An early winter morning met our year 9/10 leadership team head-on at 6AM. Drowsy and heavy-eyed, we crawled our way to Auckland to attend the World Vision Leadership Conference in Matua Joe’s Toyota Wish.
Strong leaders from across the North Island gathered to discuss pressing issues of the hardships faced by people in sub-Saharan Africa. Two keynote speakers Yoseph Ayele and Lydia Hollister-Jones shared their empowering life stories and what they have achieved as leaders. A critical topic of the event was the 40-hour famine. The aim of the 40-hour famine is to raise money for World Vision while putting ourselves in the shoes of people living in poverty. As leaders, we concluded this was a crisis we all wanted to address, where we could all make a difference.
Passionate and motivated we started our strategic planning including spreading awareness and gaining sponsors. Our objective was to raise as much money as possible. We each chose a challenge to complete over 40 hours, with the majority choosing to fast alongside the 280 million sub-Saharan African’s that go without food every day. I chose to bike 40 km. Although I can never truly understand the struggles endured by the people in Africa, I can definitely empathise a lot better now.
Aotearoa, New Zealand has been participating in the 40-hour famine for 46 years now. It is criminal that in 2021 kids just like me in more than 40 different countries continue to live without the basics. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs states that without food, clean air, water, shelter and love we cannot feel safe, secure and cared for. No one should be going without these essentials when there are enough resources in the world for everyone.
Together our school raised 1500 amazing dollars and still counting. This was a valiant effort, I highly recommend taking part in this life saving event next year. Although, I would rather we eliminate poverty altogether. Let’s hope it doesn’t take another 46 years!
Cuba Godward
