Kimiora Trust youth worker Amy Davidson is running a programme she has devised to help give some of Rotorua’s at risk youngsters a more positive view of life.
Amy devised the Emerge programme for 8-12 year olds after seeing the “massive” level of undesirable behaviour by under 12-year-olds and finding virtually nobody else working with them besides the Rotorua Police Youth Team.
The Rotorua Trust funding of $5000 helps provide activities for children who have been identified by the Police Youth Team or schools as likely to benefit from having time spent with them in a positive environment that focuses on teaching values.
The programme runs for four terms and over three holiday periods. Emerge has two hubs totalling 20 children, so no more than 10 children are worked with at a time on a Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon. As part of Emerge, they are taken away during school holidays to a week-long camp.
Children are referred at the start of the year and are in the programme for a year, although the set-up allows for children to be referred to Emerge throughout the year.
“The idea is to give them positive experiences with adults and with different activities,” Amy says. Over the past summer, the programme included kayaking on Lake Rotoiti, a highlight for the children. Each term is focused around a specific theme, such as Respect, which can see children kite flying, looking after their kite so it can be flown again. The theme Our Words works on how words affect the children themselves and other people.
For more information, contact:
Amy Davidson
07 3470169
Mob: 021686567
kimiora@harvestapo.co.nz