Feast of ideas

No one was left unmoved at the conclusion of a breakfast by and for youth at The Hubb at Kaikohe’s Northland College last week.

The College’s catering students hosted the breakfast, making the most of the opportunity it gave them to gain accreditations for their NCEA hospitality qualifications through the Culinary Institute of New Zealand.

Their motivation to do their best and succeed was well suited to the “new horizons for Kaikohe youth” breakfast, attended by 40 educational and youth-related leaders who came to listen and share ideas with outstanding young motivational speaker Marcus Akuhata-Brown from the small town of Te Awara on the remote East Cape.

The gathering was sponsored by Far North Mayor Yvonne Sharp as part of the Mayors’ Taskforce for Jobs initiative to encourage community leaders to focus on youth development.

Mayor Sharp says the message got through loud and clear and people were genuinely moved and personally motivated by Marcus’s gifted oratory and his dedication to youth development.

Marcus paid special tribute to the inspiring people who had given him the chance to extend himself and instilled the drive to achieve “by removing the glass lids of low expectation”.

He has travelled all over the world as both a national and international representative and delegate, drawing on his own life experiences to inspire, inform and motivate others and meeting inspiring leaders such as Nelson Mandela.

One of his main messages was the need for the Kaikohe community to regularly come together and to individually walk the talk when tackling local youth-related issues. He demonstrated this by noting that he returns to his own community after his overseas experiences and continues to host monthly “open agenda” meetings to allow everyone to contribute to youth development.

Building on this theme, Mayor Sharp commented: “Achieving gains means we need to look at ourselves and within our community to action initiatives without constantly seeking leadership and direction from Wellington.

“We have shown that we have commitment and passion. Now we must harness this motivation and I look forward to working together to build opportunities to broaden the horizons of all youth, particularly those at risk,” she said.