Last Thursday we spent our June staff training learning about Matariki.

Jessica-Maraea our Group Programme Facilitator writes: 

“Mānawatia a Matariki! So much happened on Thursday, where to start! I delivered a ‘Matariki 101’ presentation focusing on the significance of Matariki to Māori followed by some activities for everyone to do in small groups. The first was brainstorming ways we can implement the teachings of each star into our work with youth, whānau and the community, which resulted in some wonderful ideas! Including ways to spend meaningful time with whānau, time to remember those who have passed, and ways to link with our natural world, to sum up a few. We also had a light-hearted dress-up competition which helped to embody some of the ideas in each group’s brainstorms! I was so impressed with the creative and brilliant ideas they came up with, stay tuned next Matariki to see some of them come to life!

We had a member of the Porirua community, Meri Holmes, join us to teach some harakeke weaving. She taught us how to make stars out of harakeke. For some of us, it was tricky but the smell of freshly cut harakeke filled the room and transformed the atmosphere into a special space and made the experience all that more enjoyable. Thank you for joining us Meri! 

Hangi was on the menu for lunch! Made with food brought by everyone, which was prepared and served with love by Mel and partner Whare, it was so delicious, a big thank you to the two of you! And finally, we ended the day with some team-building activities run by the wonderful cadets from Mana Colleges Service Academy, we were so impressed with their ability to get stuck into the activities despite only having met us that morning and again with their leadership skills to run the closing activities, well done Rangatahi mā. 

Overall it was an enjoyable day full of fun, laughter and learning.”

On Tuesday and Wednesday 5 of our amazing Youth Workers had the opportunity to go to some extremely valuable training.

One of our Youth Workers writes…”We went to the praxis space in Wellington and completed the R.A.P course.

R.A.P stands for Rapid Ability Pathways and is centred around the Circle of Courage framework, an indigenous model of positive youth development. We engaged in role-play, and learned about the psychology of trauma and how that can help us to understand our young people better”.

We are constantly learning and up-skilling to learn how to better connect and engage with the young people that we work alongside.

Keep up the awesome Mahi!

Kia Ora, my name is Mihi Hough and I am a gap/intern student at Challenge 2000.  

Because ANZAC day is right around the corner, we had the privilege of being taken around Wellington and shown important spots relating to this anniversary.

First we visited the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, where we had the chance to touch a piece of stone from Chunuk Bair. It was amazing to have been there and learn so much about that time.

We then moved on to the Rangitatau Reserve and then the Eastern Walkway. There were A LOT of stairs, but the view made up for it! Being there and seeing what they would have seen every day made me wonder how they would have felt at that time. We sat, talked and soaked it all in.

For our very last stop we went to Te Papa. We visited the Gallipoli exhibition, which tells the story through the perspective of eight ordinary New Zealanders who found themselves in extraordinary circumstances. It was fascinating, and there was so much new information that we didn’t know.

Overall it was a great and very special day out, learning more about the significance of ANZAC day. It was awesome to be part of the team, and learning with them.

“Speak about us and say: That for your tomorrow we gave our today”

Hope you all have a wonderful long-weekend.

Yesterday and last Thursday we had an incredible two days with year 7 and 8 liturgy leaders at Sacred Heart School. We spent some time reflecting on what a great liturgy looks like and how we can lead these well, so that people can enter a reflective, prayerful space. 

The students delivered 6 litiruges on the themes of Anzac day, Grandparents day, Holy Thursday, Easter, Mothers Day, and current events (Peace in Ukraine).

Thanks to everyone who took part, it was an awesome day, and it was great to see such growth in leadership from these outstanding students!

A massive thanks to Sacred Heart for inviting us to come to do these Liturgy Leader retreats. 

And just like that…. the 2022 school year is starting back up again!

Challenge 2000 has a number of youth and social workers based out at High Schools, there to help young people, whānau and the wider community.

We are currently based out at 6 colleges across Porirua and the Hutt. We have all been busy preparing for the year ahead, and we bet you have been too!

We wish everyone the best of luck for 2022.

In many places throughout the world St. Brigid’s Day is celebrated on February 1st . In our Johnsonville Community we have Saint Brigid’s school, begun by the Sisters of St Brigid in 1929 and the home of Challenge 2000 was the Sisters Convent, opened on August 1st 1937. Challenge lives in a very special place with strong, loving, courageous Irish roots.

St Brigid of Kildare was an amazing feminist woman who lived in Ireland in the fourth century and was known for empowering women and developing a spirituality for her time. Later her inspiration gave birth to an Irish Order of Sisters who are named after her.

This year on Tuesday February 1 some of our Challenge whānau celebrated St Brigid. It was an awesome evening and we were able to hear from others how Saint Brigid has been significant to them in their lives and how they have related to her.

Thanks to everyone that came!

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NCEA results 2022 are out:

Still unsure about what your pathway might be this year?

A Uni student or young graduate wondering about how to get involved and change our world??

Then how about this opportunity??? Its a good option…

Contact Kitty 021491459 if you’d like more information or check out the Challenge 2000 website

On behalf of Challenge 2000 and all of the 160 families that gratefully received Christmas presents and hampers, we want to say a huge

THANK YOU!

to everyone for your donations.

The food, presents, vouchers, goodies and many other items were greatly appreciated.

We were completly overwhelmed by the generiosity of everyone. The deliveries and gifts were given to families in Porirua, Hutt Valley and Wellington.

Thank you for your generosity that helped ease some of the burden for families that find Christmas time a hard time to provide, especially with the continued impact of Covid-19.

We hope you had a wonderful break and wish you all a happy new year!
Challenge 2000