Empower both youth and adults by inspiring them to take control of their lives through:

• Recognizing their own greatness

• Illustrating how they can be effective in life–not at the effect of life.

“Each person is known to have a certain gift and certain ability, and is therefore able to make a contribution to the whole. There will be the expert in bone carving; the expert in weaving, but there is in the whanau [extended family] a place for all.”

-Hiwi Tauroa, Maori Writer
(New Zealand-Native)

“Imagine, what a productive society, what a safe society we would have if everyone had a place! In the whanau there is no such thing as Handicapped- there is different- and each person who is different has her or his own particular gift to contribute. Children contribute what they can. They are not isolated from the decision making. Their gifts of inventiveness, creativity, joy and energy are seen as contributions. People are not waiting for them to become adults. Groups are not segregated. Elders are persons with the greatest wisdom and therefore the best teachers because they carry the wisdom of the tribe and are patient.

It is the responsibility of the whanau to help find and bring out the special ability of everyone. Everyone has a place. No one has to make a place.”

-Anne Wilson Schaef