East Auckland Youth Festival

A famous kiwi band once said “what we need is a great big melting pot, big enough for the world and all it's got”, mixing together people from all cultures, religions and ages without prejudice, what a lovely world that would be.

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Although the song was written back in the 80s, the concept was alive and well in East Auckland when “Our Lady Star of the Sea” catholic parish in Howick held their first Youth Festival during the weekend.

The brain-child of Pastor Sam Pulanco, this event was a hit with people of all cultures ranging from our neighbours in Tonga, Samoa and Niue as well as countries such as the Philippines, Korea, China and Mauritius, to name a few.

Originally from the Philippines, Pastor Sam was inspired by the World Youth Day last year and decided a special event dedicated to youth in and around Auckland was a good way for the church to get involved in the community.

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Pastor Terry Montgomery also played a large part in organising the event and he describes pastor Sam as “a breath of fresh air” for the parish “full of new ideas and always on the go”. Pastor Terry explained that the event took about six months to plan and without the help of the community and the hard-working volunteers of the parish, the event wouldn't have been such a success.

The day began with a blessing and “parade of nations” through Picton Street to the Crawford Park Reserve. Music was provided by Sidney Rouge and the “MIX-IT UP” crew, who sang until lunchtime where the minister of Ethnic Affairs and member of Parliament for Botany Downs, Pansy Wong opened the event. Originally from Shanghai in China, Wong has been living in New Zealand since the 70s and she described her new home as “the most peaceful country in the world”. She explained that the event was “about young people, for young people, by young people”.

Soon after, a group of talented singers and dancers from te roopu o awhina o wairoa kapa haka group entertained the crowd. This group consists of young people from Sancta Maria College in Botany Downs, Howick, Edgewater, River Hills, Riverina and Pakuranga Intermediate. They sang beautiful waiata and finished with a stirring haka which, translated into English is called “Prohibition” and portrays the time when Maori were banned from visiting hotels around New Zealand. Although the members of the kapa haka team were between 11-17 years old, the haka was performed with passion and spirit and brought the crowd to an awed hush.

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Wong described the multi-cultural nature of New Zealand as being “celebrated rather than tolerated” which was evident throughout the day where people of all races and religions held hands, sang and danced. Even joining together to start a congo line at one point.

Churches from around Auckland held food and craft stalls to fund-raise for different churches around Auckland. Pastor Terry said “if we manage to break even it will be nice, however that is not what the day is about”.

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Not only a day of worship, the also helped churches raise money for their parish, including Sancta Maria College which is planning to build a much needed church at the school. A day filled with music, dance and laughter, this event went down very well with the public and the parish is already looking forward to what next year will bring.

ENDS

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