Salvation through racial pride and self-awareness

When Kate McPherson came home from school with an award for her schoolwork, her parents thought she was "a freak".

"When I got my little awards, I got a hiding," she said. "More often, my father in a drunken rage would rip them up.

"So I learned not to take things home."

Unlike most of her neighbours in Rotorua's Ford Block, Ms McPherson is predominantly Pakeha. But she grew up in a working-class family.

Domestic violence counsellors have defined the obstacle she faced as a female - the male will for "power and control" over their partners and children. Many women submit to violence because they are afraid of angering their men. In effect, they are trapped at the bottom of the heap.

Many Maori and working-class Pakeha feel trapped in the same way.

Being poor doesn't help. But at the moment there are jobs available. Money is not the main obstacle. Just as for women trapped by powerful men, the barrier is the power of the majority that oppresses the spirit.

"Why are we still where we are?" asked Rimaha Wiringi, former drug dealer turned pastor. "For some reason, we have always been looked upon as: 'You are not clever enough, you will never amount to much.'

"The generation coming through now have come out of being told, 'You're just a dumb Maori' - because we are not. We are quite intellectual. We are quite clever. We can be quite articulate if we want to be."

When Mr Wiringi became a Christian, he chose the Charisma Church because its pastor was Maori.

"I came with racism in my own life and I knew that what made me respond to this church was the Maori pastor. I saw someone I could identify with," he said.

"The way we think and the way we say things is totally different to our European brothers and sisters.

"It's just different values. So with a Maori, you can drop in at your [relative's] house, sleep for the night, have a big feed, because we have been brought up in the same community.

"With Europeans you have to ring them up, make an appointment for Sunday at 10am, and don't overstay your time. So we are different."

After years of attempted assimilation, differences like these are finally being expressed in Rotorua. There are predominantly Maori churches such as Charisma, there are Maori businesses, health providers and social service agencies.

At Western Heights Primary School, a new te reo Maori teacher trained at Te Wananga o Aotearoa was teaching traditional Maori stick games when the Herald called. Boys with painted faces practised with the taiaha (spear).

At Sunset Primary, principal Niels Rasmussen said his staff was representative of his students - 96 per cent Maori.

"We run our school along kaupapa Maori lines. We begin our day with a karakia [prayer], we end our day with a karakia," he said.

To Te Ra (Sunset), one of Fordlands' two kohanga reo, run on Maori terms, with parents of the 30 children helping out regularly. Kaimahi (teacher) Holly Tamai said only about 5 per cent of the parents could speak te reo Maori, but many were learning with their children.

The children learn their pepeha: their name, their parents' names, their hapu and iwi and maunga (mountain).

Across town at Te Kura o Te Koutu, a dramatic palisaded Maori-language school perched pa-like on a hill, principal Uenuku Fairhall said people who felt good about being Maori and took pride in their culture had an immense advantage.

"People appreciate how open our children are, how confident they are," he said.

Not everyone agrees. A Pakeha teacher in a private preschool centre worried that children going from kohanga into a mainstream English-speaking school were "lost".

But Mr Fairhall believes that learning a second language also helps children with their first language, which in almost every family is English.

His kura teaches English formally from Year 7 (Form 1), and also teaches Spanish from Year 1. Early this year 30 of its 199 students spent 2 1/2 months in Mexico to immerse themselves in a non-Maori culture.

"We have to be careful that we don't spill over into [Maori] arrogance and jingoism," Mr Fairhall said.

Western Heights Primary sends 25 of its 55 Year 6 students to Vanuatu at the end of each year. "We have to open their eyes to the bigger picture," said principal Brent Griffin.

Turi Ngatai, dubbed "Sunshine Man" when he doubled the roll of Sunset Junior High School as principal from 1995-99, said he did it partly by going into people's houses and having faith in them.

Today, as a director of Te Wananga o Aotearoa, he believes the wananga is making a huge difference in places such as Fordlands by offering free, accessible education.

He said kohanga, kura and the wananga worked because "we are a community-oriented people".

"You can learn where you come from, you can learn what you are good at, you can learn to plan and to have hope, you can learn to relate to one another. Isn't it great - you can actually learn self-esteem," he said.

"You can change anybody, because it's all about attitudes. It's about picking people up, making them feel good about themselves, making them feel worthwhile.

"Some people say that when you have kicked a person enough times in life then you must get someone who is bad, but I have yet to meet one.

"I have faith in the human spirit. If you hit the right chord, you can pick anyone up."