School Holiday Fun with a Purpose
These September holidays, we ran a couple workshops aimed at getting our local youth out of the house and off devices - just like how it used to be in the good ole days.
Jay ran her fortnightly sewing workshop but during the school holidays she opened it up for the local kids to have the opportunity to learn a new skill and create something awesome from recycled fabrics that would have other wise ended up in landfill.
The younger 2 decided to hand-sew together stuffed bunny toys, while the older 2 opted to make stuffed key rings in the shape of their initials and a playstation controller, while mum decided to make a simple but cute stuffed flower key ring.
We had trouble getting the plastic needles through the different fabrics so we turned to using real needles. It was scary for one of our first-timers but with encouragement and guidance, they overcame the obstacle with bravery and ended up loving the experience, surprised at what they could accomplish. At PVA this is exactly the kind of outcome we strive for - building up our people - our tamariki (children), to become strengthened, to know their power and ultimately to use it.
The kids enjoyed snacks in between stitches and stuffing, and the room was filled to the brim with laughter and banter. We as hosts thoroughly enjoyed having such young and fun energy over at Boundary that fine morning.
Sowing Butterfly Pea seeds in our Ko’anga Nursery at 41 Boundary Road, Clover Park
A couple days later, Ana hosted a seed sowing workshop in our Ko’anga nursery. Auckland City Mission put a call out for seedlings to be given away to families in need this Christmas so at this workshop, our seeds were sown specifically for that purpose. Our participants got to choose what they wished to sow to share to add to the excitement of growing for someone else and add to the excitement of it.
We ended up sowing a variety of flowers - marigolds, alyssum, marshmallow… all easy to grow flowers, edible but also beneficial to any garden in terms of biodiversity, companion planting, bringing pollinators etc. besides bringing colour and beauty. Our kids loved the fact that we were growing for families in need, especially after seeing lots of people going without right in their neighbourhood. It’s easy to feel powerless in those situations as kids, but coming to our workshop with that greater purpose really felt good and made it worth it to them.
The kids can check out the growth and care for the seeds they sowed at our upcoming Neighbour’s Day Saturday 18th October. PVA will continue to sew seeds for Auckland City Mission until October 13th as requested by ACM, at our weekly drop ins.
Jay’s sewing workshops also run fortnightly if you’d like to come along, make a new friend and sew something awesome.