Wellington, New Zealand – Nanaia Mahuta was only 11 when she first stood up for her political beliefs.
Mahuta was one of 30 Māori and Pacific Island students at an all-girls Anglican school and the South African rugby team was touring New Zealand, dividing the country in the process.
While the schoolgirl had no idea of what was soon to become one of the largest civil disturbances in New Zealand history, she could not stomach the fact her school had offered to host a group of South African students – a decision she felt validated apartheid.
Rather than simply “dealing with it”, she skipped school in protest.