His dad's a Mongrel Mob member, he is a doctor

denisohagan — Thu, 12 Dec 2019 07:02:06 +0000

Growing-up around the gang - his father and several uncles were members - was a "normal" part of his childhood says Jordan Tewhaiti-Smith (Ngati Kahungunu, Ngai Tahu, Nga Puhi).

He was one of 39 Maori medical graduands who took part in a pre-graduation ceremony last Friday at the University of Otago.

He is about to start work as a doctor at Christchurch Hospital.

"Just because my dad's a Mongrel Mob member and I'm Maori doesn't mean I can't do anything like the rest of the population."
He says he was raised quite well by his parents and they put us first.

"It wasn't forced on me but it was expected that I take it [education] seriously."

Tewhaiti-Smith has spent the last six years studying towards a bachelor of medicine and a bachelor of surgery at the University of Otago School of Medicine. The course had been "bloody hard".

His parents had been his biggest supporters, along with his wider whanau and he was a firm believer that "not one person raises a child, it is a village".

During his studies, he had been called a "dumb Maori" and encountered accusations of preferential treatment.

The negative interactions only inspired him to say "well, I'll show you".

"I flipped it and used it as my motivation."

Tewhaiti-Smith's used his family's gang connections for a ground-breaking new study on the health of the Mongrel Mob.

Dozens of Mongrel Mob members, affiliates and extended family were assessed on the health of their liver by a group of Otago University researchers that included Jordan.

The study included 52 Mongrel Mob Notorious gang members from Dunedin, Lower Hutt and Turangi.

It found New Zealand's largest gang's high incarceration rate, common intravenous drug use, and uncertified tattooing put them at a higher risk of contracting Hepatitis C.

Just eight Maori doctors graduated in 1999, while this year there are 38 provisional graduands.

"I want to change the outlook that Maori have within the health system in New Zealand," he said.

"As a clinician ... that's where I can make a difference. That's why I wanted to be a doctor."

Source

His dad's a Mongrel Mob member, he is a doctor

Poverty hardly looks like privilege

admin — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 19:30:22 +0000

So help me, Hone Harawira is right. It's not the display gangs make of themselves that matters, but the reasons why gangs exist in the first place.

That a blue-eyed, pink-skinned, blonde MP, Todd McClay, tagging along after ex-Whanganui mayor Michael Laws, wants gang patches banned, illustrates the ignorance of even intelligent people when they demand draconian laws against whatever they dislike or don't understand.

I don't like what gangs do either, but I'd be tempted to join Harawira and wear a patch myself in protest against such a dopey idea if the law change ever happens. And when I link McClay's mission to advertising man John Ansell, another pink person, who wants a referendum linked to his 'Colour Blind' campaign, I wonder what planet they live on. Read more

Sources

Rosemary McLeod in The Press
Image: TV3News

Rosemary McLeod is a New Zealand journalist

Poverty hardly looks like privilege

Gangs in NZ - CathNews New Zealand

His dad's a Mongrel Mob member, he is a doctor

Poverty hardly looks like privilege