Tip

Youth & Children

Tip started doing drugs after school with his friends as a way to deal with his parent's separation and to have a bit of fun. But that soon spiralled out of control and led to Tip having a run in with the law.

‘My drug use got heavier and heavier with time, and I had no money and had no job,’ he says. ‘So my mates and I ended up robbing the dairy; well, trying to rob the dairy. We got away from that, but then one of my friend’s missus, she knew that we were doing it, and she went and dobbed us in.’

Tip and his friends were released on bail, but after partying hard that night a couple of them got caught driving under the influence and ended up having to serve their time. Tip got off pretty lucky.

‘I didn’t know how to deal with it all, so I started coming up here to Faraday Street [the Salvation Army’s community centre],’ he says. ‘I would come up here a couple of times a week, just helping out, doing stuff for them, keeping fit.’

But because Tip had been using drugs and alcohol for so long, his self esteem really suffered and his identity took a big hit.

Karl Foreman, leader of the Whakaoranga programme in Napier began noticing a difference in Tip almost right away: ‘You can see a real difference from what Tip was. When you came in here, bro, you were pretty lost, aye. No self-esteem, you were depressed. Now I see in Tip a champion. He just has so much potential, you know?’

While coming to Faraday Street during his stint on home detention, Tip started boxing through a programme there called ‘Lord’s Gym’, and since then has continued training and recently competed in the Golden Gloves in Taupo this year, coming second in his division.

‘Doing boxing up at Faraday helped me gain heaps of confidence,’ he says. ‘I managed to come off all the drugs, slowly work through depression and find something that I want to do for the rest of my life. I want to be a professional boxer. That’s the dream, but I’m not sure yet where the track will lead me.

‘I loved coming up here,’ he continues. ‘No one cared where you came from or anything like that, aye; it was good to see who people were and to be who I was instead of walking around trying to do what other people want me to do. It was really good to work through my stuff, obviously with their help.’

Because of his positive transformation at Faraday Street, Tip passed through his parole hearing without a hitch and was able to keep out of jail. Tip is now 19 and is working full time doing roofing, which he really enjoys. He continues to come up to Faraday Street once in a while to have a quick spar, chat with Karl or to hang out with the guys who are going through the same things he did. He’s totally clean and has an awesome dream for the future. God is going to take him somewhere epic and use his story for great things.