Inspire Pacific Founder Ben Morrison and Peer Mentor Tikiko Tavualevu on fijivillage Straight Talk with Vijay Narayan

Tagane Mai is not about encouraging toxic masculinity but it is about teaching young men to be a good and productive son, husband and father.

That's the comment of Inspire Pacific Founder, Ben Morrison on fijivillage Straight Talk With Vijay Narayan, as he says they start off the 14 week Tagane Mai Program with the Beloved Son where they teach men that they cannot be men if they are not sons and to be a son it means you belong, you honour, you respect and you love.

Morrison says the first part of the program is also learning about forgiveness and the boys' fathers come in and they try to create an environment where they can reconcile, drop the macho facade and be vulnerable.

He stresses that they teach the young men that it is okay to cry and okay to talk about your needs.

This fijivillage Straight Talk show was two years in the making after Morrison appeared on the show in 2023 speaking about the challenges faced by the youths in the country.

We finally managed to get full access at the Inspire Pacific camp to run the Tagane Mai Program in Namata, Nadroga.

Morrison who is looking for like minded people and organisations to assist troubled boys, says he understands the struggle of being a young Fijian boy and understands what it is like growing up with drugs.

He says during his teenage years from when he was 14 to 17 years, he got hooked into drugs.

He reveals that although his parents had taught him many things, he was trapped in peer pressure.

Morrison says leaving Fiji and going to America, he had to fit in and he remembers being bullied in school and the crowd that he fit into was the one that was doing drugs.

The Inspire Pacific Founder says when you are young and your friends are doing drugs, you will eventually give into the peer pressure.

He was about 14 years old when he was doing drugs, and he was then caught up in gang activity.

Morrison says when he came back to Fiji, he brought this lifestyle back and the family got a shock with the Ben that came back from the US.

He shares that he got involved to the point that he contemplated to commit suicide however he then prayed and snapped out of it.

Morrison says he could not have done it any other way and God helped him to get out of this situation.

He says after that experience, he went on a journey of discovering his potential and learning that he does not have to be who his crowd tells him to be.

Morrison did a degree in Mathematics and Software Engineering, and later became the first Fijian to pursue music at Berkley in Boston.

Morrison who is part of the Christian City Church believes all young Fijians can realize and develop and unlock their full potential.

He started his work at the Juvenile Centre and they now have leased a camp site in Nadroga for at risk boys to be part of the program.

Morrison says for those involved in drugs - you need an environment where they can detox and get on a journey to recovery.

He says the camp is nature based and they try to create a loving family environment where everything is focused on home, love and trust.

He adds that it is hard to teach someone when they do not trust you, and you need to create an environment with genuine trust and have a sense of belonging.

Morrison says Tagane Mai is about calling Pacific men to rise into their full potential and to become men that will be able to serve a role that is beneficial to the family, the society and the country

He says it has also been highlighted in his journey as a husband and a father and how he is to his wife and being not only a husband that leads but is caring, kind, supportive, loving and has a servant heart.

19 year old Tikiko Tavualevu who is a peer mentor in the Tagane Mai Program coordinated by Inspire Pacific has shared his journey right from his childhood when he took up drugs from an early age and refused to attend school.

As he shared this on fijivillage Straight Talk With Vijay Narayan, Tikiko who is from Ra says he just wanted to take drugs and did not want to go to school, and was eventually involved in a robbery when he was about 16 years old.

He was then placed in the Juvenile Centre where he kept thinking on why he did not listen to his mother and father.

Tikiko shares that he was determined to change for the better and that is when he came across Pastor Ben Morrison who is the founder and Chair of Inspire Pacific that runs the Tagane Mai Program.

He says for the first time ever, he shared his story with Morrison and then entered the 14 weeks Tagane Mai Program.

You can watch the Straight Talk interview on our website, fijivillage.

You can also catch the podcast, fijivillage Straight Talk With Vijay Narayan on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

With the emergence of drug addiction amongst young people, there are stories where we are reaching out to the boys on the streets and sharing opportunities for them through the Tagane Mai Program, and they are taking the step to change.

Inspire Pacific Village Coordinator, Richard Dyer has shared this on fijivillage Straight Talk With Vijay Narayan, where he relayed a story of a little boy who was addicted to methamphetamine and living on the streets in Suva, getting up and following them to be part of the program as he wanted to change his life.

Dyer says as a Coordinator, he knows what the young boys are going through as he has had his fair share of challenges in his own life.

He says he sometimes really struggled as a young boy and he can see what the young boys are going through.

Dyer says he worked with the young boys at the Juvenile Centre before moving to the Juvenile Ministries, and this then transformed into doing a lot more to assist the boys on the streets.

He says no one is forced as they take on boys that are willing to change.

Dyer also shares that they have also had parents who are reaching out for them to help their children.

23-year-old Ulaiasi Vuli from Macuata has turned his life around after years of struggling with drug addiction.

Today, he serves as one of the peer mentors at the Inspire Pacific Village under the Tagane Mai Program, using his own journey to inspire young people facing similar challenges.

Vuli has shared this on fijivillage Straight Talk With Vijay Narayan, where he stated that he first began using marijuana while living in the village, mainly due to peer pressure and the influence of those around him.

He recalls that his addiction grew as a result of poor decision-making and a lack of proper guidance.

Vuli says his turning point came when he moved to Nausori after his uncle brought him over, and he realised he needed to leave drugs behind and start over.

Inspire Pacific Village Coordinator, Richard Dyer says that when Vuli first joined the program, he was still fresh off his decision to quit drugs, and some side effects were still noticeable.

Dyer says there were moments when Vuli would sit quietly and stare into the distance, and the team would step in to offer him support and affirmation.

Dyer adds that the transformation has been remarkable, and Vuli is now a changed person.

He adds through the Tagane Mai Program, Vuli is committed to helping others avoid the mistakes he once made and choose a healthier, more hopeful path.

We want the government to come on board on a bigger scale to support initiatives such as Inspire Pacific's Tagane Mai Program to develop young, responsible and caring men because we are sometimes just addressing the symptoms and not the root causes of the social problems that we are facing.

Those are the stern words of Inspire Pacific Founder, Ben Morrison who is also saying that we need to look at our education system on how we are developing young people to be good parents.

He also says there are training sessions underway all the time but their effectiveness also needs to be assessed.

Morrison says they need mentors for boys, retired teachers to assist, and men in general to develop an interest to mentor young men around them.

He stresses that comfort is the killer of growth, and when you get comfortable in something, it kills the passion and desire to grow and change.

Morrison says we need to get uncomfortable with the status quo so that there is some urgency and there is some intrinsic desire to make a change.

He adds many times we will start asking questions and looking at what is the problem, and we will stop at whatever is within the budget or what is within the office hours.

The Inspire Pacific Founder says more needs to be done, and the only reason their program is off the ground with very little support and funding is because they have an adamant tenacity to say we will not stop.

Morrison says it is quite evident when you look at police cases regarding drugs and the situation on the ground, that it is worse than what it is as we are just looking at what is being reported.

He says the connecting issues with drugs is HIV because of the sharing of needles, and some of the boys have come through with these issues.

Morrison says it has gone to the place where they have been told that when a group of three boys on the streets are picked up by Police and random tests are done, all are HIV positive.

He says the connecting social issues are related to parenting and broken marriages.

Morrison says we have a web of issues growing in our society, we agree that it is alarming but the question is what are we doing about this.

The Inspire Pacific Founder says there needs to be a lot more investment into the home and the family, and as a society, we all need to support parenting.

He also raised the question regarding the increasing old scholar events and whether they need to ask if the organisation is supporting itself at the expense of families in the country.

We are in the process of getting comments from the Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection.