Addiction recovery group brings kai and kōrero to Waitangi

Bessina Pehi and Steward Eiao have brought their food truck, Kai Tyre, to the Waitangi Day markets, serving up mussel fritters, seafood chowder, and steak and egg frybread rolls.

Behind the grill are Kera Potae, Isabella Rihari, Hoani Matere and Taikura Rapata, all recovering drug addicts.

“We’re both recovering addicts,” said Pehi. “And we ended up giving back by getting qualified and coming back as counsellors and clinicians.

“[Stew] came up with this idea of what works for Māori and what doesn’t work for Māori in recovery.”

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The couple started by creating an abstinence-based kapa haka rōpū in Auckland called He Waka Eke Noa.

Pehi says the rōpū collaborate with mainstream rehabilitation organisations, and often take people who are stuck in limbo.

Most of those they help are Māori, had come from prison or were on the brink of death.

“We became an aftercare programme for that pocket of people,” Pehi says.

“When they came into our rōpū, they found something that they hadn’t had before which was a non-judgmental environment that was nurturing them, with others just like them.”

The couple also turned a private eight-bedroom home into a transitional recovery house, and have developed programmes including Te Ira Wahine, and an anger management programme for Kaikohe-based Whakaoranga Whānau Recovery Hub.

“For the first four years of our existence, that came out of our own pockets, and it’s still coming out of our own pockets,” says Pehi.

“This [foodtruck] is just to alleviate pressure.”

“It’s all about the fullas, here,” Eiao says, “walking alongside them in their journey and their transformation – I find that quite astounding the progress that they make.”

Pehi says: “What’s created is a family in recovery … you create a healthy family with healthier relationships.”

Matare was a “hardcore meth addict” less than a year ago. He has been clean for nearly eight months.

“I never thought I’d get off drugs and alcohol until I met these guys,” he said.

Matere says he and his partner were in a “toxic relationship” before they were introduced to Whakaoranga Recovery Hub and enrolled in Manu Pukuriri, an anger management course

“I’ve done an anger management course from prison, and it was textbook as. I couldn’t relate to it. And when I came and did this one … it’s actually coming from an addict themselves. Everything was just so relatable.”

Along the way, Matere has met other recovering addicts who have shown him that there is hope and that help is available.

“If it wasn’t for these people and Whaea B, I wouldn’t have come to Waitangi Day; me and my partner would have been at home having domestics, to be honest.”

Kera Potae is just as excited to be at Waitangi on Waitangi Day. She didn’t have her children in her care when she first started in the Whakaoranga Recovery Hub, but now, two years later, she does. She feels like she has a purpose in life nowadays.

“It’s not even just doing the courses in the classes, it’s doing things like this, getting out there, being at events”, she says while prepping some onions.

Potae says that “Whaea Bess and Matua Stew” inspire her everyday.

“One day, I want to be just like them.

“Like Hoani, we were in a tough spot. They give you a second chance when everyone else has given up.”

Potae sees her future in supporting recovering addicts.

“Especially mums, because I know what it’s like to have lost my children. It’s like a never-ending battle, especially when you’re fighting an addiction at the same time.”