Marathon ride for tamariki
By the end of this week, Mana Williams-Eade will have finished a long ride – exactly 6300 minutes.
Williams-Eade grew up in state care, works for Oranga Tamariki – Ministry for Children, and now he’s riding a stationary bicycle for five days in Civic Square in Wellington to raise awareness and money.
He started riding at 8am on Monday and planned to finish on Friday – his 21st birthday.
At the end of his five-day ride he was looking forward to his birthday present – his foster family, and friends would be flying in to Wellington to support him.
The length of his ride represents the 6300 children, or tamariki, living in state care.
‘‘I’d hope to see more people aware of the barriers that young people face,’’ he said.
VOYCE Whakarongo Mai – Voice Of the Young and Care Experienced – the charity service for young people living in care, had a Givealittle page for his ride and by yesterday afternoon $2370 had been donated.
Williams-Eade is not alone in his ride. Volunteers can ride on two bikes set up on either side of him enabling him to eat, rest, or sleep. He has been training for six months for the bike ride. He’s also studying commerce at Victoria University, with an exam this Saturday. Williams-Eade said he was lucky to have ‘‘amazing’’ foster parents but not everyone had as much support as he did.
His work at Oranga Tamariki was to create supported employment opportunities for children in care. Through the ride he hoped to create awareness of the impact not having biological parents around during childhood had on a person. His biological parents separated when he was in infancy and he doesn’t have contact with them.