A Base Woodbourne metalwork instructor has been named New Zealand Defence Force Volunteer of the Year for his work with young people and Marlborough’s Pasifika community.
Sergeant Jale Tikotikoca Lal said he was surprised and “definitely” honoured by the award, saying his contributions came naturally because he saw the people he worked with as an extended family.
“If I can do it for my family, why can’t I do it for others? I’m just trying to offer opportunities here.”
His mantra was “if I could I should”, he said.
Lal established a structure for a community committee to look after welfare issues and initiatives among Pasifika people. He later focused his attention on sports and the wellbeing of young Marlburians.
He established and operated the Navigator Sports club, which promoted youth involvement in sports, mentorship, coaching and community development.
Lal said he had noticed Pasifika children had a lack of activities in the area when the rugby season ended.
“It gave them time to get up to mischief and labelled as troublemakers. Most Pacific families are first generation, they are either straight from the islands or they haven’t lived in New Zealand for very long.”
Now, he said he felt like an “adopted dad” to some of the young people.
“I’m like a taxi driver,” he laughed. “They often have mums and dads who work later on shift work, so I make sure they get home after sports practice before it gets dark.”
Lal also helped young people take part in a rugby league tournament for under-14 and under-15 teams in Christchurch – activities that needed subs and tournament fees paid.
“So we do a lot of fundraising. Part of what we do is teach the kids not to depend on handouts, so we enforce the mind-set of working for what you want. For example, as part of fundraising for this tournament, we did a walkathon. We walked up Mt Vernon, which is part of the Wither Hills.
“We got the kids to go out and look for sponsors and each kid raised about $100 – some kids raised more. When we got up the top most of them were feeling the heat, some muscles were hurting. But when we go to Christchurch they know they’ve done the hard work to get there and they won’t let the opportunity slide and will do their best at the tournament.”
Sport could teach young people life skills, Lal said.
“I’m hard on them if they can’t make it to training. They need to give me a good reason, so they are prepared for when they start working, they know how to communicate. Also, just teaching them to be respectful and being aware of who’s around them and being mindful of the things they say.
“We’ve got quite a few good people around who help out. It takes a village to raise a child and we work quite closely with schools.”
- Marlborough Express