A Glass Full of Water

Ken is a founding member and current chairperson of the Kowhai Youth Trust based in Warkworth. After finishing at Mahurangi College, he spent a year with VSA (Volunteer Service Abroad) helping the atoll locals and immersing himself in life on a tiny Tongan atoll in the South Pacific Ocean. Way back then and also now he is a man driven to providing opportunities for others to improve themselves.  The trust is set up to provide financial assistance for youth in education, health, culture and sport. Details of how they do this are on their website.  I asked Ken for one of his favourite stories of a successful ‘giving moment’.  “We don’t just hand out money. Years ago a mum needed winter clothing for her children. Rather than handing over money I said that I would meet her at The Warehouse shopping centre. We went shopping together. It humanised and personalised the whole giving and receiving experience. I still remember with some emotion, the joy on her face.”  The trus...

There is a celebration of community and kai (food) in Raglan every Monday from about 5pm to soon after 6pm. Jono and his partner Saras organise, cook and present food to anyone in our community, from a tiny empty shop on Bow St.  It’s aptly called Community Kai. You pay what you can for your meal. Your donation (koha) will often pay for someone else’s meal too. Some food items are also donated from local food businesses and locals.  I spoke with Jono about why he and Saras do what they do. His reply was simple. “We do this because everyone is struggling. Money shouldn’t be a barrier to good healthy, plant-based food (no dairy, no meat, no onion and no garlic!) and it helps to bring people together.”  I also spoke with Dominico, a regular earlier in the evening. He said.  “I like coming because of community values in action. Eating unites us with something nourishing. What’s cool is that everyone deeply appreciates what Jono does for us. People look forward to startin...

School holidays in New Zealand have begun and we  started the holidays with a few nights in Taupo.  On our first night Val and I went back to the Two Mile Sailing Club. It’s not really a sailing club at all, rather a lakefront wood fired pizza, drinks and live music place. We sat down and within seconds a couple next to us invited us to join them at their table. Invitation accepted! Craig (apologies Craig I can’t remember your partner’s name) and his partner are locals and have recently retired from the police. We laughed lots and shared animated conversations together. Such a friendly, welcoming couple as we met as strangers and left as new friends.  On our last night in Taupo we went out for dinner at Dixie Browns. It was freezing and we were blown through the front door. Looking around, the restaurant was full and no, we hadn’t booked. The waitress told us there was a 45 minute wait to get a table so we proceeded to sit at the bar to wait. A few moments later she walke...

My oldest daughter was driving through the city of Tauranga the other day, when she heard and felt her left back tyre blow out. Very scary for her. The car got the wobbles but she managed to slow down and park her wayward car on First Avenue.  Tears flowed as Sarah rang Richard. His calm response and advice was helpful, but he was unable to leave work. She then rang Johnny, “Yep, on my way.”  A nearby random woman saw Sarah’s distress, stopped her car, walked over the road and gave her a massive hug. More tears. Jaz said, “I see you’re having a ‘bleep bleep’ day!” She then showed Sarah the ‘secret compartment’ in the car that held the spare tyre.  Johnny duly arrived and the two J’s recognised each other. Cousins.  Johnny jacked the car up and swapped tyres. While chatting to me about it  Sarah commented, “Kind people surrounded me. Being kind in a practical sense was the right thing to do.”  Later the same day, Kare, another friend gave her some encouragin...

Brian, a friend in Raglan, shared with me a week or so ago about his recent overnight stay at the Cancer Society’s Lions Lodge in Hamilton. Brian was very impressed. The biggest thing for him was being surrounded by kindness.  He then commented,  “It didn’t matter where they were in the hierarchy, they were all volunteers, happily distributing kindness.  Lions Clubs all around the Waikato donate to the upkeep of this fabulous facility. All the people there wanted to give you the best possible food and beverage. I had poached fish with a beautiful white sauce and some veggies to go with it. The potatoes and peas were prepared with dedication. They were perfect.”  He mentioned further, “They were dedicated to the craft of being and doing the best they could for you.”  To Brian, it was a kindness hub. I checked out the YouTube clip about the lodge on the Cancer Society’s website. There is no charge for meals or accommodation. You can tell that this is a place where...

This past weekend some of my siblings, Val and I had a superb time together at Palm Beach on Waiheke Island - swims, walks, board games, cafes and conversations between each other (and extended family who live near where we stayed).While there my sister in law Anne shared with me a story about Hugo, a visiting university friend.  A month ago Chris and Anne, daughter Emma and husband Tau took Hugo to the same island to experience more sights of our country. While travelling around on a bus Hugo realised he had left his bag at a cafe in the settlement of Onetangi. Emma phoned the cafe to see if the bag was still there. It was. The cafe had also put a notice up about the bag on their Facebook page. She carried on with her conversation with the manager, who told her that they would put the bag on another bus that would meet them at another settlement on the island. Bag returned.  Now continuing on their way, a woman got on their bus and cheerily said to the driver, “Happy Birthday...