New Zealand Team Field Visit Reflections
In May this year, prior to our most recent team visit, we hosted our other International Team & Board Member Sue and her husband Mike all the way from New Zealand. Sue shares her reflections of their visit.
“Mike and I loved meeting the children at Agape Star Christian School. Mike endeavoured to teach the children how to play rugby and they were very enthusiastic. They quickly organised a mini sports tournament playing netball, soccer and rugby. I kept out of that – I’m too old! We were impressed with how the children organised their own games with not a computer or phone in sight – a reminder of NZ in the 1960’s and 70’s.”
The children that spoke on behalf of the different classes spoke very well. We taught the children a simple NZ song in te reo Maori (Maori language) called Te Aroha and they learned it quickly. I guess we just loved the children’s smiling faces and how they were so enthusiastic about their learning.
They were quite intrigued with Mike and his hairy arms and he had like a river of children following him around.
Meeting the Team
We were very impressed with all that Steven and the team, including the teachers, have done to set up the school and their dedication to the children. The planning seemed very well done and it was so good that things are being done sustainably as much as possible and that there is buy-in from parents and caregivers.
We are grateful for the opportunity to be able to visit, and for the very capable team of leaders and teachers who are doing so much for the children.
Sustainability Projects
We also visited the sustainability projects and were so pleased with what is being done to propagate food for the children and to generate some income. We were really surprised at the extent of the work that has gone into the gardens and how fertile the soil is – that such a variety of fruit and veggies can be grown. The brick-making initiative surprised us and the progress on the dormitories was amazing.
Library Bags for the Children
At one of our Board Meetings, we were discussing what we could make that would be useful for the children and take with us on our visit. We agreed that Library Bags would be benificiaI, and so organised a team of about 8-10 women through my church in NZ who enjoy sewing. We had quite a bit of fabric donated through friends and other contacts. Sandy Herbert, a friend of mine, was previously a sewing teacher so she came up with one pattern and Suzie Osmond, another expert sewer came up with the other pattern. We got together over a couple of days and got most of them done. The women involved all enjoyed it. We also prayed that they would get through customs without any duty and there were no problems. It was great fun giving out the bags to the children too!”
Sue & Mike (NZ Team)
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