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Monday 11 August 2014

Chanel and Hannah's Powhiri Recount

Chanel's Side of the story .....

Today was a lovely day, until all the hairs on the back of my neck rose. We were getting ready to start performing our performances before the Mayor gets here with all his guests. He was visiting us because there will be a new Early Childhood Education centre getting built in the front of our school, Glenbrae School. My friend, Hannah was performing a Samoan dance, the boys from my class were performing a Tongan dance. When the Mayor arrives with all the other guests, us girls and boys will welcome him with the haka and Karena and Noellen will welcome them with the karaga. It was so traditional and New Zealand like. After all the nerve-wracking moments, we walked and silently sat inside the hall waiting for the ceremony to start. During the ceremony, we were singing, laughing, clapping. Len Brown, Nick Smith and Matua Jim made some speeches and talked to us about what has been happening around Glen Innes. There has been people moving from houses to houses and some people aren’t liking it, but it’s okay.

Hannah's side of the story .....

After all the laughs and joking around, the whole school walked to the front of the school, getting ready to dig into the ground for the building of the centre, next year. We all sang Te Aroha once more and then took photos. Some people were fangirling, I could tell. We photobomb some of the photos, which were funny. Later on, we went to the scout hall, which was getting repaired and is going to more beautiful than before. We did the karakia to bless it and wish that everything will go well. We also went down to Taniwha Street to see the new buildings that are getting built. It was funny because Nick Smith was inside the digger and he dug a huge hole into the ground. We stood there with protesters making everyone mad, especially me. I just wanted to …………. nothing. When it was time to leave, our teacher signalled us to start walking back to school.

Everyone had fun on that day, we all wished it never ended. But, it was a Thursday and Thursdays always end …...

1 comment:

  1. Chanel, I like how you and Hannah have told your different parts of the morning events. You've touched on some of the bigger issues involved with the redevelopment project, namely the people who have been affected by the house moving and the protesters. You were right about the nerve-wracking moments, but you performed very well, and should be proud!

    Mrs Parker

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