Category: Hanga | Create

ATAMIRA: Kori Purakau Workshop

St Patrick’s School had an exciting trip to the Four Winds Theatre at the Due Drop Event Centre in Manukau. As soon as we got on the bus, the journey felt special and thrilling! When we arrived, we were greeted by five wonderful guides and dancers known as: Rachel, Andre, Maddie, Jossie, and Abby. Rachel kicked things off by telling us a captivating story about the ‘Pou Kapua,’ which really sparked our imagination and inspired my blog.

After the story, Rachel took us inside to learn about the traditional Māori dance. She kindly asked us to remove our shoes and socks to show respect for the cultural dance. Everyone eagerly gathered around. Rachel had us spread out and led us in a fun, energizing game that had everyone laughing and enjoying it.

The most exciting part about the Atamira workshop was exploring Kori Purakau, where stories come alive through dance. The dancers from Atamira Kori Purakau Workshop demonstrated how Māori legends can be told without words—just through movement and expression. 

After warming up, we worked in groups to create our own short dances, acting out adventures and emotions from the legends. Performing these dances was inspiring and a lot of fun, showing us just how powerful movement can be in storytelling. Overall, it was a creative, joyful experience for everyone involved, and we even did 6/7 hands!

It was the best day

Our Story

Saint Francis was born in Italy surrounded by a family of wealthy members with expensive clothing. He was having a pleasant and delightful day, at night he had a dream of becoming a knight protecting the people of Assisi against Perugia. Once he was all grown up, he successfully achieved his dream, of becoming a knight. During this war against the Perugia, he was sent to prison. As he sat down and thought he realized, everything he wanted was gone and useless forever. He had another dream, it was about Jesus, he said to Francis, “Dear Francis, please help me rebuild my church, it is collapsing everywhere.” Francis heard everything that Jesus said and decided to help Him. Then he realized something; Jesus meant he needs everything to change by giving up his life and all the things he owned. He tossed  away and decided to  be with Jesus. He wasn’t alone, there were others joining his journey by helping the poor and leading blind people.

Christopher’s perspective.

Hi, my name is Christopher Boone, my age is 15 yrs and 3 months. It was 7 past midnight. I was walking alone, along the path when I saw Mrs. Shears poodle lying in her backyard. Her house is two houses to the left of mine. I ran towards the poodle as fast as I could to see if it was okay. I knelt down quickly next to the poodle. I saw that there was a pitch fork inside its body and it was flooded with blood.  The poodle’s name was Wellington. I’d really liked dogs, they are loyal and they will never lie to their owners.I took the pitch fork out of his body and laid it down on the grass. Blood was spreading everywhere on top of the grass. I heard a door shut, then footsteps that began to run faster and faster. They stopped, I turned my body around slowly and looked up, it was Mrs. Shears, she was wearing purple and pink pajamas.She stood still, then started to scream so loud that my ears hurt. I put my head on the grass and my hands over my ears. I hate people screaming, it’s really annoying. She stopped screaming when there was a familiar sound. The police arrived. There was a police woman and a man getting out of the car. I really like police officers, they will  capture any wanted criminal. They had dark blue police clothes with  badges on their chest. The police man asked questions and the other police officer went inside to talk to Mrs. Shears.The police officer asked me questions faster and faster. It makes me feel really unbalanced every time I try to answer. I fell to my knees and started to cover my ears and head on the grass. Trying to ignore him, but he grabbed my arm and said “Are you alright?” I really hate people touching me with no permission. I pushed him away and hit him on purpose to stop him from touching me.I stood still feeling guilty. He stood up on his feet telling me, “you’re under arrest for assaulting a police officer on purpose.” I felt calm when he said that, then he cuffed my hands and took me inside his police car.The police officer drove me all the way from Mrs. Shears house to the police station. When we arrived we went inside and put me in a cell. I sat down on my bed.

My Lenten Backpack

Lenten Backpack:

My Lenten Backpack is a special bag to help me on my journey. During Lent we focus on prayer, fasting and Almsgiving. The Cross reminds me that Jesus sacrificed his life for our sins. The Holy Bible and Rosary will help me in my prayer. My fasting is for meat and the water is for Almsgiving so the poor can have their thirst quenched.

Our Ki O Rahi tournament

      (2/7/24)

Dear Diary,                                                                                  

Last Friday, Mr.

Bell told all of us from Room 7 that we needed to participate in the Ki O Rahi tournament against other schools but some didn’t come to take part in the Ki O Rahi tournament because they really wanted to finish the Matariki star facts (I think that’s what they want to do.)

When we got changed into our sports uniform (the same uniform gosh why is it the same uniform) anyway we grabbed everything like our bags, lunch boxes and water bottles. When Mr. Bell told us to get into one of the cars, we got Mrs. Ripata’s car,(Marii’s Mom’s car), everything was so gorgeous. The window was huge, clean and we sang songs in the car and Marii was so lucky that I finally found my dream car.

 When we got to the Ki O Rahi tournament all the other schools were already there. We spread out our mat and put down our bags. We quietly lined up and got ready for prayers before the game started.  

When the game started the referee told all of us to go to field 1 (I think that’s what the referee told us) and we were going against Sylvia Park Blue and we are Ki Oma and our Opponent/Sylvia Park Blue is Taniwha for our first game.

During our first game the referee told all of us to switch sides so we swap to take turns and we finish taking turns. When we are finished taking turns we are now Taniwha. I also went there too so I can also get a turn in the Ki O Rahi tournament and only have 3 points and Our Opponent/Sylvia Park Blue has 8 points so we are losing for the first time and some of us were saying “GG’s (Good Game)” to the other team.

Our Second Game was going against Glen Taylor Stars and when we were on the lead until the other team was now on the lead we were all nervous and we really needed to try harder but then we lost again for the second time and I was getting really worried about losing for the third time. 

Now we’re going against Tamaki Ikale and we hope that we win for the first time. Our third game was actually kinda going really good this time and we felt that we were now winning for the first time. And we did! We cheered for Tamaki Ikale, cheered for us and cheered for the referee. We were really happy! Then Mr. Bell told us to stay and watch the next game so that we could learn how to play Ki O Rahi properly.

We learned more by watching the other teams play Ki O Rahi properly.(But I just noticed that we lost 2 times already so I hope that we would win 2 times too!). Anyway I need to try and tell Pio Teo to get the Ki (How do you spell it?.)

During the next game, we scored 9 points and our opponent Panmure Road Taniwha got 6 points but then the referee whistled. We won for the second time and we were really and really happy about it. We have to rest now and eat our food and drink our water and watch some more games so that we can learn more about it.

When all the games are finished we have to pray to thank God for looking after us in the Ki O Rahi tournament.

When we were done with our prayers we said goodbye to all the schools and went back to Mrs. Ripata’s car and she drove us back to our school. 

We all had a fantastic time playing in the Ki O Rahi tournament with other schools. I hope we can all play again in the next tournament.

 

 

By Roland Bacia