Stunned schoolkids send support south

Royal Rd School teacher Heather Stewart with Year 4 pupils (from left) Erene Toia, Udhai Gill, Wayne Viviani, Samiullah Wahdati, Tayla-lee Griffin, Nikita Welch, Shyanne Collins and Shaun Martin, and letters they are sending to the children without power.

North Islanders, it seems, do care about their shivering, power-starved South Island cousins.

As southerners' frustration has been voiced about the apparent lack of empathy from northerners over their drawn-out plight, an Auckland primary school has reached out in sympathy to its suffering counterparts.

Pupils in Room 11 at Massey's Royal Road Primary School have written letters to Canterbury schoolchildren who have had to do without electricity for 12 days in freezing temperatures after last week's snowstorm.

"My teacher told me the very awful news. When I heard it I was shocked," said 8-year-old Erene Toia in her letter. "I thought it was cold up here, but now I know it's really cold down there. Just stay strong and know there are people that love you."

Kelley, 9, said: "It's been really hard to get warm up here and I bet it is worse for you guys and girls. I bet the children down there are really sick for the cold. I hope everybody is warm again soon."

Their teacher, Heather Stewart, said she had seen news reports on the southerners' plight and decided to share it with her class.

She read a report from the Herald to her pupils about what people in the worst-hit areas of Canterbury were facing and "they sat they with their mouths open and couldn't believe it".

"It's something they hadn't really taken any notice of. They couldn't really appreciate what it was like."

Meanwhile, the Auckland Regional Council has pledged $5000 from its discretionary fund to help the Christchurch City Council and Canterbury Red Cross relief efforts for snowbound households in the South Island.

It was a gesture of support for fellow New Zealanders experiencing real hardship for 12 days, without power in sub-freezing conditions, said ARC chairman Michael Lee.