An ancient skill used by the ancestors of Maori when voyaging to New Zealand from Polynesia is medicine for modern youth, says a Northland woman who has spent a lifetime helping street kids.
Joelene Busby, also an instructor in waka paddling and celestial navigation, says the skill is something youth of today can own.
"Waka paddling is medicine for our kids," she says. "We all came from a waka (a reference to the 40 legendary vessels said to have brought the first Maori to Aotearoa) and I think it helps young people know who they are and where they come from."
Busby, a grandniece of Northland kaumatua, master carver and navigator Sir Hector Busby, has been helping young people all her life.
In that time she has taken hundreds of troubled teens off the streets and looked after them in her own home, run after school and holiday programmes for children, taught young people how to protect and respectfully use the land and the sea, helped look after Sir Hector and his property - as well as bring up her own family (a 19-year-old son and a 15-year-old daughter) with her partner Oti Patua.
Her work has earned her an ASB Good as Gold award with the bank giving her $10,000 to spend on a holiday.
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But Busby is so selfless she tried to give the money back: "It was a very big surprise and I still can't believe it. I didn't want to spend it on myself, I wanted to give it back; I'm mostly just an aunty, everybody calls me Aunty Jo."
Her reaction is typical of her attitude says Lyndsay Prendiville, a neighbour who nominated Busby for the award. "She is extremely humble and never looks for attention or accolades. My husband and I are in awe of what she does to assist, protect and develop not only her own whanau but the wider community.
"Not very often have I been privileged to observe a human being who contributes so much to society."
ASB Kerikeri branch manager Robert Groome says he is thrilled the money will be going towards a trip away for Busby and her family, who would otherwise not have spent the money on themselves.
"Joelene's selfless attitude is inspiring and it's great to be able to give her and her family a well-deserved holiday. The Busbys have given so much to their local community so it's nice to be able to do something for them," says Groome.
Busby says she will, after all, use the money for a trip for her and her family. She has yet to decide where to go, but fancies somewhere like the Caribbean.
Helping others is something Busby learned from her mother: "It was how I was brought up, our door was always open and it was considered a place where people could come to heal.
"I've been helping young kids ever since. I've got 12 in the house at the moment, we pull them off the street, help them with education and getting work," she says. "The majority are not related to me, but that doesn't mean I won't help them because many of them do little more than hang out with their mates on the streets.
"While we have lots of leaders, lawyers, doctors and teachers, few people will show the young ones how to bring themselves out and so they shy away, they don't think they have the courage.
"But really they do, they just need us to let them know we're here for them," says Busby.
"I'm not sure how many I've taken in, but it would be in the hundreds. I don't know if I'm doing it right but, if I don't try, nothing will be achieved and if I can help even one person then it's been worth it."
Busby is passionate about reconnecting Maori children with their culture as well as educating all Kiwi children in the cultural mores of Maoridom – much of her efforts unpaid and done in her own time. Yet teaching the art of waka paddling is something that gets her really excited.
She is an instructor with Aurere Waka and Navigation, an operation under the direction of Sir Hector who, recognised as a leading figure in the revival of traditional Polynesian navigation and ocean voyaging, has built 26 traditional waka including the double hulled Te Aurere.
This waka has sailed over 30,000 nautical miles in the Pacific including trips to Hawaii, Cook Islands, French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Norfolk Island. Busby has sailed on Te Aurere many times - including a trip back from Norfolk Island - often spending two or three weeks at sea on coastal voyages around New Zealand.
Asked why she is so passionate about waka she says: "It's in my blood, I've got the Busby name."