The countdown is on to New Zealand’s largest youth fundraising event. Preparation for the forty-hour famine and fundraisers are in full swing and like every year, Sancta Maria College is ready to show the world that change is possible.
The forty-hour famine which will be happening from June 7-9, gives people the chance to be placed in the position of the many children in South Sudan who live in poverty and conflict and have had to flee to Uganda.
By giving up something that people love or find hard to live without for forty hours, people stand in solidarity and raise money that can make an immense difference in so many children’s lives.
The school’s 40-hour famine committee have held regular meetings to find ways of promoting the event to the school community as well as encouraging people to get involved in upcoming bake sales, students verse staff sports competition, raffles, busking at the local malls, sausage sizzles outside local mall stores and other awesome initiatives.
From announcements during school assemblies (full school and year level assemblies) to putting posters up around the campus, there are many ways that the 40-hour famine committee are engaging and getting into the spirit of this tremendous cause. People from across the globe are participating and the more people get involved, the greater improvement is made in helping children in South Sudan have better living conditions.
This could include having enough food to eat, clean water to drink, the chance to get an education or
the money to go to the doctors. The committee encourages everyone to come along to sign ups, held every day in CU1 during interval and lunch times.
The great Nelson Mandela said that “overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life.”
We can all take inspiration from Nelson Mandela’s example and act in aroha so that every one in this world, no matter where they come from, has the chance of a positive future.
Shontelle Matano
