This article was first published by RNZ.
Content warning: This story discusses suicide
Some describe him as “a young bloke from Kihikihi”, but he is the founder of a foundation trying to change the stark suicide statistics of Māori in Australia.
To himself, he is Danny Heke and he cleaned toilets at the Kiingi’s tangihanga.
When Heke found out Kiingi Tuheitia had died, he thought it was only right to come home from Australia.
“I went back primarily to look after the people and the multitude that arrived.”
Heke wears two hats - Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāti Raukawa, but he lent on his Maniapototanga to do the mahi on the ground.
“My Raukawa side, that’s the advisory side, we give a lot of advice to our whānau and to the Kiingitanga. On my Maniapoto side, that’s the real servants side.
“We’re a real strategic iwi, but when it comes to kaupapa like this [the Kiingi’s tangi] we need to ensure that all those unseen things are covered.”
From 5am to 10pm, Heke was behind the paepae at Tuurangawaewae Marae cleaning four toilets, 10 times a day.
“The real kōrero happened in the toilets.”
But he isn’t just a loo scrubber
Heke and his wife started the not-for-profit Mozzy Foundation to combat suicide.
“My wife lost both of her nephews to suicide in Australia, so that had a profound impact on not only my wife and myself, but the wider community.”
When Heke left New Zealand in 2011, he remembered New Zealand having one of the biggest suicide rates in the world. But he was removed from seeing the gruelling statistics due to his mahi in the mines.
“It was when I moved to a family friendly roster that’s when I started seeing that it was happening to our rangatahi in Australia as well.”
At first, they were unsure on what to do in terms of prevention, so they started a cultural youth hub in their local community centre just south of Brisbane in a place called Yarrabilba, an indigenous word for ‘place of song’.
Initially, they had interest from other people and schools in Australia so they decided to create an organisation.
And in February 2022, the Mozzy Foundation was born.
The programme they run in schools and detention centres is called Tūhono which means to connect.
‘Tūhono’ revolves around tikanga Māori, te reo, kapa haka, mau rākau, and all of those elements of te ao Māori, he said.
“For us it’s not a programme, it’s just us teaching tamariki our customs and protocols.”
‘Generations of Mozzies are missing their cultural connection’
When Heke returned to Australia after the Kiingi’s tangi, he went to the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre the next day and told them why he was in New Zealand.
“A lot of them didn’t even know we had a Māori king.
“It’s a reality for our rangatahi over here, but they truly don’t get the depth of it because they’ve never lived it,” he said.
Former journalist and ‘Mozzy Foundation’s whaea’ Christine Pātea (Ngāti Maniapoto) said the schools they worked with in low socio economic areas were benefiting from the programme.
“The classes are extraordinary. They’re taught by qualified teachers who all speak te reo, and they’re passionate,” she said.
When Pātea sat in one of the classes, she said the rangatahi questioned why they were pressing their foreheads.
“If we start with the rangatahi and get them having some sort of cultural identity, they’ll be more solid when they get older.”
Pātea, who has lost five friends to suicide, said there was no single sign to look out for.
Her friend, a doctor, took his own life three days after they spent time together.
“If we don’t talk about how we feel, then [the statistics] are going to escalate. One week in Australia, 72 suicides. Think about that.
“As a society, we need to stand up and say let’s fix this, do whatever it takes to fix this. That’s why I’m here.”
- RNZ