Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Maori trades carpentry class

Updated at 7:21 pm on 6 June 2012

A Maori trades training tutor says the carpentry course in Canterbury is changing lives and bringing rangatahi out of their shells.

The budding builders are learning at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology.

The new Maori Trades initiative, He Toki ki Te Rika, is run in conjunction with Ngai Tahu and is aimed at boosting the number of youth in the industry for the rebuild of Christchurch.

A carpentry tutor at the institute Jim Keenan says he teaches and inspires the students.

He says he wants to prepare them for the big task ahead of them.

Mr Keenan says some of the trainees had previously not been doing a lot with their lives, and he wants to change their way of thinking so they have a good feeling about wanting to rebuild their own city.

He says trainees are coming to Christchurch from different iwi throughout the country.

The course includes some te reo Maori lessons, and students learn the He Toki Haka.

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