March 13, 2024
Little official support for kaupapa drug rehab
A tikanga Māori residential drug rehabilitation programme says its work isn’t acknowledged and appreciated, despite its success rate.
Matilda Kahotea was among a group of mothers who set up Nga Kete Wānanga Solutions in Dairy Flat nine years ago in response to addiction within their whānau.
Over the past three years 85 men and women have gone through the 12-week course, and just eight have ended up back in prison.
She says the founders drew on their experience teaching in kohanga reo and kura to create a supportive kaupapa Māori environment.
“And it’s wanted, it’s needed – that needs to be acknowledged, considering our people are the majority of the people that are incarcerated, that are suffering from drug addiction, that need rehabilitation and there’s such a lack of it. It’s sad,” Ms Kahotea says.
The programme is not just about individual success, and many of the former residents have gone back to their rohe and helped others with the tikanga tools they have learnt..