Time has been flying by. The months of March, April and May have been crazy!
The Evolve Kickboxing has grown yet again. With assistance from Lance Louez we are now offering three classes a week. We have had a massive influx in female attending which has been great to see.
The Yoga Classes have now become a staple in the Evolve activities. I was a little worried that as the cold started to grow the size of the classes would whittle down, but it has been the opposite. Don’t worry though, if you are keen to come to the class there is always room for more young people at Evolve!
We have been blessed with a massive volunteer at Evolve called William Dewey. He is a published author and all round nice guy. He has not only volunteered his time and skills to Evolve to run a creative writing group but also helped get shelves of booked donated! The group is going really well with young people shearing their creative flair in the written word and learning from one another. As part of Youth Week in May the creative writing group hosted a very successful Open Mic Night.
I have been working with a few young people assisting them with making short films. There are currently four short films at different stages of production. It has been great to see young people having fun with the camera gear and expressing themselves! Keep an eye out on the Evolve webpage (evolveyouth.org.nz) because there is going to be a movie screening of the finished products later in the year.
My time has not been just been spent at Evolve but also out and about in the Wellington Community. I had the privilege of being part of a team from Evolve who delivered a programme at the Mission for Youth alternative education in Newtown. The young people were off the hook! I loved getting to know them and being part of their learning experience. The Evolve crew and myself are going to be running more programmes in the future. If you would like myself or the awesome people that I work with to run some trainings or programmes let me know.
Once a week I head on down to the YMCA school in Wellington. I chill out with the students then bring them back to Evolve to teach them Kickboxing. It has been a highlight in my week over the passed months. Seeing the young people grow in their knowledge of kickboxing and in confidence reminds me of why I do what I do.
Some of the Evolve crew and I have been going into high schools and talking to teachers and students telling them who we are and what we do. It was great to be invited by Wellington High School by one of their students to speak at their form assembly. She is a client of Evolve and thought it would be great if everyone at her school knew who we are. It always feels great when young people enjoy the services that we provide and refer us on to their friends!
In May I was interviewed for being one of the first ‘Sex & Ethics’ Educators by Moira Carmody. The programme will be ran at four sites in Wellington as a pilot. Evolve was chosen as one of those four site along with Victoria University, Massey University and Vibe – A youth service in Upper and Lower Hutt (They do massive work). The pilot is being run by the Wellington Sexual Abuse Network, or WSAN. They are made up of three not for profit organisations in Wellington –Wellington Rape Crisis, Wellington Sexual Abuse HELP and WellStop. I am looking forward to providing the first of these workshops at Evolve with my two co-facilitators George Vea and Dianne Brooker in August.
The final part of my World of Difference year so far that I’d like to share with you is how at the start if this year I was asked by Lani (fellow World of Difference recipient) if I would take part in the Oxfam 100km trail walker. To make a long story short I said yes and took on the challenge. Lani was our team captain; the rest of the team was Julian from Youthline, Leighton, one of Evolve clients, and me. What a great looking team! Our support crew was made up of Cam (another World of Difference recipient), Leighton’s mum and cousin, and my wonderful partner Aimee. They had the challenging job of keeping us in great spirits along the journey. With a lot of hard training (three weeks before the event!) Leighton and I hit the roads walking three to four times a week before work. Each time we walked around 12km. We both had an alright base level of fitness and were in high spirits leading up to the event. I enjoyed my time with Leighton training for the event and getting to know him on another level. Before we knew it we were in Taupo and it was the night before the walk. We meet up with the rest of the team from around the country (most of our team had never met before let alone walked together!). The next morning we were up nice and early to get ready for the biggest physical challenge I had ever under taken. It was physically and mentally gruelling but we had fun, sometimes at each other’s expense! We met some awesome people along the way and we got to know each other as well as ourselves through this experience. It was a privilege to walk with these wonderful people. One of my highlights was seeing how Leighton handled the 100km. I have seen him grow strength to strength over this past year. At the end of this I knew that he was more than ready to join the army later this year (which has been a goal of his).
The whole team finished with an outstanding time of 21 hours and 19 minutes!!!! This put us in the top 30 teams overall.
As you can see I have been busy! But in your World of Difference year busy is what you want to be. Keep an eye on the blogs or drop in and see me at Evolve anytime.
Until next time,
Josh
