Lisa Owen Interviews Tribal Huk Leader Jamie Pink, Whose Gang is Making 500 Sandwiches a Day for Hungry Kids in the Waikato

Lisa Owen: Child poverty has prompted a lot of talk lately. Just this week the Greens picked up Hone Harawira’s Feed the Kids bill as the Prime Minister acknowledged about 15% of pupils in low decile schools need breakfast at school. Two and a half years ago, Jamie Pink and his Waikato gang Tribal Huk decided to do something about it. Every day they make 500 sandwiches and deliver them to schools around the region. A Waikato Times story about the gang of sandwich makers went viral last week. Jamie Pink joins me now. Morena, Jamie.

Jamie Pink: Hello, Lisa. Kia ora.

Tell me, why are you doing it? What made you start?

Oh, a lot of us were hungry kids when we were young. And to see so many hungry kids around, specially 270,000 in the country, we see them around, it’s not good. We got the resources here. Overseas they haven’t, obviously, but I think there’s no excuse in New Zealand to have one in eight of our population hungry, especially the little folk.

You know what it’s like to have gone hungry too, don’t you?

Yeah, we had it pretty hard when we were young. It’s not good for them, not good for their soul. Grow up a bit angry. And we do our little bit. We can do a bit more now, hopefully. A lot of people helping us out with food and things like that.

So how did you know in your community that there was a need? What was the signal for you that you needed to do something?

You see little kids walking to school with no shoes in the winter. You just see it where we are. I’m originally from Ngaruawahia, and Hamilton’s us too as well. But it’s not so bad out there; Maori people are pretty good at looking after each other. But it’s everywhere, all over the country. I think something’s gotta be done about it.

You’re a gang leader, so one would think you’re a pretty tough fella. But did you look at that and it really got to you?

Yeah. It gives you a reason for doing something. We reach over 300 kids a day in 25 schools. We’re gonna expand. We’ll expand to hopefully 40 or 50 schools after Christmas, through ’15.

So how are you gonna do that? How are you gonna make it a bigger operation?

We could keep going at 25 schools, but we’ve got a lot of people helping us, people offering us money. But we’re not worried about that. A lot of people offering us food, and we’ll probably take that on board. We’ve got farms and we’ve got two big piggeries. We’ve got over 100 pigs, 50 beef and over 60 sheep. That’s how we do it. We’ve got over 150 members in the crew, so every now and again we put a hat around.

So how did you get the farms? Is it your farm?

We lease them. No, no, wish we owned them. We lease them, yeah.

So, how did the schools react when you guys turned up? Because it’s not what you’d expect from a gang, is it?

I usually go and see the headmaster and the ladies in the office, and we take some sandwiches in and show them that we make them with hairnets and gloves – and love. A lot of ladies help us. You’ve gotta have that woman’s touch. And no school said no. Just wish we could reach more. We’ll get there, yeah.

So do they give you a bit of a sideways look?

No. Oh, the odd one. But once they know what we’re doing it for, they’re pretty good, yeah. No problems there. They know that we’ve got good intentions.

So how does it work on a day-to-day basis? What do you do?

We start the night before and do five trays of eggs. Some of the ladies do that. Then 6 o’clock we go get our bread from Coupland’s. Then we usually start making the sandwiches by 7. By half past 8, 9 o’clock, we’re delivering. Finished by about half past 12, 1. So it’s a good half the day, but it’s worth it.

So it’s a big commitment for you guys. And everybody turns up all the time?

Oh, sometimes we give someone a day off, if they’re lucky.

The thing is that gangs are often associated with the bad stuff, with crime, with violence, with drugs. So how much of that is part of your story, your backstory?

Oh, I’m not gonna come and lie. A lot of bad things, but we try to clean our act up. I think there’s other gangs doing good things out there too. You only hear about the bad things. I know other people are doing good work. I can’t mention names, out of respect. Get a bit of a bad rap. Some people obviously are bad eggs. With my crew, we try to get our people into work, try to do good things. Yeah, we sometimes have to have a bit of violence here and there, but I don’t let my boys steal and that. We try to go right away from the old ways.

So are the Tribal Huks troublemakers, do you think, generally?

No. Huks’ never been troublemakers. The gang was established in ’58, look after the people in Ngaruawahia. You always gotta have somebody. I was a bit of a troublemaker myself when I was young. But these days, we try to clean all that up and do good things. Love is stronger than hate. But when you do grow up hungry, you end up heading towards hate, you know? You go to school and you see kids with nice lunches, and it’s not their fault – they get looked after – but that’s where it starts, animosity. ‘I got nothing. You got a ham sandwich.’

So why was it that you grew up hungry?

Oh, my mum had me when she was young. Just, you know, she was having a hard life herself. But she’s still a good lady. Gotta love your mum.

So, Jamie, you said your mum had you young; it was tough going. Do you think it’s still the same now? Is that why these kids are hungry now?

Well, some parents, it’s not their fault. You’ve got a solo mum with five or six kids, and no matter what, she’s gonna do it hard. A lot of kids to look after. Some parents are obviously not doing a good job, but I think mostly it’s— Well, there’s not much work around, is there? The benefits aren’t like they used to be. Sanitarium, Fonterra, people like that, they do a lot. I notice the milk and Weet-Bix going to the school. I don’t see a lot from the government. Maybe fruit and that. A lot of the schools don’t qualify.

You’re out there feeding these kids. What do you think that the government should be doing?

Oh, a lot more. I like John Key. He’s obviously our leader, and much respect to him. But I still think Hone Harawira had the right idea, I’ll give him that. You’ve gotta reach those young ones. You don’t want them growing up angry and hungry. It’s not right. They’ve got the resources here. Sheep outnumber us 10 to one. Come on. You know what I mean?

The Prime Minister reckons that we don’t need to give them lunches in school. What do you want to say to him? You’ve got a chance now, Jamie. What do you want to say to him?

No disrespect, but you’re wrong. Go out there and have a good look. He’s wrong. Feed them. We spend money on other things. Yeah, just nicely, all due respect, that’s not right. 270,000, you can’t argue with that.

So when you go to the schools, is there any suspicion that you might be recruiting or anything like that?

No. Obviously, people can be sceptical if they want, but that’s not what we’re doing it for. I’d rather them grow up educated and putting back into society. We can’t help how we grew up. It’s just the environment, you know? Doesn’t mean we want that for our kids. I got a grandson and two sons and a daughter. I don’t want them growing up like me. But if someone wants to be a gang member, you’re not gonna be able to stop him. Live by the code and do things right. But I’d rather them be educated, and that goes for all the kids in New Zealand. Give them a chance. You’re not gonna give them a chance if you don’t feed them. They’re gonna grow up angry and, yeah, take the wrong way.

You’ve said yourself that you’re no angel in your past. You’ve had some violent days. I’m just wondering has this project changed you in any way?

Yeah, it gives us a reason for being. We love it. We haven’t missed a day in all that time. Coming up to Christmas, it’ll be our third year. And it’s become a big thing in our lives. We wanna expand. And thank you for all the people that have helped us out and sent food and things. We can go probably to 50 schools in 2015. Really happy about that. But I think if John Key and the powers that be got their act together, it’d be a good move. It’d be a great move, actually. They can do it. ‘Course they can.

Thank you so much for joining me this morning, Jamie Pink. Keep up the great work.

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ENDS

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