Category: Challenge 2000

Holiday Programmes at Challenge 2000

During the holidays, young people from the Wellington Region have the opportunity to be involved in a wide range of fun and educational programmes put on by Challenge 2000. Two weeks off school can be a bit difficult and boring time for some students and so Challenge provides a range of engaging and exciting programmes throughout the holidays as a solution. Development, leadership, fun, widening horizons and service are the focus of the programmes:
  • Hutt Valley: During the first week of the holidays Challenge 2000 youth workers are running a two day programme for intermediate and college students from Naenae and Taita schools. Creative, reflective and positive group activities will focus on building relationships, a sense of belonging, developing independence and teamwork, as well as a trip to the pool and gym to keep everyone on their toes.
  • Hawke’s Bay: Loads of fun activities, including horse back riding and a trip to the hot pools await the lucky ones headed to camp in Napier this week. During the time the group will focus on learning about the whanau concept and how to contribute towards a functioning  family. Communication, history, relationships and fun in the sun – that’s what we are hoping for.
  • Walk NZ: Group 1: A number of our young people are joining Finn Egan as he walks the central north island to raise funds for Roar4PNG, an organization battling sex and domestic violence set to build a women’s refuge in Papua New Guinea. Finn and the C2K whanau are walking across ice and snow, putting their endurance to the ultimate test and learning some valuable lessons:

Put much, much lighter stuff in your pack!

Look after your feet! Large blisters will not just slow you down but stop you from walking all together!

Meet blisters’ friend: Chafing– will also make life difficult!

I am not alone – support is on the way: The 2nd group of young people will join the adventure along the Whanganui River soon.

  • Kayak Wellington Region: (Walk NZ Group 2):  A C2K group will be challenging themselves even further by kayaking down the Whanganui River in Canadian kayaks and will camp alongside the river bank (weather depending) or break for the night in DOC huts. If you’d like to sponsor one of our young people or would like to donate some much needed (waterproofing) gear we’d love to hear from you, please contact Kitty here.
  • Service: Some of our young people will be out and about giving of their holiday time serving the community in a variety of ways: clearing sections, mowing lawns, facilitating workshops for kapa haka, cooking bbq’s, singing and painting and more.
  • Kaikoura: A highly dedicated and experienced team of Challenge 2000 social workers, youth workers and volunteers will travel to the South Island to facilitate a 1-week-programme designed to accommodate 30 high school students. The programme will focus on topics to help young people thrive: “Be brave, be free, be powerful, be you.” and have enough flexibility for spontaneous jam sessions, or a round of table tennis and pool throughout the week.   (Challenge has worked closely with local agencies and the city council to support the communities that have been heavily affected by November’s earth quake and we feel blessed tremendously by the relationships that have grown ever since.)

“Mates& Dates”: Educating College Students to Prevent Sexual Abuse

Challenge 2000, ACC and SAPN together recently facilitated a “Mates & Dates” multi-year programme at Mana College. It was taught to Years 9-13 in weekly 50-minute sessions over the course of five weeks.

Jan Love and Molly Lyons, Challenge 2000’s social workers, are based at Mana College and know first hand how important the SAPN’s work is. They explain: “Mates & Dates is run in the schools’ health classes, it’s completely free and it’s meant to get the message out there at a younger age, rather than waiting till university age. Sometimes young people just don’t know what is appropriate, especially in areas where there are high statistics of sexual violence and many kids may have grown up with it.” Having Challenge 2000 social workers, a whanau worker and Youth Workers attend these classes with the students allow support to be there if memories are triggered and the students find the input challenging.

Molly gave an overview of the programme – “We start by talking about various aspects of sexual violence and how to prevent it, what a safe relationship is and what it isn’t, what is friendly and what’s more than friendly.” Recent reports stemming from surveys conducted by New Zealand Union of Students Associations (NZUSA) have shown that there are many students, predominantly female, within tertiary education throughout the nation who say that they feel unsafe on campuses. “We are working to change that for our future generations of students,” Ms Lyon continued, “by educating our kids early on and helping them get rid of any unhealthy views about their own sexuality or gender roles in general which they might have been exposed to and have taken on themselves.”

Challenge 2000 Mana Social Worker Jan says “that this programme was valuable and the students were very receptive to the input. It also resulted in follow up and open and frank discussion with some students”.

Nina Ness our Social Work Practice Manager says “The success of this programme will hopefully lead to Challenge 2000 partnering with other colleges and community groups to ensure young people can have healthy and positive, life giving relationships.”

If you have questions, or if you or someone you know has been affected by sexual violence, or if you would like to support the network and/or start integrating the courses into your curriculum, please don’t hesitate to contact SAPN in one of the following ways:

For 24 hour crisis support in Wellington, contact Sexual Abuse HELP Foundation on (04) 801 6655. For all other enquiries call us on (04) 801 8975. You may also contact the programme coordinator by e-mailing info@sexualabuseprevention.org.nz.

Challenge 2000 Youth Worker Headed for Passchendaele Commemoration in Belgium

Keeley Grevatt, a Challenge 2000 Youth Worker and former Gap Year student (2016) will represent New Zealand as a Defence Force Youth Ambassador at this year’s commemoration of the 100th anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele, on 12 October 2017.

In 2016 Keeley attended the Limited Service Volunteer (LSV) programme, a six-week motivational, personal development programme run by the New Zealand Defence Force.

Building upon her experience at Challenge 2000, Keeley utilized her time as LSV to grow in the areas of team building, time management and the assessment of her own strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of others. “We all found it difficult and had to lean on each other because of it. I couldn’t have done the journey without the other trainees,” acknowledged Keeley when thinking about how a deeper appreciation of other people’s stories became one of her biggest gains at LSV.

She completed the course with a “Peer’s Choice Award” for her commitment and teamwork within her platoon, the “Top Trainee of the Platoon Award”, as well as the “Patron’s Choice Award”. This is the award for the top trainee for the whole company. Keeley recalls, “It was such an honour to march the whole company off the parade grounds. It was an experience I will never forget. I cried a lot, my dad cried, my whole family cried a lot… It was such an overwhelming, humbling experience to be called up to accept all these awards. Challenge 2000 turned up in big numbers on my graduation day and I was happy to see familiar faces after a long 6 weeks. I felt very,very lucky. I am really grateful for everyone that came to celebrate my graduation day with me.”

The journey did not stop there. Earlier this year, Keeley received a call that she had been nominated as the Youth Ambassador for New Zealand and that, if successful in being selected, she would travel to Belgium alongside the NZDF to commemorate the battle of Passchendaele at The New Zealand National Commemoration for the Battle of Passchendaele. Thus began another step in the Journey as  Keeley soon embarks on this   opportunity of a lifetime.

 

Our new Youth Ambassador will arrive at the Ohakea Air Force Training Base on September 25, for a 5-day training programme where she will spend time with the other 14 youth ambassadors and Defence Force personnel whom she is travelling with as they prepare for the trip away. “I feel so fortunate to have been chosen to go on this trip and experience everything that it entails. I really want to emphasise the reason behind this incredible opportunity I’ve been given– and that is the Battle of Passchendaele. New Zealand is such a small country and to think that thousands of our young soldiers, as many as 845 New Zealanders were killed and over 2000 wounded in a single day. The loss of so many lives and the effect of their loss and pain on those at home is no small matter. The whole of New Zealand was affected by this tragedy. So was my own family. We had a number of family members who fought in this battle. This time is part of our history as a nation and can teach us many lessons.”

While on leave from Challenge 2000, Keeley’s journey will lead her across Australia, Dubai and Greece before arriving in Belgium where she will spend several weeks. It’s all fuel for a young woman’s dream to join the Defence Force as an Officer in the Army and the hard work ahead of her is only making her more determined. “This just goes to show how being open to doors of opportunity willingly, can lead you to amazing places that you never even dreamed of walking to and through. To think that I started out as a Gap Year student at Challenge 2000 only a year ago is so surreal.”

Challenge 2000 is incredibly proud to have an inspiring young woman like Keeley as part of our whanau and we celebrate her success and development.

We look forward to hearing Keeley’s stories and to have the lives of those who served and died at Passchendaele remembered and honoured at Challenge 2000, one hundred years later.

 

Ka maumahara tonu tātou ki a rātou./ We will remember them.

 

  

Celebrating Social Justice Week at Challenge 2000

In celebration of Social Justice Week, Challenge 2000 welcomed high school students of inner city Wellington and the surrounding region to our new home at Wanaka Street to enjoy a shared meal and reflect on this past week dedicated to the theme of “Weaving Bonds of Belonging and Getting to Know Our Neighbours”.

 

Guest speaker Matalena Leaupepe visited the group of about 30 young people giving insights into her career as a public servant. Then it was time for the group to head out into Wellington’s streets to observe nightlife– as an opportunity to make connections with those sitting in the streets, the homeless, the lonely and/or those just wanting a chat.

 

The group later returned to our Wanaka Street Chapel for a marae-style-overnighter expecting to be woken up bright and early the next day to bake cookies and create a short drama for the residents of Johnsonvale Home, a home for the elderly within our Johnsonville Community. The event was concluded back at Challenge 2000, checking-in on everyone’s experiences through out an entire week that featured a movie night and a cookie-making event for our youngest ones amongst other things), as well as a brief reflection on the experiences gathered during the final weekend of Social Justice Week. Our thanks to those who participated and made this week possible! We look forward to seeing you for Social Justice Week 2018!

[blockquote author=”” link=”” target=”_blank”]”Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi”. (With your basket of food and my basket of food the people will be fed.) [/blockquote]
   

Crossing Paths with the Black Ferns

The Bishop Viard College U15 Girls Rugby Team competed in this week’s Hurricanes Tournament organized by Wellington Rugby. Teams from Hastings, Ngāti Porou and the Wellington region competed in the two-day event. The BVC team was supported by Challenge 2000 Nicole Simson (Youth Worker), Coach Jesse Gerard (Youth Worker) and many students that came out to show their support.

The girls had come together as a team only several weeks ago with very different levels of experiences. After a rough start on Monday the girls were able to find their rhythm and confidence, showing up with a positive attitude on Tuesday. With amazing focus and team spirit the girls were able to come away with a hard fought for win against Naenae College, 15-10.

To top things off, the girls had the opportunity to meet with two Black Ferns and snapped a few pics to remember this awesome surprise meet-and-greet.

One of the players, Ocean, was awarded the MVP title for the team. Go BVC!

 

The team roughing it out.     

 

Posing with the Black Ferns’ Trophy.

 

The BSV team with coach Jesse (back row, middle) and supporters from Challenge 2000.

A Tribute and Thanks to Peter Dunne our Local Member of Parliament and Friend

Next year Challenge 2000 celebrates its 30th birthday and this year marks Peter’s 33rd year in Parliament.

Peter attended the first meeting in a Johnsonville lounge when the concept of a grass roots Youth Development Agency in the Northern suburbs was first mooted. Since that day in 1988, Peter has worked tirelessly to support all sectors of our community.  From collecting on Challenge 2000 Street Day Appeals to awarding Certificates of Achievement to young offenders, to applauding elderly volunteers, to debating at our Charity Dinners, to supporting and advocating for those in need of housing, to advising on financial matters, to listening to the suffering of those with serious medical problems…… and everything in between that effected the lives of locals …… Peter has always turned up with a positive, generous attitude and served his people.

All the staff, volunteers and youth leaders at Challenge 2000 and Peter have had a great working relationship.  Peter has visited and inspired staff to keep on going and to make a difference where it is needed.  A fortnight ago on 12th August 2017 Peter contributed to the opening of the new Challenge 2000 premises at 1 Wanaka Street, Johnsonville.

 

At the opening, Peter said “There are fantastic young people here today…I’ve had the privilege of hearing many of you tell your story, and your achievements, and your success and the role that Challenge has played in that. Everyone deserves to hear those stories because anyone who has done so could never but be optimistic for the future of our young people and for the opportunities that they can seize to be the best that they can very well be. That is what Challenge is all about.

The commitment of this organisation, we’ve seen it this morning in the Haka, in the presentations that have been made…confident, bold, positive young people looking forward to a future. This organisation has been part of that for the last 30 years.

And the fact that you now literally have the house on the hill, a beacon of hope, I think speaks volumes of your tenacity, your commitment and your dedication.

I am absolutely delighted to join this extraordinary Challenge family today to celebrate this wonderful move and as you take one further step in your great journey.”

Kitty, Peter and Jennifer

 

“Thank you for your commitment to the Ōhariu community and to New Zealand. For over thirty years, you’ve worked to make our communities and our country a fairer place.

In Challenge 2000 we emphasise the value of saying ‘YES’ to the joys and challenges of life. Your years of advocating for social justice in Government has been an inspiration for us to continue hoping and working towards individual and societal transformation.

We’d also like to acknowledge that you’ve been a supporter of Challenge 2000 from the very beginning. Your presence and commitment to people and justice has been noticed by both the Challenge 2000 whanau and our young people.

Thank you for your service and we wish you the best for the next chapter of your adventure.”

Jacob Bang

Jacob and Peter at the Opening August 2017

 

The Marist Challenge Centre

A 400 strong crowd gathered on Saturday to celebrate the official opening of the Marist Challenge Centre at 1 Wanaka Street, Johnsonville.  As the clouds parted, dignitaries who included the Prime Minister Rt. Hon Bill English, local MP’s Peter Dunne and Brett Hudson, the Wellington Mayor Justin Lester, Cardinal John Dew and Fr David Kennerley, Provincial of the Society of Mary arrived to bless and officially open our new premises.

This Centre will be a place for the people. After the plaque unveiling, Challenge staff and volunteers performed a powerful and emotionally charged haka composed by a Challenge staff member.

Commenting on the new premises Rt. Hon Bill English said, “Often when we look at the services which work with our most vulnerable they don’t show respect, they don’t look like places where we think we are putting people who are valued. And that’s what’s changing here.”

Wellington Mayor Justin Lester also acknowledged the commitment of Challenge 2000 to the capital city.  “Challenge 2000 through their values of social justice, of the notion of love works, that if we put a tender arm around our young people, support them, celebrate them, we get them on the right path”, he said.

Cardinal John Dew gave thanks for the work of Challenge 2000 as it stands up for others, teaches, encourages and supports vulnerable youth and families. He prayed that Challenge 2000 would always be a light in the darkness.

Following the formalities, young and old, past and present staff and volunteers shared a lunch at the Johnsonville Community Centre, reliving memories of Challenge 2000 and celebrating what the future now holds for Challenge 2000 and the young people of Wellington and Aotearoa New Zealand. A big thank you to those that came to celebrate the Opening and for the many different ways you contribute to the work of Challenge 2000 over the past 30 years. Love works!

Dignity, Responsibility, Justice, Love

     

Mana College Suicide Awareness Day

 

This week I had the privilege to attend and help at a programme at Mana College.
Mana College delivered a fantastic programme, lead by Mike King, which not only taught people about statistics and signs of depression, but also what young people can do when they feel worried or confused.
The message I received from the day is: it’s not that people who feel this way don’t want support, its that they don’t know where to find the support. And most of all they are worried about what the people around them think. I believe this day made the young people more aware that depression can be hidden, can present in different ways and behind a facade there are emotions that cannot be shown, only be spoken.
There were a variety of workshops which gave the young people a way to find an outlet outside their comfort zone, a way to express emotion through action, art, words, and creation. However the most valuable thing I believe young people and adults a like received from this day is:
It’s ok to talk, it’s normal to have these thoughts, and it’s ok to ask for support. 

It was a really good opportunity to mix with students that I otherwise would not of met or been involved with. It was great to see so much passion in teachers and the senior leadership team about wellbeing. I went home and comfortably said that if I were a parent, that I would send my teenager to a school that has truly put the student at the centre. A school that works out how best to encourage students and enable them to dream and overcome obstacles…….it was great to be there with my Challenge colleagues supporting Mana.
Matt Bentley, Social Worker
The main message was that I got from the day was: “I am hope”. This comes with the responsibility we have of being friends, being genuine and asking each other “are you are ok” and to give each other hope.
Lynley Goodisson, Counsellor
Mike King spoke about his own personal journey through depression/ thoughts of suicide / drugs & alcohol. His talk was very real and some of the things he said hit home for me and also for the young people. He connected with the young people really well throughout his whole presentation and made sure that they had fun but also understood the message about this cause. This was the biggest highlight for me.
Junior Seumanufagai, Youth Worker