As part of our Matariki celebration in Term 2, we had a market on the basketball courts. This market raised $1,000!! We are sending it overseas to help some Ukrainian Refugees.

Part of what is wonderful about being in Māpua is the growing diversity of cultures in our school. A family of our school has roots from Slovakia and were our 'feet on the ground' when they recently visited family over there. We can feel assured that the money raised is going directly to a charity that is helping to get some normality in the refugee lives of Ukrainians. One way of doing this is to provide kitchen and bathroom facilities in a hostel in Chust, (a small town in the western region of Zakarpatie) where so many refugees are temporarily residing there. 

I would like to thank Martina and Benjamin Boor for helping us to make this connection for a worthy cause in a place so far away from our normal lives. I would also like to thank the students of Māpua who worked hard to make, bake, create to raise money for this cause. And, of course, I would like to thank all of our families who so generously brought their money to buy these items at our market. 

Matariki is not unique to Aotearoa, however how Māpua School celebrates it is and I am glad that some of the aroha that we used to appreciate Tikanga Māori is being shared with people from across the other side of the world.

Kia ora.