A friendly face at a cafe
On today’s blog Bobbi catches up with Terry Sarten about some of Kaitiaki o Ara/SADD’s history in Whanganui.
It all started with coffee. Sometimes to get out of the house I set up at a local coffee hotspot called Article here in Whanganui. This day was a bit different as I had Terry sit next to me, he’s got these funky navy John Lennon glasses, and I compliment him, then we start having a conversation about everything. Turns out he’s a fellow musician and as we talk further I discover he was heavily involved with supporting SADD students in the 80’s. So I made a time to catch up with Terry Sarten to learn about this experience.
I arrive at the cafe and see Terry sitting on a bench seat with this thick looking red folder. I’m intrigued to learn about what is in this folder. This folder contained paperwork from when SADD first applied to become a charitable trust, itinerary of a conference in 1992, a list of who attended, countless funding applications, and even an application form for the first SADD coordinator. I then realised Terry didn’t just drive a group of students around in the 80’s, he was a big part in the development of what SADD is today.
Terry was the Alcohol and Drug educator for Whanganui District Health Board back in the 80’s and 90’s. In the early 90’s he says there was space for SADD to grow as Helen Clarke was the health minister who had a big focus around public health. People saw the vision and wanted to support it. It was a great model around health promotion because it came from the people, for the people. Some of the key initiatives they ran were mock crashes in close collaboration with community partners, having media presence in newspapers and radio (which was a lot harder back then), contracts between parents and students, and facilitating alcohol education.
Terry sees the name change from Students Against Driving Drunk, to Dangerous Driving as a symbol that all the hard work they had put in did have a long term impact because the attitudes around drink driving changed. Times have changed and we now have more freedom to be who we want to be, also resulting in less of a willingness to accept drink driving.
Terry spent a lot of time driving a group of young women from Whanganui Girls’ College to speak in assemblies in the area. WDHB sponsored the fuel and car. In the days of no social media they had no choice but to get in the car and go to the people and share drink driving messages and initiatives. Terry said though it was a fantastic health promotion model it really empowered students “Seeing their confidence grow and realising they are leaders and can make a change” was amazing to watch.
Terry had so many stories it’s hard to fit in one blog. SADD has grown and developed over the years but has still stayed true to it’s foundations in road safety and youth empowerment. I think this story really highlights how important it is to have such amazing community partners to tautoko this kaupapa. Ngā mihi nui ki a koe Terry!
Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi.
With your food basket and my food basket the people will thrive.
P.S I just want to point out we’re both rocking the John Lennon glasses!
