Adverse Childhood Experiences - Part Two

He leads me …

In the last blog we saw that the Ministry of Social Development’s Children and Families Research Fund was enabling research into ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) among New Zealand children and families to be done which included the Māori and Pacific Island people.

Let us take a snapshot of what has happened.

To understand how the cause of adverse experiences in New Zealand came about, we should look back at how the family structures changed. Let us consider the Māori situation first.

After World War II (1939 – 1945), many Māori moved to New Zealand’s cities looking for work, education, and adventure. Before the war, more than 80 percent of them had lived rurally, with the majority within their own tribal regions. However, by the mid-1980s, the positions had reversed, with about 80 percent living in urban areas around New Zealand. 

As a result, the growing number of urban Māori had less knowledge of their language and culture, due first to them severing from their tribal heritage, and then embracing the European (Pakeha) lifestyle. These changes meant that generally Māori struggled to achieve a good education, resulting in their numbers significantly increasing in unemployment, along with both hospital strays and prison sentences.[1]

The Māori who transitioned from the rural family based environment to the urban setting found that their previous freedom to walk into any home where they could enjoy family time was gone. Instead the children went to a new school where they found that they were different. They had brown skin and did not have smart clothes or shoes like the other children. Then when they got home from school, all the adults were working, so there were no village aunties to be there for them.

As a result the children lost their identity. For many this created low self-esteem, leading towards suicide. To escape from this they escaped into sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. For many this then progressed to either a psychiatric unit or prison.

The next generation of urban Māori had grown up in suburbia and had learnt how to survive within the town or city environment. This created a definite division between urban and iwi Māori, because they did not understand each other’s challenges.[2] However, as a result, a growing number of urban Māori looked to their heritage wanting to find out about their language (te reo) and their family background (whakapapa). From this they have been able to use their new combined knowledge of both Māori and European (Pakeha) cultures to the benefit of all Māori, especially in the areas of overcoming hardship.

The urban Māori who had become qualified in areas like researching and management have been able to look at the European programmes that were unsuccessful in helping Māori wellbeing and change or add principles that have proven to work for them instead. The kaupapa Māori model now uses aspects like healing to address the historical trauma, including any family and/or sexual violence. 

Organisations like the Māori Women’s Welfare League started to emerge from 1951 onwards. This included organisations such as the Ngati Maniapoto Marae Pact Trust whose mission is typical of similar establishments to ‘be a sustainable organisation that consistently and effectively provides services to iwi that directly contributes to cultural, social and economic development and well-being’.[3]

Just as the tertiary educated Māori are doing what they can to assist the less fortunate in their people, similar things are happening with members of the Pacific community. They too had a hard start in New Zealand.

Many of them saw that there were better opportunities to for work and education in New Zealand, and so they emigrated here believing that it was the land of ‘milk and honey’. The reality was quite different.

Dr Patisepa Tuafuti, a former senior lecturer at the University of Auckland said that, ‘When they arrive [in New Zealand] it's a culture shock. The mentality of the parents doesn't change. They just stick to how it is in Samoa - do this and do as you're told. That's a big part of why some of our youth end up as street kids and why so many commit suicide.’[4]

The main problem was that Samoan and other Pacific children had problems with English as a second language. Their culture of having to ‘do as you are told and respect your elders’, and being taught by observation and imitation in the Islands made them appear slow and overwhelmed in the New Zealand classroom where they did not interact like the Palagi (New Zealanders). The reality was that they did not know what to do.

Like the Māori families, the Island children did not have the support of their parents and extended family because the adults were working several jobs to earn enough to support their families and church. The youth reacted against both Island and Palagi authority and started using drugs and alcohol, joining gangs and living rough. This then lead to prison sentences.

While the problem of cultural development is not exclusive to Maori and the Pacific Islanders they have higher percentages of their populations of childhood trauma leading to offending and suicides than European and Asian groups.

For everyone in New Zealand much depends on our lifestyle, support groups, families and choices that we make both for ourselves, and our loved ones as to how we all integrate into the society in which we live.

Some of us, have had adverse childhood experiences in our lives. How we deal with these events, no matter what the colour of our skin or our background may be, will depend on the support around us. 

For many of us we will find a group of people who will support us. Hopefully these people will include some strong Christians, who follow the teaching of Christ, who said, ‘Love one another, as I have loved you’ (John 13:34; 15:12) and ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ (Leviticus 19:18; Mark 12:31; Galatians 5:14). 

With the right love, help and encouragement, anyone who has experienced trauma will be able to triumph over it.

Dear Reader – If you have found some value in this blog, please feel free to send a copy on to your family and friends. Kind regards, John

[1] Urban Māori, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa; http://sites.tepapa.govt.nz/sliceofheaven/web/html/urbanmaori.html

[2] The second migration: stories of urban Māori, Bradford Haami, E-Tangata;

https://e-tangata.co.nz/reflections/the-second-migration-stories-of-urban-maori/

[3] Linda Tuhiwai Smith: Healing our trauma, Linda Tuhiwai Smith, E-Tangata;

https://e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-analysis/linda-tuhiwai-smith-healing-our-trauma/

[4] Between two cultures, Tim Watkin, NZ Herald;

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/between-two-cultures/G7DW6CZ5PEX3G5L3ZHOOSGJYIA/