With financial support from the Community Led-Development Programme (CLDP), local volunteers have provided Karamea kids with a wonderful schedule of exciting, intellectually stimulating and practical activities this summer. From cooking, Stand Up Paddleboarding, yoga hula-hooping, art classes, hiking, mountain biking, music and a raft of other great events that have kept our children entertained, active and engaged this summer, as a parent, I offer a huge thank you to all concerned.
We all love our children, but the summer holidays are very long, and many of us have work commitments that conflict with the expectations of the youngsters and their need for action and invigorating pursuits to fill their sunny days. The Summer Activities for Kids and Youth in Karamea 23/24 has been a great help to both parents and their offspring. Throw in Little Wanganui Beach Day, the Karamea Show, Irish Dancing, Christmas, gymnastics, pickle ball, volleyball, badminton in the new hall, the heated swimming pool and all the superb outdoor activities on offer in the region and this summer has been jam-packed with awesomeness for our kids and the community.
The challenge of our age as parents in this rapidly changing world of emergent technologies is to encourage our children to use their own creative powers rather than drawing on the imaginations of others in the digital media-verse. It is also to provide our kids with a thorough understanding of social ethics and moral codes to guide them through the challenges they will eventually face on their own later in life. Life is busy these days with many parents both working to provide for their family, so the summer activities programme has been a marvellous help to keep our kids engaged in wholesome activities that inspire, motivate, entertain and help them grow.
About a decade ago, there was an essay competition at Karamea Area School, and the students read out their compositions. Somewhat disturbingly, many of the narrations were on dark subjects like bullying, depression and suicide, which is a big problem in New Zealand society, especially among our young. New Zealand has the second highest adolescent suicide rate among OECD (wealthy) countries in the world.
Much has changed since then, and the Karamea Area School is in a much better place in terms of management and the dedication of the teaching staff; the facilities have vastly improved, and the initiative of the Karamea community to provide our children with inspiring holiday activity programmes has really turned this troubling situation around. I suspect that if we reran the essay competition, the outcome would be much more optimistic.
Much gratitude to the team of local leaders, many stepping up for the first time, for sharing their skills, equipment and time to lead various activities. The response was overwhelming when Liz Kerslake called for volunteers to host summer events and activities. It enabled her to create a full timetable for our youngsters this summer.
Massive thanks to Liz Kerslake, the Karamea community and the following folk for their dedication and belief in our youth: Deborah Wagner, Jodi Goodwin, Lena Fischbach, Aby Chalmers, Emily Klaver, Angela Cronin, Alwyn, Jackie Christie, Harry Bretherington, Linda Brownie, Mark Cloughley, Saelyn Guyton, Emilie, Sander, Cole Simpson, Fifi, Tony Ibbotson, and Rosalie Sampson deserve immense gratitude. These individuals have contributed to activities ranging from mountain hikes and artistic endeavours to music sessions, cooking classes, and even car maintenance tutorials.
51 local children and some grateful visitors actively participated in the programme activities. There were a few issues with the weather, but everything worked out fine with a bit of rescheduling. Some no-shows occurred, and the expected numbers for some events/activities were lower than expected. This was disappointing for the volunteers and organisers who had offered their time and energy freely, so let’s make sure to attend and honour commitments in future to ensure this programme can continue to support our kids and their development and the welcome respite the programme affords parents over the summer break.
Thank you again to the organisers of the excellent summer schedule, the parents who car-pooled to help get the kids to the activities, those who organised, volunteered and supervised, and Karamea Community Incorporated, who saw value in and supported the programme.
The CLDP funding runs until September this year, so we hope to receive local sponsorship for the 24/25 programme. Liz is already cooking up some exciting Youth Club experiences this year and is looking forward to welcoming a new wave of 13+ youngsters into the fold.
We’re so fortunate to live in an outdoor activity paradise and to have so many willing adults giving up their time and expertise to support our kids. If wealth could be measured in children’s tired, happy smiles, Karamea parents are more affluent than Elon Musk!
Paul Murray is the founder of the LivinginPeace Project.
www.livinginpeace.com
Paul originally from Australia, but have been living in New Zealand for 14 years. Before that he was in Japan for a decade working as a journalist. He met his wife Sanae in Japan and they married in 2008.
The Rongolian Star 
Kudos for the Karamea Summer Holiday Programme
Off the Top of My Head
By Paul Murray
With financial support from the Community Led-Development Programme (CLDP), local volunteers have provided Karamea kids with a wonderful schedule of exciting, intellectually stimulating and practical activities this summer. From cooking, Stand Up Paddleboarding, yoga hula-hooping, art classes, hiking, mountain biking, music and a raft of other great events that have kept our children entertained, active and engaged this summer, as a parent, I offer a huge thank you to all concerned.
We all love our children, but the summer holidays are very long, and many of us have work commitments that conflict with the expectations of the youngsters and their need for action and invigorating pursuits to fill their sunny days. The Summer Activities for Kids and Youth in Karamea 23/24 has been a great help to both parents and their offspring. Throw in Little Wanganui Beach Day, the Karamea Show, Irish Dancing, Christmas, gymnastics, pickle ball, volleyball, badminton in the new hall, the heated swimming pool and all the superb outdoor activities on offer in the region and this summer has been jam-packed with awesomeness for our kids and the community.
The challenge of our age as parents in this rapidly changing world of emergent technologies is to encourage our children to use their own creative powers rather than drawing on the imaginations of others in the digital media-verse. It is also to provide our kids with a thorough understanding of social ethics and moral codes to guide them through the challenges they will eventually face on their own later in life. Life is busy these days with many parents both working to provide for their family, so the summer activities programme has been a marvellous help to keep our kids engaged in wholesome activities that inspire, motivate, entertain and help them grow.
About a decade ago, there was an essay competition at Karamea Area School, and the students read out their compositions. Somewhat disturbingly, many of the narrations were on dark subjects like bullying, depression and suicide, which is a big problem in New Zealand society, especially among our young. New Zealand has the second highest adolescent suicide rate among OECD (wealthy) countries in the world.
Much has changed since then, and the Karamea Area School is in a much better place in terms of management and the dedication of the teaching staff; the facilities have vastly improved, and the initiative of the Karamea community to provide our children with inspiring holiday activity programmes has really turned this troubling situation around. I suspect that if we reran the essay competition, the outcome would be much more optimistic.
Much gratitude to the team of local leaders, many stepping up for the first time, for sharing their skills, equipment and time to lead various activities. The response was overwhelming when Liz Kerslake called for volunteers to host summer events and activities. It enabled her to create a full timetable for our youngsters this summer.
Massive thanks to Liz Kerslake, the Karamea community and the following folk for their dedication and belief in our youth: Deborah Wagner, Jodi Goodwin, Lena Fischbach, Aby Chalmers, Emily Klaver, Angela Cronin, Alwyn, Jackie Christie, Harry Bretherington, Linda Brownie, Mark Cloughley, Saelyn Guyton, Emilie, Sander, Cole Simpson, Fifi, Tony Ibbotson, and Rosalie Sampson deserve immense gratitude. These individuals have contributed to activities ranging from mountain hikes and artistic endeavours to music sessions, cooking classes, and even car maintenance tutorials.
51 local children and some grateful visitors actively participated in the programme activities. There were a few issues with the weather, but everything worked out fine with a bit of rescheduling. Some no-shows occurred, and the expected numbers for some events/activities were lower than expected. This was disappointing for the volunteers and organisers who had offered their time and energy freely, so let’s make sure to attend and honour commitments in future to ensure this programme can continue to support our kids and their development and the welcome respite the programme affords parents over the summer break.
Thank you again to the organisers of the excellent summer schedule, the parents who car-pooled to help get the kids to the activities, those who organised, volunteered and supervised, and Karamea Community Incorporated, who saw value in and supported the programme.
The CLDP funding runs until September this year, so we hope to receive local sponsorship for the 24/25 programme. Liz is already cooking up some exciting Youth Club experiences this year and is looking forward to welcoming a new wave of 13+ youngsters into the fold.
We’re so fortunate to live in an outdoor activity paradise and to have so many willing adults giving up their time and expertise to support our kids. If wealth could be measured in children’s tired, happy smiles, Karamea parents are more affluent than Elon Musk!
Rate this:
Share this:
Related
About LivinginPeaceProject
Paul Murray is the founder of the LivinginPeace Project. www.livinginpeace.com Paul originally from Australia, but have been living in New Zealand for 14 years. Before that he was in Japan for a decade working as a journalist. He met his wife Sanae in Japan and they married in 2008.