Unearthing the numerous truths of indigenous knowledge for the healing and advancement of tamariki, rangatahi and whānau.
Our Whakapapa
I was 18 years old when I started my career in youth work. I know what you’re thinking, “that’s literally still a rangatahi”. It’s okay, my whānau and I joke about it all the time!
I did my workplace practicum in a youth guarantee learning centre where half of the students were either the same age or even older than me By the time I was 20 years of age, I had completed a degree in youth development. Which, rightfully so, many people found ironic, considering I had barely lived life as an adult. I guess, I was just one of those lucky few who undeniably knew their purpose at an early age.
I will always remember the anniversary of my dad’s passing, not because it was traumatic, I was only three years old, but because it was the 7th of the 7th of the year 1997, and so the number ‘seven’ has always resonated with me. I was 11 years old when my mum pursued a career in social work. In response to the events surrounding my dad’s suicide, she went on to focus on suicide prevention. In 2005, my mum was one of the first social workers in schools. This evolved into coordinating Hawkes Bay suicide prevention initiative, ‘Kia Piki Te Ora o Te Tai Tamariki’.
18-year-old Char in New York City at the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s Founders Forum Showcase 2012
Fast-forward 10 or so years and I finally felt like the timing was right to quit my respectable day job and make my dreams of turning 2Face DRAMA into a career reality. This was going to be my full-time mahi and I was determined to make happen. That was when I started the process of establishing Toi Matarua.
The process was tedious and slow on a good day, but then the were the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic on top of that. We established our board of trustees, defined our vision, mission, principles, tikanga (values), and terms of reference. We got ourselves organised and submitted all relevant paperwork to the New Zealand Charities Office in January 2021. Months had gone by, and we encountered a few hiccups. I was overwhelmed with emotion receiving the email containing our certificate of incorporation when I realised the date it had been officially signed and approved by the ‘Registrar of Incorporated Societies’. After almost six months of board hui, filling paper-work and following up, I opened the document that read, “This is to certify that TOI MATARUA was incorporated under the Charitable Trusts Act 1957 on the 7th day of July 2021”. It was undoubtably a tohu (sign) that the timing was finally right.
Charlizza Matehe, Founder & Director (left) Sally Rye, Char’s Mum + Trustee (right)
During this time, I would often attend hui with her, helping to set up for wānanga, prepare kai and at times lead presentations. Mum would often refer to me as her hoa haere (companion) in her mahi providing a critical rangatahi lens. I have been actively working in the Māori mental health and suicide prevention, intervention and postvention space for over 18 years. I have been contributing to this mahi over half of my life and I know I will for the rest of it because this is deeper than just a passion, this is my life’s purpose.
I founded ‘2Face DRAMA’ the year after high school, it was my first solo stamp on the Māori mental health scene as an ‘expert’ on the kaupapa. I didn’t really know anything aside from my own healing experience, but it seemed to be enough to get us started and even noticed at a government level. We often look back on those days as the ‘dream team’, in all honesty we weren’t considered elite performers, we were just best friends that wanted to make a difference.
Char and her whāngai, Hirini, Lee and Tuarea (left to right)
As we emerge from the world of performing arts into the academic domain of rangahau (research), it is imperative that we define our long standing tikanga for working with mokopuna Māori as the foundation of this new mahi. Being awarded the inaugural Dr Barry Poata Smith Ethics Summer Studentship has allowed me the time and space to aro (reflect) and ako (learn) from our years of experience and validate what we already knew to be tika (right) when engaging with our mokopuna Māori.
Tū Tārake
Our rangatahi-led leadership programme
MokoBoys
Our rangatahi-led kaumātua service