Sapati Stepping up to Help Tonga

Sapati Stepping up to Help Tonga

Mangere teenager Sapati Apa-Fepuleai has chosen to dedicate her next school holidays to helping others in Tonga. From Tuesday, 30 June to Thursday, 9 July Sapati and fifteen other King’s College students will visit St Andrew’s Anglican School in Tonga. Once there, they’ll help provide tutoring support and assist with maintenance.

Until their departure, the students are fundraising to buy resources such as paper, pencils and whiteboards to take with them.

Sapati, who is embarking on the community service trip as part of her role as a School Chapel Sacristan says, “It’s easy to think only of the beauty of Tonga and forget that poverty is widespread. There are so many basic things that we take for granted here which simply aren’t within reach of many of our Pacific neighbours.”

“We hope that on our trip we will be able to have an impact on the education of a generation that faces constant struggle.”

The connection with St Andrew’s School in Tonga was established through the Anglican Church. Reverend Warner Wilder, the Chaplain of King’s College, says the visit has become an annual undertaking and is one of the most humbling and moving aspects of the school’s community service programme.

“Although it can be quite confronting for our students to come face-to-face with people who have such a different set of circumstances to their own, as a community, we can be very proud of the way these students are prepared to act with such compassion. At King’s College we believe that the development of strong values begins through service to others. By creating opportunities our students learn that freely giving ourselves to the service of others is a lifelong and highly rewarding responsibility.”

King’s College

ENDS

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