Jay Pukepuke

We don't take referrals or court sentence rangatahi to do our programme because then they're not there because they want it.

They're there because someone told them to do it.

Yeah, they're ticking boxes.

That's right, yeah.

So we might get 30-odd registrations for a cohort and we can only take for our capacity up to 14.

So we have to interview everyone and then sort of decide who's the best fit, who's going to benefit the most, who really needs this the most.

And it's only based off our assessment, but we get it wrong as well.

I actually grew up in Auckland and I moved to Christchurch to get away from everyone.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, so I moved to Christchurch in 2009 maybe, but I grew up in West Auckland.

Quite transient.

My earliest memories are chasing my sister to school.

I wasn't five.

She was going to school and I used to chase her to school in Te Atatu Peninsula.

Other than that, moving to fielding with my mother and bunking school at that age and running up the river and building huts and getting into trouble and mischief.

Those are my earliest childhood memories and sort of not really seeing my dad much just when he'd come for visits or we'd go up north.

Yeah, moved around the family, uncles and aunties and distant uncles and grapevine uncles and around the country, Whangarei, Christchurch, Palmerston, Auckland.

Not really settled, many different schools, never really settled in a school.

I went to Rutherford and Kelston, Kelston boys, uh, back when, uh, what's an old mate, um, all black coach was the principal there.

Yeah.