POSTCARD FROM LEON FULCHER
From New Zealand
Hi everybody! Springtime in New Zealand was great and it was great to be back home! Out of everything that got crammed in to a busy visit, the 1st Birthday celebrations with Key Assets Fostering in South Auckland were a real highlight.
Key Assets Fostering first birthday party
National
Foster Care Week at the start of November involves activities in
different parts of the country but things rocked in Manukau City!
Several activities were organised, including carers, staff and young
people running (and walking) in the Auckland Marathon, an all-day tea
party with pampering station, lunchbox training and an International
Dinner celebrating Foster Care! Alas, the BBQ was rained out.
The All-Day Pampering Station offered massage and eyebrow tinting
All who attended the Tea Party — carers, social workers, friends, family
members, as well as children and young people were offered a first class
programme. Our old friend Henry Maier would have been thrilled to see
the All-Day Pampering Station offering Care for the Caregivers with
20-minute neck, shoulder, foot and hand massages as well as eyebrow
tinting for anyone interested. An LSG Skychefs Chef provided a most
interesting hands-on training demonstration about what to put in a
lunchbox. Everyone enjoyed Binu’s presentation and relished the
opportunity to sample his recommended lunchbox offerings. The key
message is that lunchbox food needn’t be boring, nor need it be
expensive! And lots of opportunity for talking.
Airline chef Binu Krishnan offering lunchbox tips
The
premiere event of the week had to be the International Night Dress-Up
Dinner. Building on the many cultures represented within the Key Assets
Fostering Family, it was a natural that an international theme be
adopted for our flash dinner. Everyone was encouraged to come in
national or other dress-up gear. Everyone followed the Kiwi tradition of
‘bringing a plate’ (with a national dish on it!), and what a dinner it
was! The food was followed by a series of performances by young people,
carers and staff. Few will forget the Scotsman who had to hold up his
hired kilt while dancing nor young Tutanekai the Warrior of Rotorua
folklore dressed in full Maori costume. Several of the Pacific Islands
were represented, as were the good old Kiwi farming types in Wellie
boots and rural gear. The Samoan dance involving Key Assets staff and
family members was a very special treat! It was a terrific way of
bringing New Zealand Foster Care Week to a close.
International Night Dress-up Dinner
Another
lasting memory is worth sharing from National Foster Care Week was the
placing of our new Key Assets Fostering Kaitiaki. This Kaitiaki (or
Guardian) carved from Oamaru stone was given the name Te He Mauri Ora
(we celebrate the breath of life) by Tuhoe Master Carver Pari Winitana.
The carving builds around the theme of re-birth and regeneration, and
was carved at a time when the carver was working largely from touch and
with only a distorted image of how the carving was ‘becoming’. Just
weeks before I met Master Carver Pari, he had cataracts removed from
both eyes! Only then was he able to give this carving its name.
The Key Assets Fostering Kaitiaki - Te He Mauri Ora
I find the story of this Kaitiaki very special in the way that it symbolises the work that foster carers do in helping children and young people experience regeneration and working with birth families, helping children achieve developmental outcomes that make a difference in their lives. Thanks Pari and thanks Foster Carers — everywhere!
