These school children from the Pilgrim Nursery School in Rwanda are being assisted by a group of Whanganui and Wellington women. Photos / Supplied
These school children from the Pilgrim Nursery School in Rwanda are being assisted by a group of Whanganui and Wellington women. Photos / Supplied
A high tea was recently held at Bushy Park homestead to raise funds for a group focused on helping people in Rwanda.
"It was a great day," said Carmel Hurdle, a retired social worker and one of the organisers of the October 1 event. "We went to Rwanda in 2019, and we visited the Pilgrim Nursery School that started out with 35 pupils, some of whom were pygmy children, children who came from poor or one-parent families or who were orphaned due to the AIDS epidemic. The principal had asked for assistance. We took money and we also took over things for the school — books, balls, pencils, things like that — and we got some equipment made; blackboards, a teacher's desk, a store cupboard.
"We said to them [that] it would be good if we could help them develop a project where they could generate their own money. It was about sustainability."
A group of six women went on the 2019 trip to Rwanda - four from Whanganui and two from Wellington, most having a background in social work.
"I took them on this trip to see what went on in Rwanda," says Carmel. "It's such a neat group of women, all with big hearts."
"It would bring money into the school to buy materials they needed and it would also enable them to give the kids a meal of maize porridge every day."
The school got a consultant to help create a project plan and worked out a budget which was approved by the Open Home Foundation International [OHFI], a charitable trust with a Christian base, through which the funds were sent to the school.
"The money has been sent and we hope, when we visit next year, that we see the results of that," says Carmel. "They are starting with 200 chickens."
The high tea in progress.
Kim Ostern, a social worker, is one of the Rwanda group.
"We're a group of amateurs who have got together and we've really done well with our contacts and friends. It's been a success," she says.
The fundraiser at Bushy Park was to finance the poultry project.
Numbers were limited to 60 for the high tea and they had no trouble selling all the tickets - but that was not all.
"People donated items to auction and we got a huge variety of things [...] and some things were put on a make-an-offer table," says Carmel.
The ever-generous Neville Gorrie drove patrons to Bushy Park in his vintage double-decker bus.
"People who were unable to come gave us substantial donations outside the fundraising day."
Carmel says Community Drumming Whanganui also went busking for the cause.
Hot Potato at Bushy Park homestead.
About three weeks out from the high tea, skiffle band Hot Potato - one of the members of which is a social worker - got in touch and asked if they could play at the high tea. There would be no charge, they said, but they would like to join in with the high tea, and they promised that from any bookings made as a result of the event, 20 per cent of their fee would be donated to the Rwanda cause.
In the end, Bushy Park homestead lessee Dale Pullen generously subsidised Hot Potato's high tea.
"Dale is a big supporter of our fundraisers," says Kim.
Carmel says the final figure was close to $8000.
The always generous Neville Gorrie and his bus.
The group also raises money for sewing machines for projects they've already set up and for girls who graduate from the sewing courses but will never be able to afford their own machine. Other projects under OHFI are many and varied and cover a number of African countries.
