Norman Parata in Ruatoria posing in a beekeeper’s suit in front of his family’s marae. Norman is a prime example of the downs in this small coastal city’s population. Chronic unemployment or uninteresting jobs such as sheep shearing and forestry plunge the men into alcoholism and depression.
Norman, 39 years old, grew up in Ruatoria until his parents’ separation when he left for Gisborne. He quit school at 15 years old and began working as a sheep shearer, then a lumberjack. Later he set up as an organic farmer, until 2002. For five years he sold his vegetables in Wellington. Single, 3 children aged 17, 16 and 7 by a woman who lived with him for 13 years.