Bonjour a tous!

Samedi Dernier

On 25th June, The 10 Young ambassadors voyaged from far and near to Wellington for a workshop at the Alliance Francaise, here is where we all met each other for the first time, shared research projects and fundraising ideas, talk about French and also had a chance to discover some more details for the grand expedition in Septembre. We were privileged to  attend a reception at the French Ambassador's residence.

Merci

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the other Young ambassadors and their teachers for making Saturday a great occasion, also to Madame for encouraging me to take this once in a lifetime opportunity and to everyone who has given me a hand with fundraising. Also a massive thank you to Pascale, Glenda, Morgan for making this a reality!

The Great War Exhibition

 Despite the extremely detailed exhibits and the despairing stories, you still know that the scrambled mental picture formed, is nowhere to how horrendous it really was for those men and women.The Great War exhibition definitely provided a firm insight, including the impact and on the other countries that were involved in the Somme. This gave us a lot to think about for our research projects.Whenever you’re in Wellington I highly recommend visiting the museum and seeing these displays.   

Mon projet   

The plan is to find New Zealanders who were from the Whakatane region who served in the Pioneer Battalion at the Somme. I want to know where they lived, who they were, where they fell if they did not return or what happened to them when they did return.

As a part of this I will make a map and pinpoint where they lived in Whakatane and then also find where they fought and then hopefully see these places in September. This project is based on discovering connections and sharing stories, so I’m hoping to find the descendants of these people who were in France in 1916, to share histories and swap information.  

If you have information related to this project or know anyone who has connections with someone who was in the pioneer battalion, was somehow involved in the Somme, or if you just want to share some stories, please contact me!

“We are not makers of history. We are made by history”- Martin Luther King Jr.  

I encourage you to keep these histories alive, watch this space and don’t forget to read what the other Young ambassadors are up to!

Merci beaucoup and to the other YAs, A bientôt!

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Phone: 0273588188