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Goede Reis Tijn

Waiting at the airport arrivals to meet our new exchange student Tijn seemed to take forever. We even thought he may have slipped past us. Suddenly there was a bright glow radiating from the immigration arrival doors as he and his fellow Dutch exchange student Anna emerged wearing florescent orange jackets.

He arrived with a smile but also the usual trepidation, new country, new people, new homes, new foods, however his English was perfect which made it much easier to get know him.

I remember him saying his big concern was being able to make friends which he has certainly shown this to be an unfounded fear. The Rotary International Students have all formed an incredibly close bond supporting one another through what has become a very unusual time. However the exchange isn’t about just the Rotary Students forming friendships but also about integrating into the New Zealand Schools and New Zealand way of life.

Tijn has made many friendships at Rosehill College but unfortunately just as he was back into the full swing of school after an incredible summer holidays visiting the Coromandel, Waiheke and navigating various excursions around Auckland everything came to a screaming halt. As lockdown was being announced Tijn was given a days notice and shuttled from the Kennedy-Jarmans to his new host family the Fothergills. As nervous as he felt about the transition he again settled in well and had a great time with them.

Tijn embraced the Papakura Club as part of his extended NZ family and has always been a keen participant on Thursday nights making an effort to get to know all the members. He spoke at each meeting for a couple of minutes about his week and we have watched his confidence grow. I received many compliments about how much they have enjoyed him being there and his enthusiasm for involvement in the club fund raising and other Rotary projects.

Over the course of the year the glow of the orange jacket has dimmed considerably as more and more souvenirs from his great adventures have been attached (and perhaps also dimmed due to the jacket being overdue for a wash).

Tijn you have been a fine example of a Rotary Student and seeing your personal growth over the year has been wonderful. I wish you all the best for the future and I’m sure you will continue to be a great ambassador for Rotary putting Service above Self.

Lisa

Ambassadorial Scholar Connor Lind

Hello Rotarians,

In January 2020, my family flew into Auckland Airport to see me for about a week during my time here in New Zealand. We spent a few days in Auckland and then flew to the South Island to experience the beauty that everybody talks about. As soon as I stepped off the plane in Queenstown, I was in awe of the terrain that was in stark contrast to that of the North Island. There were mountains and rivers and lakes surrounding the Queenstown airport, with some people taking photos on the runway (which you aren’t supposed to do). A short plane ride transported us to what seemed like a completely different world and a part of New Zealand that I had not experienced yet.

Salvation Army Foodbank Manukau

My previous opinion for the Salvation Army and its activities wasn’t really well informed and was based on my assumption that this organisation was very similar to many of the other religious organisations that abound in our Country, all of whom do wonderful work for the under privileged. I was correct in that they do perform some of the same functions but little did I realise to what extent and to what depth this wonderful organisation operates, not to mention the immense scale.

To say that I was blown away would be an understatement and this not only extends to the operation that we all saw at the Manukau Facility in respect to product volume, packing and distribution system but also the background infrastructure and systems in place that provide a delicate support system for their complexity of needs.

The operation has councillors, legal help and life skill specialists and more who can all link in to a holistic approach to determine the needs of the individual or family, from that first conversation they set up a file in the data base that results in the final volume of bread, meat etc that gets distributed at the collection stage alongside the Food Box.

Day One of our visit on Thursday 4th our team of ten hardy Papakura Rotarians met up at 10.00am with our District Youth Chair Peter Ross and after the usual signing in protocols we ventured into the Warehouse and packing area to a set up production line not unlike our ERK's packing line and after some initial minor hiccups the team packed some 177 boxes of mixed groceries some of which were produced in a seperate packing area and were made up of damaged product. Our team worked until 2:30 pm with a short break for lunch but we all were extremely satisfied with the packing effort and the big learning was the need to have a couple more helpers behind the packing line replenishing the shelves due to the gradual increase in speed of the packing.

Day Two on Tuesday 9th saw a team sixteen very keen Rotarians including Peter and Sally Ross from the Newmarket Club and this time both of our wonderful exchange students Tijn and Matthias all determined to beat the record but sadly we could only pack 146 Boxes but again we learned a few tricks and our team in the secondary packing section really repacked an enormous quantity of broken product and based up flour etc, all adding to a gigantic effort.

Day Three Wednesday 10th was a distribution day where the both Tijn and Matthias not only excelled in the completion of the final individual loading of the dispatch trolleys but also were privy to the workings of the computer directed system, met the people receiving the goods and gained an in depth understanding of real value of this project ,a learning that will stay with them the rest of their lives. The packs handed out were 51 and that is about normal per the three distribution days (hence running out of storage space due to our packing numbers). The idea of the boys gaining this experience was Peter Ross's and although I was their Chaperone for the day I was so privileged to be a part of this experience which us all a greater inside into the real workings of this wonderful organisation.

Thanks so much everyone who participated, you are the real STARS and I am sure that we will get further days made available in the future as some of the other clubs may need assistance.

Cheers

George

A day in the life ...

A big thanks to President Grant for the vocational visit last week and a personal look into the Forestry industry. The feedback was that members really enjoyed the visit and were struck with the size of the operation. "Very impressive" was a comment made more than once!