Our core work has been centred on 8 marginalised young people in 2024. Our focus is on transitioning young people with moderate needs into independence via safe and healthy community life where they learn skills in home making and self-care, supported by our Te Whare Tapa Wha model where young people discover passion areas for their tinana, get into training and new mindsets for their hinengaro, discover their whānau when often they are unsure about where they stand and develop new wairua connections with the land and the Spirit that is within them that calls them to greater wellbeing.
A particular story to highlight from 2024 is of one young man who has been living at Manna for most of this year. This 18-year-old was living in one room with his Mum and they were both on community detention. He applied to Manna in order to make some changes for his life. He has engaged in all the adventure activities Manna has to offer and has found many passions. These passions are things that he had not been exposed to before and he didn’t know they were inside him.
He is committed to turning his life around and has said that he never believed that he could make this kind of change in his life. He will happily describe to people the way that before his time at Manna he used to steal cars and wasn’t happy with his life, but now he is surrounded by positive people and strongly believes he won’t be going backwards again.
This taiohi worked hard to find a job but did not have success and so in late July started a 6 month training course at WITT. He loved it and was deeply committed to his craft. He was offered an internship/apprenticeship when he finished and is stoked to be seen as worthy of that.
While at Manna this taiohi has been supported to continuously make choices that are for his wellbeing, independence and success. He has said multiple times that he couldn’t have made it without Manna. He attended a course every day even when he didn’t need to. During the year he completed his court obligations to regain his driving license doing everything he needed to do because Manna was a healthy space within which he could make those things happen. Since then, he has worked towards getting his restricted license and then his own car. He completed both these goals he had for himself and was so proud about his ability to buy two cars in 2024 and that he didn’t steal them! This taiohi has faced many disappointments with buying his first car that needed lots of repairs, but he learnt from those mistakes and so was able to buy a much more reliable car the second time around. He has committed to learning how to fix what he can fix and will always give something a go. He seems to have endless motivation for change, and it has been an honour to be able to provide the kind of environment that has enabled him to thrive.
Without BAF none of this would have been achieved. BAF provides the way for Manna to do some of the best youth work available in the region. There is nowhere else that can provides such a wraparound youth work support and live-in community that can enable as much change as Manna.