WHAREKAHIKA

When Ashleigh Hovell, CAYAD manager from Te Aroha Kanarahi Trust in Wharekahika saw how common drink driving had become, she knew something had to change.

Too many close calls, too many near misses, and accepted as the norm.

“I’ve had uncles say, ‘I’ve been doing it for 40 years, who are you to tell me not to?’” she says.

“But this kaupapa isn’t about telling people off. It’s about love for our people, our tamariki, and our whenua.”

That conviction sparked an idea that would bring her small coastal community together in a powerful new way.

Ashleigh began gathering locals around kitchen tables and marae benches to talk about what could make a real difference.

The solution wasn’t more rules or outside campaigns, it was something homegrown, rooted in the values that have always followed: aroha, kotahitanga, and manaakitanga.

Together, they dreamed up a community-led road safety campaign to tackle drink and drug driving through art, connection, and local voice.

Their plan was simple: create signs and murals featuring familiar faces, local sayings, and messages that speak directly to the heart.

“We wanted people to see someone they know and think twice,” Ashleigh says. “It’s not a warning, it’s a reminder that your whānau are waiting for you.”

From hui at the marae to design workshops with rangatahi and kaumātua, every step was collaborative.

The signs were painted by locals, voted on by locals, and installed by locals, along roads that hold generations of memories.

Each one told a story: a father urging his son to drive safe, a kuia reminding mokopuna to get home, a community holding tight to its own.

The impact was immediate. People began talking more openly about the risks. The old excuses didn’t land the same way.

“When the message comes from us, we listen,” says Ashleigh. “It’s not an outside voice, it’s our own reflection.”

For a place like ours, that’s small and close-knit, the campaign became more than just a safety initiative. It was a statement of identity and strength, a community saying, we care too much to stay silent.

Ashleigh smiles when she passes them. “We’ve always looked after each other,” she says. “This is just another way of doing that.”