Polish School in Tauranga

It is crucial for Polish emigrant’s families who come to New Zealand, to ensure that their children can still communicate, speak and understand Polish language. It is not easy when you live overseas. At home usually one of the parents is Kiwi. At school and with friends it’s all English, and what about Polish?

Mrs. Magdalena James, a music teacher in Tauranga, initiated the first Polish school starting with her own 4 kids. Every Sunday playing piano, she begins her class with Polish language with songs and games.

A high positive energy surrounds students from 3 to 12 years of age. All are friends and all try to speak Polish. My CMC massage lesson was very well received – all enjoyed massage colleagues and parents.

Bonding and Secure Attachment in Theory and Practice

Today I gave a short introduction of the above subject to students of Ntec  National Tertiary Education Consortium, a new Tertiary Group New Zealand.  Students from Applied Social Practice – Diploma in Counselling and Family Therapy were a very receptive audience. It was a real pleasure to resonate with them while sharing the experience in the field of Bonding and Attachment. Our approach is the same. Children need

loving touch to thrive. Beginning of cooperation just started with www.aspire2.co.nz

Horticultural study graduation meeting

It was almost a year of hard work, but at the same time very interesting. Wouldn't it great if everybody on our planet was familiar with the  practical applications of our study and practice - things like propagation, pruning, soil and irrigation.

Thank you to our excellent  tutors ; Jane, Reg and Jim.

Gifts from Mother Nature

My first view when waking up in the morning – a plot all covered with blooming Calendula flowers - always makes me smile . Colour, texture, smell. You can breath deeper by just watching this beauty.

To fill one bag with 10g of dried flowers you need 60 fresh ones.  There is no harm done by cutting fresh ones - It encourages them to blossom more. Quoting Cleve Backster "I feel  I have a truly wonderful ally – Mother Nature" 

Almost Spring

Despite the terrible weather - rain, wind and fog, spring is almost here.

There are plenty of happy butterflies in the Ngataringa Community Garden. They enjoy a variety of flowers; yellow Marigolds, blue Borages, violet Rosemarie’s  NOG is very rich with all these goodies that are butterflies favourites. Soon our bees will join the team and everything will be ready to welcome children from our local schools and kindies to visit us againJ

New Fundraising idea

 When I started my study at the College of Natural Medicine, I never thought it would lead to the development of a new 

fundraising project.

 Being involved with Ngataringa Community Garden,I had accessto a range of magnificent organic herbs. Cherished with heart by volunteers, these herbs grow there tremendously. There is a long tradition at NCG to dry herbs and later use them in

the kitchen for shared lunches, but the surplus herbs can be used for Fudraising as well. 

At the Polish House fair last Sunday it was an excellent opportunity for launching  a new Herbal Fundraising idea. It was a very good beginning to the new initiative .

Letters from Students

Coming back from Poland, I didn’t expect such a marvelous thing. I knew that after their visit to Ngataringa Community Gardens, some student from Bayswater Primary wrote letters, but there were more than hundred of them -  with pictures, some even with handmade envelopes . This deeply touched my heart. I carefully held and read each of the letters, feeling that my work has made an impact to these children’s understanding of nature and their role in it. Such feedback can only motivate you to do more.

Thank you students from Bayswater Primary !

CMC demonstration

A small suburb near Warsaw, situated  in a nice pine forest is a special place for me. Here in Marki lives my family. Today I had a special opportunity to demonstrate the CMC at the local kindergarten.
It was very special because my granddaughter was my assistant.  The kindie in Jutrzenki street is opened even though it is during the summer holidays. Because of hot weather we practiced the back massage technique indoors, and after that, the children went outside to play in the shadow of old pine trees.

 

More meetings

Summer Holiday are in full bloom. Warsaw is nearly empty with almost no traffic on the streets, and those are mainly tourists. Everybody has gone to relax at the seaside or, in the mountains or lakes.  

My Friend, a well known artist  Andrzej Renes and his family spend time at Mazury – Land of a thousands lakes.  Apart from working on his sculptures, Andrzej organises creative  workshops for local communities. During these workshops he and his wife Malgorzata use CMC techniques in the relaxation part.

The picture is of his sculpture called “a Dreamer”  in front of his Gallery in Mazury

Meeting with CMC Teachers in Warsaw

 Right at the beginning of Summer Holiday in Poland we had meeting with CMC teachers. We combined it with training for higher Level - 2 Peer Massages competency, which also gave us a great opportunity to share experiences.  

 The feedback from “field workers”  influences the shape of workshops. Our touch/massage lessons for education system are very much a “leaving being”. They change and adapt depending on what the education is going through. It is uplifting that as the transformation of education takes place, our – touch part - is getting stronger and gains recognition within School Curriculums

End of School Year

In Poland on the 26^th of June, the school year ends, and 2 months of long summer holidays begin.
The last day at school is a special day.
Traditionally the students prepare a special celebration with lots of songs and artistic performances.
Parents are invited to come. Students give their teachers flowers as a symbol of appreciation for their work.
On this day it’s easy to recognize a teacher on a crowded street because they carry armfuls of colorful flowers.

The picture is of School nr 3 in Marki, where CMC was introduced in 2012.

Summer in Dubai

 

47 degrees didn’t stop children from playing and swimming. (My daughter said that's not so bad, because in summer, Dubai temperatures go up to 55 degrees Celsius ).
But, It's always uplifting to watch children playing  outdoors.

Visit from Bayswater Primary School

Last Friday and Monday we had 120 students visit us from  from Bayswater Primary School.

At NCG we had only experienced small groups before at the  Medicinal Weeds tour during Eco Festival in March, so such a  big group of students was a challenge. The advantage of the visit was that Bayswater is an Enviro school, so this visit could be an exchange between  “professionals” - and it was. It was very uplifting to have feedback from and interaction with students. 

Our program was full of activities:  sniffing lemon balm, watching chickens, we told about Yacon- special plant, there was a quiz concerning a bee balm . The students tried our famous nettle tea, and experienced hands massage with bee balm cream. At the finish they received a gift –with the sweetest plant on the earth – Stevia. Not only from students and teachers  I also had very good feedback from the volunteers running NCG , so I feel like this experience can be a foundation for our  future friendship and cooperation with the Bayswater Primary .

Update from Learning Zone

It was almost 3 months ago since we created this special plot for educational purposes .Now look at this picture  Apart from 3 square foot gardening plots with vegetables the rest are herbs. We have 38 different herbs here with description of health benefits on white displays. When students from local schools visit us, they can try lemon balm  to smell and taste. We always welcome young visitors!

THE BEGINNING OF A BIG PROJECT

Contribution of Peer Massages  into EU Rethinking Education discussion.
   
Teachers complain about  bureaucracy flooding schools. Now, days are taken up with, reports, tests, evaluations.  Students are stressed before each test, they are not happy waking up in the morning to go to school again. Sir Ken Robinson’s TED speech –“How Schools Kill Creativity” has been watched by 33 million viewers.

Rethinking Education, an EU document points out that the first thing that education should do is to “Delivering the right skills for employment”. So what are these Right Skills for Employment?

I've been asking this question to my fellow friend President of NZ Europe Business Council Frank Olsson (in picture). His answer was clear; people skills, empathy, friendship, love. These human traits are desired qualities for longer term success and usefulness. All these is covered in his book
"Learning to Dance Corporate Style - how to humanise business and get more out of life"

News from Warsaw

When our instructors change their job location, CMC travels with them into new kindies, new schools, new educational establishments .

Dorota Jakubowska is one of our special instructors. In 2011 she completed a master Degree Thesis on CMC at the Academy of Special Education in Warsaw.    Click here to read her thesis.

After graduation, Dorota  continued practicing  CMC at her private kindergarten “A Kuku” .It was very  uplifting one year later when  I was visiting her, to see children enjoying  massaging each other . Dorota is very patient, loving and understanding children’s needs teacher.  She now works at Astrid Lindgren  private School and Kindrgarten in Warsaw and CMC is there at least once /week  

Thank you Dorota for update. 

What a day!

It was pouring with rain in the morning  and nobody expected any guests to our Garden. But, what  a nice surprise. We had a group of children who already had some gardening experience. It’s a big pleasure to share experiences with other professionals!  David demonstrated sowing small seeds so that the children could practice their skills – Not easy, but getting better. Like with babies – you need to be  focused  and act very gently- real nursery.

The next part of the visit was a Medicinal Weed tour. One of these weeds was  nettle.  Gathered in a way that made nettle a base for very healthy tea full of minerals.

Was there any accidents with stinging? Of course –there was one made  deliberately and immediately cured with aloe compress. Not a drama knowing that nettle stings are very good for your health.

The last part of the visit was hand’s massage with beeswax wax- a little bit of reflexology.

What a variety!

 After Eco Festival we will be happy to welcome children to visit us in the future.

Ngataringa Community Garden Learning Zone update

Please have a look at the latest news  from Ngataringa Community Garden. By using a good organic compost, all plants grow happy and healthy here. In the square foot gardening area, almost all small plots are taken by vegetable, to  name a few ; lettuce, spinach, kale etc.  Now turn to the herbs area. This is just a beginning of the project. In the centre there is Echinacea, unquestionably the  Queen of the immune system. In one corner we have inherited Lemon Balm, and in another, we planted lavender. They are two  herbs that  support our nervous system. There is also a Rosemary, Marjoram and St John’s Wort  in our small garden.
During our “Medicinal Weeds “tour during Eco Festival, we served nettle infusion, which was very popular, so we intend to propagate more nettle in the future.

Eco Festival Openng Day 2015

last Saturday was the opening day for Eco Festival, a wonderful event at Eskdale reserve.  During the month there will be 90+ different events at http://ecofest.org.nz to participate in.  On Saturday, Child Connection shared a space with the nice ladies from Laughter Yoga – a perfect mach.    The weather was marvelous, and thousands of visitors attended the event.  I was very busy too. A family version of  Children Massaging Children - Children Massaging Parents – worked excellently.

During the Eco Festival, I will ran “Medicinal Weed” tours in the Ngataringa  Community Garden on Sundays.   Each session will finish with a Hands Massage CMC technique, with nice smelling natural wax.

Educational Project

At the Ngataringa Community Garden  on Monday 3rd March,. we made a foundation for an educational project
We always welcome visitors from the local schools and kindergartens, and answer lots of questions which has motivated us to make a proper educational plot that visitors, especially children, can enjoy and learn.
The aim is to familiarise children with plants, vegetables and herbs, giving them experience of not only watching them, but to also touch and smell.  We will also teach children how to use herbs for their own health.
In the picture, Jacob, Cornelius, Eva and Eion are next to the square foot gardening plots.On our blog we will keep you updated with progress, and would be happy to share this design with the wider community.

Eco festival 2015 Kawaipurapura

It is difficult to imagine, but already a year has gone by since our presentation at the last Voices of Sacred Earth Eco-Festival at the Kawaipurapura retreat. Saturday’s weather was superb, and this magic place again made an unforgettable impression on us, serving us perfectly.
Some of our students that participated in the workshop last year were there , so it was very nice to meet them again.  We also had some new students, and the youngest massage therapist was just 2.5 years old who performed with confidence on the back of his brother (center of picture).  With such talented “new forces” we can confidently look to the future.