It is with great pleasure that we announce that Te Rawhitiroa Bosch (Whaingaroa, Te Mauri Tau / Enviroschools) has been confirmed as the Maori keynote for Involve 2010;

"Kōtuia ki Te Aho Tū Roa, whiria kia ū, kia tū roa ai, mo ake tonu atu e!"

Te Rawhitiroa is the National Youth Coordinator for the Enviroschools Foundation working with the Kōtuia! crew leading Te Aho Tū Roa - Kōtuia! working with rangatahi Māori in wharekura and communities around Aotearoa to connect: People to People, People to Place

A Vodafone Foundation World of Difference grant recipient and a leader of Enviroschools Youth Jam events and ReGeneration Roadtrip, he looks forward to connecting again with the whanau at Involve 2010. 

Please visit www.involve.org.nz for the bio's of the 2010 Keynotes - Karen Pitman and Dr Terryann Clark, including the full bio for Te Rawhitiroa Bosch, and a link to his blog.

Farewells and Welcomes in the NZAAHD Office

I'm really excited to be able to update you all on a whole host of exciting changes that have happened here at the NZAAHD office.  It's been an exciting time, with lots of positive changes.

The NZAAHD Executive was able to welcome Sarah Chapman, our new NEO, at yesterday's meeting.  We had a lovely powhiri and handover with some of Sarah's whanau there to hand her over to us.

Sarah comes to us steeped in youth development, having lived and practiced it most of her life.  She is currently based in Levin and will be shifting down to Wellington with her whanau and starting full time in the office 02 August.  We will email out a proper introduction to you all a little closer to her starting date.

We have also fare-welled Njela Sharrock who after over 4 years with us is moving on.  We thank her for all her amazing contributions to making NZAAHD and Youth Week what it is today, and wish her all successes in her future endeavours.

Andrea Leersnyder is off for a month in Europe, but on her return will move into the Youth Week Campaign Coordinator position.  Congratulations to her on that, Youth Week 2011 is shaping up to be another big one with the UN International Year of Youth kicking off on Int Youth Day 12 August.

With Andrea changing roles, and us bringing our accounts back into house, we used it as an opportunity to revamp the Office Manager role to a more finance/admin based Team Administrator role.  Clare White started with us yesterday and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, and we welcome her to the team.

We had a lovely, low key farewell for Njela and I yesterday with a small group of extended NZAAHD whanau.  It was heartening to see the previous generations of NZAAHD staff and governance there and their continued commitment to our work.  There were some very nice words said about Njela and I, so thank you to everyone who could make it.

Thanks to you all for your ongoing support.

Trina King
National Executive Officer
New Zealand Aotearoa Adolescent Health and Development (NZAAHD) I Taumata Manaaki Rangatahi
PH 04 382 9944
MB 027 650 0540