; Out of Poland

3 years ago my friend Jenny Harrison –(in picture with me) started to write a book based on letters that had been hidden in a leather suitcase for decades. I was involved with the translation of these letters. The book is titled "Out of Poland: When the best revenge is to have survived – A Holocaust Story" has been published http://www.jennyharrison-author.com/ . What does have it in common with my CMC programme?

Even though I was born in Poland after the war, the tragic history of the country was still very vivid and influenced my life.  The only logical solution for me to solve the problem was leaving the country and making something for a better life for generations to come. It sounds pathetic, but it was,  and still is like this. New place was New Zealand and extraordinary people helping with this journey was the management of Mt. Albert YMCA. Next step is to be ‘A Peace Project” with as well as English and Polish ,will have a few more language versions of the CMC songs .I believe it will not take a lot of time.

– A Special Anniversary

20 years ago, Auckland City Council and YMCA Mt Albert made an agreement of mutual cooperation.

I had emigrated  to new Zealand at exactly this time and was lucky finding YMCA as a friendly premises for my sports massage clinic so that we could send people from St Lukes mall, where they received chair massages from my team, to a proper massage place.  
In those days Jill Gibson and Arvid Ditchburn were a young team running the YMCA. They were very friendly and supportive, so when I suggest that I can teach children during school holiday a massage they agreed. One year later my Children Massaging Children program was born!
20 years later- they are still young and YMCA run by Jill has many achievements including excellent dance and art classes. . Arvid is now at head office.  When we met at the event it felt like a big family reunion.

What’s new with CMC

Anna Pomykała, one of the CMC instructors in Poland, and me, have lot of common. Same as me she is a professional massage therapist and body worker specialising in working with rollers. I love this technique. Using body weight you can ease tension in your muscles. https://ciaoterapia.wordpress.com/about/
Anna is also a passionate  teacher using CMC especially  with older children and adults as relaxing technique. Well done Anna!

One of our Extraordinary Volunteers

During  the 17 years of Child Connection's existence we have ’been very privileged to have the help of extraordinary volunteers. One of them May Some when a student at AUT helped us with re-branding and  created a new image of the organisation in 2004. Later as a trustee and treasurer she carried  this responsibility  for years.  It was a big pleasure to meet with May and her little baby in Cornwell Park again.

Children from Polish School in a Garden

27 children with their parents visited Ngataringa Organic Garden (NOG) on Sunday the 16^th of October.

They came from all around Auckland and have been fascinated with all their adventures during a tour. What an unbelievable story; this small chick that Graham – the manager of the garden- holds in his hand comes from the egg he hold in the other hand. Children could also hold a tiny chicken in their hands.

Another attraction was tasting of nettle tea. Touching nettle is painful, but tea is almost tasteless.  

What is the sweetest plant on earth? There was lot of responses, but only one was right – It is stevia.

Children took home dried lives of stevia.

Visit was finished with a hand’s massage, one of techniques from CMC (Children Massaging Children) programme

To find out more please visit http://nog-garden.com

A Special Day

The 7^th  of July it was a special celebration – the official opening of Europe House –NZEU Business Council at the Auckland University. There is a long tradition of business cooperation between European countries with NZ  and vice versa .
Apart from the economic cooperation, there is also an exchange in the areas of culture and education. Contribution of Peer Massages into EU Rethinking Education discussion is an NZ initiative presented by Eva Scherer  in her article http://childconnection.org.nz/wp-content/themes/childconnection/media/peermassageeu.pdf.

In the picture isi Eva Scherer representing Polish  Business Association Polanz  www.polanz.nz  and Frank Olsson NZEU President.

Since 2014, Te Atatu Kindergarten have regularly held Children Massaging Children (CMC) classes facilitated by CMC instructor, Brenda Duncan, who is a professional massage therapist, and ECE registered teacher.  Kids love to follow the massage songs while massaging their partner.
Brenda is part of a large group of CMC instructors in New Zealand  who deliver the programme in schools, kindergartens and holiday programmes.