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Auckland City Harbour News : May 24th 2013
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Friday, May 24, 2013 NETWORK Unbeatable coverage of readers 15+ 808,000 Auckland's most powerful media Ph 09 525 0666 Source: Nielsen CMI Q3 2011--Q2 2012 To fnd out more Phone our coordinator Steve Sobota Ph 828 1358 Ext 2 www.bigbuddy.org.nz Become a hero in your spare time Mentoring Fatherless boys Mothers of fatherless boys. If your son (7-- 14) has no father and needs a male role model in his life - we may be able to help. All inquiries welcomed Donations to support our work are much needed and very welcome. A little time makes a big diference. Every fatherless boy needs a hero and being one is a lot easier than you'd think. In fact it only takes a few hours a week to change a boy's life forever. Mentoring helps boys to make better life choices so they can fulfll their dreams and it gives them hope for their future. Now that's time well spent. Our well respected screening process ensures you'll join a community of good men and be part of a credible organisation. TODAY Hi-tech New spin Elite event Review ONLINE iPhones and iPads are being handed out to Auckland City police officers next week. Trials show the devices are ''a huge leap forward'' -- P3 Nick McFarlane's new book Spinfluence is a beginners' guide to propaganda -- P5 Badminton playing university students will compete in inaugural University Super League Competition on Sunday --P8 Citizen Park popped up in Kingsland about five months ago and the place seems to be doing a roaring trade. Go to aucklandcity harbournews.co.nz to read Ben Rogers' review Volunteers needed By ANNA LOREN Dedicated: Tuakana Wichman's letterbox is painted in Habitat for Humanity's colours, green and blue. Photo: ANNA LOREN Welcome home: Tuakana Wichman welcomes a new owner to his completed house in Bangladesh. Top effort: Tuakana Wichman checks out the view from a newly constructed Habitat home. VIETNAM The Mekong Build runs from August 4-10, with the option of joining a tour after the build. The trip costs $4800, which includes flight, accom- modation, meals and a donation to Habitat Vietnam. The organisation hopes to send 90 Kiwi volunteers for the build. Call Warren Jack on 271 3357 or email warrenj@habitatga.org.nz for more information. Go to aucklandcity harbournews.co.nz and click Latest Edition to see a volunteer speak about Habitat for Humanity's April build in Fiji. GREAT-grandmother Tua- kana Wichman reckons she's found the secret to eternal youth -- picking up a ham- mer. The 81-year-old is Habitat for Humanity Greater Auck- land's longest-serving volun- teer. She's been involved with the organisation since 1991 when she helped to construct a home on Dawson Rd in Otara. She's been working at Habitat's charity shop ReStore since it opened in 2001 and last year helped to build 10 houses for needy families in Bangladesh. It really touched my heart, seeing the way they live and the way they welcomed us. My tears came down,'' she says. I know I'm not getting any younger but my heart is young with trying to do things and help people.'' To prove this she braved a 12,000 feet skydive for her most recent birthday. She'll don her builder's gloves again when she travels to Vietnam in August where she'll be among a group of 250 volunteers building 25 houses for impoverished families in the Mekong Delta. Habitat for Humanity Greater Auckland is seeking more volunteers to build homes in the region, where many families live in unsafe and unsanitary accommo- dation. We don't know what overcrowding is over here. We talk about it and it's a problem, but over there whole families are living in one-bedroom houses,'' execu- tive director Warren Jack says. They're just tin shacks. They're very flimsy -- you'd be lucky if they're water- proof.'' The huts generally only have dirt floors. This means the residents are often vic- tims of dampness and para- sitic infections. Habitat volunteers build basic 30-40 square metre houses with concrete floors and brick walls. A recent study found an 85 per cent reduction in para- sitic infection after the con- crete floors were installed, Mr Jack says. Habitat for Humanity also works to secure land for the families, many of whom are squatters. Families purchase their houses and they will not be able to get thrown out,'' Mr Jack says. Ms Wichman says last year's build in Bangladesh was a great challenge'' and one that connected deeply with her own experiences. The housing conditions reminded her of her own childhood growing up in the Cook Islands, she says. Back home in the 1940s our place was like that, with pigs, goats and cows running around.'' And meeting the future owner of a home she helped to build was a hugely hum- bling'' experience. You can't help everybody but I really believe what we did and what Habitat does is really amazing.''
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