninth year this weekend - as a rebellious 7-year-old.

"I hooked up with their buddy system in primary school," he says. "I was being naughty at school, getting into fights and misbehaving." He was, he admits, angry that his parents had broken up and he felt keenly the loss of his father, who had little contact with him after moving away. Thanks to Man Alive, only-child Leger was paired with mentor Steve Deakin for counselling and a few hours of contact each week. They'd go on walks, or fish and camp on weekends.

"He was a good kid at heart, but depressed and angry," recalls Deakin, a father of three, who now works as a youth co-ordinator for Man Alive.

As Leger puts it: "I had an anger problem and he gave me a clown nose" to wear during dark moods. "Every time I got angry I'd have to put it on. It was on 24/7 in the early days" ... until he ended up laughing every time he looked in the mirror.

Leger says such tactics made a huge difference. He was channelling his energy in a positive direction and life was looking up. Unfortunately, it was a just temporary respite. Just a few years later, as problems at home mounted, the teen admits he started hanging around with the wrong crowd at high school. Wagging and tagging soon followed. And worse.

"That was nothing," he recalls. "I got into drugs, weed ... I'd cruise around malls, filling up my days with CGK mates" - Crips Gone Krazy gang members. "Sometimes I didn't even go to school, and the cops would pull you up but they couldn't really do anything [about it]."

Sick of the lifestyle, he tracked Deakin down and asked if he could come in for a chat, even though the buddy system had long lapsed.

"He was getting into trouble but wanted out," says Deakin. "He was always a big kid, and we talked about how there were other ways than his size of getting his way."

Having ditched the gangs, Leger is transformed. He's an extreme sports fan, with an after-school job at a supermarket, and he has plans. His dreams of getting into the Army - "I love discipline and was in the training corps for about a year" - were dashed by health problems (he has only one kidney), but he hopes to begin a diving course next year and work on a cruise ship. "I've changed my life," he says. "But my mates are still in gangs. It's pretty sad. I look at them and think ... grow up."

Leger's success is heartening to Deakin. And to Man Alive's acting chief executive Simon Stockdale it's yet another sign the organisation has made "huge progress" with so-called problem youths, through its Boys Alive or Youth To Men programmes.

"We don't start asking them to fill out forms, we just sit down and talk and engage with them," he says. "We get young men to talk about their lives and what their aspirations and issues are, but you've got to build up a relationship and some trust with them, because often they have problems elsewhere."

Many are referred by the courts, the probation service, or by Work and Income. "We really encourage fathers, and men in general, to step up to the mark and demonstrate to their sons and the young generation what it is to be a responsible malein New Zealand society," saysStockdale.

"It really works when you encourage youth with their potential," says Deakin. "They are very very special but often they haven't heard that."

Leger is appreciative of the chance Man Alive has given him. "They're so awesome. If they hadn't helped me out, I know I'd be in serious trouble."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY