Following sections of website have been updated:

• Trainer Team
• Training programme - General overview
• New Zealand activities - training
• New Zealand - Present situation
• Working Bee project

We truly had a great workshop at Waikare again! It was interesting to see that our impact on the local community is beginning to show. A subtle but strong connection is being established between Ma-uri and the local school in particular. Again the teachers and pupils turned up for both Powhiri (Welcoming Ceremony) and Poroporoaki (Farewell Ceremony) to contribute with their songs and actions and all our students absolutely loved the kids' performance! Also the babies and pre-school kids from the Kohangareo (c: 'language nest' and kindergarten) next door sat in on the ceremonies and contributed to their best abilities, snotty-nosed and all!

Towards the end of our stay the Principal invited us to come to the school celebration to take part in the opening of their new administration building. We gladly accepted the invitation! In our eagerness to contribute with something special, we decided to make a remarkable donation. Hemi and some of the Hungarian students had been working on a small waka during the breaks. Hemi was wanting to teach some of the guys how to build such waka, so they would be able to build one for the Danube river this summer. They were working on this during every break, morning, noon and evening. Half-way through it they decided that this waka could be turned into a 'school waka' for the kids at Waikare School. It would give the teachers so many opportunities to connect the Maori pupils with this part of their roots and teach them about the focus and skills of NAVIGATORS etc. etc.

So on the day of the celebration the unfinished (not an issue!!) waka was carried ceremonially all the way from the Marae up to the School for the Powhiri. All students walked in solemn formation, 6 carrying the waka and holding it high for everyone to see as they marched along the dirt-road, over the bridge and up to the school - with the Conch Blower (Katja) up front and all the rest of the students walking behind in two lines wearing their best lava lava and Ma-uri T-shirts! What a magnificent and impressive sight!!

Now, on the evening before this event we had been practicing a home-made 'waka chant' that everyone could join in and do for the occasion. One of the ladies had given Hemi some ideas or rather directives as to the text and action to go with such chant. But with usual 'Maui energy' Hemi decided to turn it into an appropriate 'Hemi waka chant', fitting the words 'electric drill and EPOXY' into the chant instead of the traditional 'adze and rope' !! Ohhhhh, she did not like that sort of cheekiness!! Anyway, arriving at the School ... oh, you should have seen their faces !! : The WAKA being presented by such a big group of students, the conch blowing, the crazy chant and Hemi's brilliant speech for the Powhiri - Oh, it just MADE THEIR DAY!! Something magical happened - you could feel it in the air, you could see it in the eyes of the kids and on the faces of the teachers!!

Well, to bring it all back to 'noa' and social togetherness again, they opened the doors to the dining room and invited everyone to have lunch! IT WAS HUGE - All sorts of foods, incl. big oysters and Green-lipped Mussels, all kinds of meat and the widest range of cakes and desserts I have ever seen. All the pupils were lined up along the end-wall singing their waiata while the guests helped themselves to this wonderful food! The students couldn't believe their eyes - their thoughts were written all over their faces, 'Oh sweet Jesus - a lunch without bland rice or pasta and half-frozen cucumbers!! Oh, blessed be this abundance of MEAT and SWEETS!!' So they ATE their full and enjoyed it liked starved refugees.

When we got back to the Marae in the afternoon the students pleaded with us: For the first time in 3 weeks they BEGGED us: OH, PLEASE NO MASSAGE this afternoon!! - Ohhh, yeah, we had seen that coming!! We had a good laugh and everyone went for a sleep.

So, there you are - a small story from our adventurous and inspiring life down here!

Wishing you all the best, I remain

Yours truly,
Katja