Being the change

Pat has been president of the Wellington chapter of the infamous Black Power for 32 years, but his leadership is changing the face of gangs. ‘We want to give our kids a better life than we had,’ explains Pat, who is running a programme for ‘the hardest to reach’ with support from The Salvation Army.

Pat—‘just Pat,’ he says—isn’t comfortable. ‘It’s my first interview, and I hope it’s my last,’ he says wryly. Pat doesn’t inhabit a world where leaders court publicity. After all, he’s a gang leader: he’s lived a hard life and done three jail terms.

‘I’ve been through the sh*t, I’ve been through the bad times. [Jail] is just a waste of time; you can’t even help your family when you’re in jail. Back then, it was drinking, sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.’

But Pat did something extraordinary: he changed his life. And with it, he changed gang culture. ‘I don’t want my grandkids going through what I went through. It was a hard life, I was brought up hard, and I don’t want that for our kids. I want our young fellas to go to university, or go overseas and come back and teach us more about the world,’ reflects Pat.

‘Most of our whanau are born into [the gang], and my role is to improve our kids’ way of thinking and steer them away from the gang scene. This is the change I’m trying to make.’

Today, of the 60 Black Power members Pat leads, only one is in jail. He is resolute that he doesn’t tolerate P (methamphetamine), won’t allow his members to deal in drugs, and has shut down their tinny houses. ‘It’s the new century now, and those days are gone.’

He speaks fondly of a young whanau member, Paul, who recently had his 18th birthday. ‘We had a good chat, and he wants to be a teacher,’ says Pat, proudly. ‘Hopefully we can get him the support he needs.’

Another talented whanau member, Tyson, won the Wellington Maori Arts Award. But, adds Pat, he’s back working on a building site because there was ‘no support for him to carry on’.

Change can be slow and unsteady, and Pat believes in holding parents accountable for supporting their children. ‘If the parents show a bit of initiative in getting behind their child, I’m there to support them.’

Being the change

Although for the past two decades Pat has been quietly influencing the lives of some of society’s most unseen, his vocation has now become a full-time job. Over the past eight months, he has been setting up and running the Wellington branch of Waka Moe Moea Charitable Trust, an organisation that aims to reach New Zealand’s most ‘unreachable’. Its tagline is ‘Be the Change’, borrowing from Mahatma Ghandi’s famous quote, ‘Be the change you want to see.’

This is where The Salvation Army enters the scene, having worked with the Mongrel Mob’s Notorious chapter to help them overcome methamphetamine addictions. Mongrel Mob leaders were so rapt with the changes to their gang after attending the Hauora Programme, which is run by The Salvation Army’s Addiction Services, that they initiated the Waka Moe Moea Trust. The aim of Waka Moe Moea is to provide young members with better opportunities for education and work, keep them out of jail, and provide for their health care needs.

As a result, another remarkable change has been happening:  New Zealand’s two biggest rival gangs have come together to change the lives of the next generation. ‘The rivalry is out the door,’ says Pat, ‘We’ve all got the same vision and hope for our families. We want better health, better education and support for the mums.’ Mongrel Mob and Black Power leaders from all around the country have been holding hui to share knowledge and discuss the change they want to see.

So, when Pat was looking for premises to set up Waka Moe Moea in Wellington, it seemed a natural move to offer support, says Lieut-Colonel Ian Hutson, who’s in charge of The Salvation Army’s work from Whanganui to Wellington. ‘Part of our mission is working with those who are marginalised—that’s what we exist for,’ he explains. ‘When you think about who Jesus ministered to, it was the outcasts in society.’ He recalls William Booth’s famous saying: ‘These are our people.’

The Salvation Army is temporarily renting out a property in the heart of Newtown, Wellington, to Waka Moe Moea at minimal cost. It is also offering its support through food banks and Addiction Services—other services will expand as Waka Moe Moea’s programme becomes more established.

‘This is not a gang pad,’ insists Pat. ‘It is a community-based centre, and it’s for the hard to reach.’

These are our people

Ian is clear that it is not The Salvation Army’s role to dictate the services that Waka Moe Moea will provide, but rather to partner with the needs that the group identifies. ‘The needs of those hardest to reach differ from other groups. We want to give them a chance to affect their own change.’

Captain Joe Serevi, corps officer at Kilbirnie Corps, is the Salvation Army liaison person for the Trust, and has formed a close bond with Pat. ‘In my own country [of Fiji] I’ve been where Pat was, living under the poverty line, and I did all sorts of things I shouldn’t have done,’ says Joe, who is passionate about his role. ‘In the Islands, the village is a family, and I think of Pat as part of our village. We work together to help the whole village. We care for our family and want them to have opportunities.

‘All people are of equal value in the kingdom of God. All people are loved by God. So we want to love others, help them experience fullness of life and give them hope.’

‘The Salvation Army has been the biggest help,’ adds Pat. ‘Getting this place is just the bomb. And the food parcels [we get] mean everything—when you’re below the poverty line, all your money goes into food, power and rent.’

Making a difference

From its new premises, Waka Moe Moea is beginning to see the change it aims to be. There are four programmes currently available: a ‘Site Safe’ course that provides a building site qualification, ‘Work Available in Christchurch’ that matches people to the rebuild work, a first aid course, and Te Reo. It is currently setting up a computer room with eight donated computers, where it will run IT classes with expert tutors.

These initiatives have already seen young people get off the benefit and into work. Fifteen young people attended the recent ‘Site Safe’ course, and all 15 received their certificates. Of those, eight are now working in Christchurch, and another couple have got work on fishing boats.

Pat is a strong advocate for getting young people into work, because he credits finding a job in the railways as the turning point for him. ‘It really saved me, because it took me away from the boozing—you had shifts and had to be able to turn up for work.’

On 26 September, Waka Moe Moea held its second Whanau Health Check day, with 95  people turning up. In an almost fair-like setting, it was an opportunity for people who rarely access health care to receive a range of services free-of-charge. Health professionals were available to provide check-ups, cervical smears, immunisations for children, and raise awareness of health issues like smoking and diabetes. There were even manicures and massages available from qualified beauty therapists. Pat is on his own journey to health, having kicked the smoking habit a year ago. ‘It’s made a big difference, I don’t wake up wheezing.’ And, it’s saved him $200 a week, he adds.

The Salvation Army was also present, providing on-the-spot assessments for drug and alcohol addiction.

Random acts of kindness

With 32 years as Black Power president, Pat has huge mana among his whanau, as well as the community. And he’s using his influence to replace gang violence with random acts of kindness.

‘One of my clients is a solo mum with two kids, and her boyfriend is in jail. The lawn was overgrown and there was loads of rubbish outside. So, while she was away on holiday, I got the boys around and we cleaned up the whole section, and when she came back she was in tears,’ he recalls.

The boys are also helping clean up the neighbourhood, through Newtown Community Services. Pat recently got together 20 members, plus a couple of Mongrel Mob guys, and painted over all the graffiti in the area.

Pat is most proud of a joint venture in which Mongrel Mob and Black Power members took their tamariki up to Waitangi, for Treaty celebrations. This meant hosting Mongrel Mob members from Dunedin. The Salvation

Army provided food for the trip. Pat says, ‘We are giving our kids the message that it stops here. No more fighting.’

Getting the job done

Not everyone is ready to accept this cleaned-up version of Black Power. The gang is neither violence nor drug-free. Crime has lessened—but is not eradicated. And members continue to live below the poverty line, which makes it difficult to enact positive changes.

But Ian cautions against viewing all gang members as ‘criminals’. ‘In many cases, it is a multi-generational whanau, and if the community doesn’t allow initiatives like Waka Moe Moea, it perpetuates the isolation and reinforces criminal offending,’ he says. ‘But if we can help these hard to reach people find some inclusion, it reinforces that they belong back in the community.’

Joe agrees that The Salvation Army’s mission is to go to new places, and find new ways to meet society’s greatest needs.

Pat concludes: ‘The Salvation Army has given me the power to do these things and given me the tools to get the job done. And that’s straight up.’

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by Ingrid Barratt | (c) 'War Cry' magazine, 18 October 2014, pp5-7.
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