Billy Macfarlane – Former Drug Lord Turned Social Activist.
We went to Rotorua to meet with Billy Macfarlane, a former drug lord who had received a 14 year sentence but was paroled after serving 5 years. Billy turned his life around after learning Te Reo Maori behind bars and began teaching in the maximum-security prison at Paremoremo. He was later transferred up North and was eventually asked by the management of the prison there to become a teacher and mentor for young men who were locked up.
We were invited onto the Marae and were able to interview Billy and some of the people he works with. There was a traditional welcome and one of the local elders spoke for us. Billy and his people sang a waiata and my daughter and I responded with a waiata from our spiritual tradition invoking blessings and love upon us all.
After his release, Billy designed and has been running a course he calls Pūwhakamua, and is affiliated with the Apūmoana Marae. It is designed to be an intense six-month programme that will wrap Māori protocol around men who have led a life of crime in the hope they will turn their lives around. The course is followed up with a further six months of checks to ensure the participants are staying crime-free. However there are also many non-criminals who are taking the course to reconnect with Maori culture.
Billy says “Our tikanga has the power to change young Maori men’s lives and I say ‘watch this space’ because change is coming for these young fellas.”
Here is a link to a piece Maori Television did on Billy – https://www.facebook.com/maraetv/videos/1673383459406769/
It was a real honour to meet Billy and we will continue to stay in touch with him.