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St Bede's College
 
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Greetings from St Bede's

Mr Justin Boyle —

This week we had an assembly with a difference and welcomed a number of visitors from the North Island.

The focus of the Assembly was on the Marist Youth Neighbour Programme, which was instituted over 10 years ago – where boys from SBC join students from 8 other Marist Schools in visiting  and working in small North Island communities.  Our visitors live and work in such an area – Te Whaiti, and it was my pleasure to welcome Josie & Chris Eketone – aunt and uncle of our own Te Aho, and Principal and BOT chair of the small school in Te Whaiti, itself a Special Character school like ours.

With them was Chaz Doherty – an advocate and sometime activist for the Tuhoi iwi, but he also makes musical instruments, is a carver and has studied and lectured in universities in Hawaii.

Fr Dave Gledhill, a proud Bedean was also in attendance.  Fr Dave works in small North Island, mainly Maori communities. He has also taught at Hato Paora & St Augustine Colleges in the North Island, is fluent in Te Reo and is also a carver.

At the mass, Fr Dave blessed the 5 new Pou. Pou are traditionally used as markers of significance or land boundaries. They are carved to tell stories (like totum poles). Ours are contemporary, the 'carving' was done using jigsaws etc. They are based on the House namesakes and their values etc. The Pou are 2 metres tall by 60cm wide with three sides and are made from marine plywood so they can be established outside if that is the preference.

Accompanying Fr Dave was Tania Butcher and her friend Bev Simpkins, who are having their first taste of the South Island. Significantly it was great to welcome Tania, who last year donated a beautiful cello to the college which she saw played at the Feast Day mass today.

The Marist Youth Neighbour Programme has been going for 10 years. Year 12 boys from St Bede’s join students from 8 other Marist Colleges and visit small rural and largely poor communities in the North Island, and meet up with kids in small schools, and generally get an insight into their lives. George McKendry, one of our boys visited Te Whaiti last year. Here is his account of his stay.

Young Marist Neighbours is a week long camp, where Year 12 students from the 9 Marist high schools experience a very different part of Aotearoa than they are used to. During the week, the students spend time in tiny communities in the North Island, learning about their community and what makes it special.

The camp isn't just a tourist-like experience, though. It is a confronting and eye-opening lesson in social justice, where you learn about the injustices that members of our country face, and how they overcome them.

Last year, I visited Te Whaiti, a tiny community about an hour and a half east of Taupo. 12 strangers from different schools and backgrounds had to stay in a tiny school gym and live along each other for a week, stepping out of their comfort zones in a confronting and foreign place. And it was amazing. 

The friends you make are lifelong and make a huge impact on you. But what really makes a change in you is the opportunity to meet with, learn from, and experience the communities that you stay with. I talked with a teacher who had to deal with a 6 year old pulling a knife on him in the middle of class. I heard from a man who had witnessed his hometown fall apart due to unbelievable unemployment, and the horrible impact that had had on the people living there. I learnt the story of one of the pillars of the community, a man who became the school chairperson with no prior experience, who learnt Maori so he could pass it onto his kids, and lived up a road that frequently washed away. He also happens to be blind.

Those are just some of the incredible people, stories, and lessons that I experienced on Neighbours. I cannot emphasis just how much that week changed me, and helped me to gain lifetime values, lessons, and friends. To any boys here who want to lead more, become better people, and step out of your comfort zones, go on Neighbours.

It really is one of the best opportunities that you have at St Bede's.

I fly to China tonight with 8 other Christchurch principals to recruit overseas students.  I will be away until 7 June, and Mr Davidson will be the acting Rector in my absence.

Until next time

Justin Boyle