As we have mentioned we have only been eating rice, breakfast, lunch and dinner. But on this fine Wellington day we got real food and not only that but it was a hangi. As we headed off to Ngatiawa, out in the bush at Waikanae we started to feel a little nervous about the day ahead. We, the little fuelees, were embarking on an experience we were never going to forget. Being that only one person from our team was part maori none of us really had any idea how to make a hangi or how to hongi.
The day started off with a powhiri which helped ease our nerves. We were to spend the day immersing ourselves in the lives of the Porirua Alternative School. At first it seemed we were going to have a hard day breaking down the barriers between us and them. Culturally we were very much out of our comfort zones. But as the day progressed girls making stuffing, boys chopping wood we got talking to some of the teens and I can safely say that everyone in the fuel team learnt something from these teens. We were there to serve and help them with the hangi but we walked away feeling like they had taught us something about their experiences of life. Theirs very much different from our own. The hangi building and all the hard work helped us to come together as a community for that day. And to top it all off the boys got to be boys by jumping off cliffs into the stream. You didn't see any girls trying to take on this challenge!
At the end of the day as we drove back to Tawa in our beautiful green machine, which might I add none of those teens wanted to be seen near it, us fuelees felt a sense of insight into a world that we may never have got a glimpse of. Each of the teens from the Alt School came from backgrounds that we had never experienced. We felt like this day had taught some great life lessons. Not only through talking with these teens and getting to know them but also we now know how to make good stuffing and build a hangi.
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