In 1999, 12 Kiwi’s with Sandra Kailahi as our illustrious leader, set off for Tokyo to participate in the 11th Ship for World Youth.

‘Celebrating Diversity’ was the theme for the Ship, a diverse bunch we were, and oh boy did we celebrate….

With the Nippon Maru being in Auckland for the 22nd Ship for World Youth, the Port of Call activities needing volunteers, and it being 10 years since we all departed for our own Ship experience we decided it was as good a time as any for a get together. And so the planning began.

Your browser may not support display of this image.Your browser may not support display of this image.Really, it was only going to be something simple, like a nice dinner somewhere, as the Port of Call activities were going to provide ample opportunity to catch up with all the gossip from the 10 years. And that is what we did. In keeping with the theme we choose a Japanese restaurant and had an excellent meal.

To have the crew back together again, apart from Damon who decided to shun his friends and stay in Japan, was just awesome and a reflection of the friendship and camaraderie of our delegation and the spirit of the SWY programme in general. It was just like we were back up on the 6th floor.

With Nikki travelling up from Wellington, Anna from Dunedin, Pam and Waveney from Christchurch and Rokeni all the way from South Auckland was something special.

A BBQ at Pauls later that weekend rounded off the weekend catch-up.

Who knows where we all will be in another 10 years, but it would be exceptional if we could do this again.

The challenge has been laid for other NZ delegations to see where they are in 10 years and keep the SWY families together!

Darryl Bretherton

On Sunday, 6 June 2009, SWYNZ hosted a beach clean-up along the Petone foreshore in Wellington as part of a number of post-program activities the Association hopes to implement. SWY alumni members from 3 different batches, along with friends, family and others worked solidly during the morning to tidy up part of the Petone beach that is most often left out of designated areas of clean up. By lunchtime, the group had managed to gather a significant amount of rubbish within the area between the playground on The Esplande and the river mouth.

SWYNZ President Josh Bahlman was stoked at the success of the event, as concerns regarding the weather and even the amount of litter on the beach played on the organisers minds. "It was a great day, we didn't know what to expect with the weather, but despite the cold conditions people showed up and we were able pick up over 100kgs of rubbish!"

The event attracted a total of 26 people, including a group of staff and students from the International Pacific College who were brought down from Palmerston North by Miho Fukuda (SWY19, Japan) to help with the event. Also in attendance were exchange students from AFS, a couple who had heard of the event through Facebook, as well as friends from the wider SWY network. Of this support, Bahlman would like to extend his gratitude to those people who took the time to participate and hopes to be able to hold more of these kinds of events in the future. "The idea is to start small and expand from there. We hope to create more of these kind of events, not only in Wellington, but also across the country. Particularly where there are concentrated pockets of SWY alumni members, we would like to be able to utilise our collective skills and networks to bring people together to hold more of these events for the betterment of our community and to promote the amazing opportunity the Ship for World Youth program is able to give youth of New Zealand."

SWY Alumni members involved were Josh Bahlman (SWY20), Tai Ahu (SWY20), Mariana Whareaitu (SWY20), Fumiko Ogasawara (SWY20, Japan), Areti Metuamate (SWY21), Kieran Brown (SWY21), Claire Pettigrew (SWY21), and Miho Fukuda (SWY19, Japan).

Please check out the Gallery by clicking on the right menu or HERE

The 22nd Ship for World Youth Program will be held from Jan. 12 - March 5, 2010

The itinerary of the 22nd Ship for World Youth program 2009 is as follows:
- Arrival of the participants from overseas: January 12, 2010
- Program for overseas participants in Japan: January 13−22
- Departure from Yokohama Port (Japan): January 22
- Refuel, food and water supply in Singapore: January 29 - 30
- Port of call activities in United Arab emirates (Dubai): February 8−11
- Port of call activities in India (Chennai): February 17−19
- Refuel, food and water supply in Singapore: Feb. 24 - 25
- Return back to Tokyo (Japan) March 5

Check out projects section for full details including map of locations!

First project: Petone Beach Walk Cleanup Postponed until 7th June due to Southerly Storm!

Petone Beach Rubbish Walk Host: SWYNZ.ORG.NZ Date: Sunday, June 7th, 2009 Time: 10:00am - 12:00pm Location: Petone Waterfront playground City/Town: Wellington, New Zealand We are planning a beach clean up here on Sunday 24th at 10am. Meeting at the play ground. Rubbish bags and gloves will be provided. We will be participating and taking notes of how much and what rubbish is found up and down the beach (Thanks Kate) . Please pass this on to people who might be keen to help out. Please RSVP :-) to president@swynz.org.nz

A CONVERSATION WITH YOUNG PEOPLE > DIVERSITY & ITS ECONOMIC BENEFITS

COME TO A CRUCIAL CONVERSATION TO HEAR:

* International expert and UK nice guy Philippe Legrain talk about youth, creativity, diversity,
music & the arts, and earning money from it all.

MC will be Mr Tai Ahu from NZ's Ship for World Youth

Live entertainment from urban ethnic performers & dancers incl. cHip cHop cRew.
Yourself (meeting and enjoying food with young people from diverse cultures in Wgtn. and Akl.).

Wed 13th May 09, The New Dowse Laings Rd Lower Hutt 4-6pm FREE

Check out ASIANZ.ORG.NZ for the following awesome opportunity.

Applications are now invited for a funded internship for a period of two months with Kyushu Railway Company in Japan - www.jrkyushu.co.jp/english

The aim of the programme is to enable a Japanese-speaking New Zealand university graduate to experience working for
a Japanese company in Japan. Asia:NZ will fund the intern’s return air ticket, accommodation and a modest stipend,
sufficient to cover living expenses while in Japan.

Quick note to welcome back all the PY's from the 21'st Ship for World Youth. Sounds like they had a great trip and have a lot of energy to get back into the coming year. Will be great to work with them on the post programme activities through the coming year.