Bay of Plenty Polytech students aid Christchurch

Bay of Plenty Polytech students aid Christchurch

It’s been more than a year since Christchurch’s devastating February earthquake and sadly many families are still struggling to get their lives on track.

Bay of Plenty Polytechnic carpentry tutor Dirk de Vries has been to Christchurch a number of times to volunteer since the February 2011 quake so when Habitat for Humanity’s Christchurch Earthquake Rebuild Volunteer Project contacted him about further work he put a proposal to the carpentry team and before he knew it, he and another staff member along with ten students were packed into a mini-van and were on their way.

“It was rewarding helping real people out and bettering their lives,” says Dirk. “It was a win-win situation for my students too; they appreciated giving something back to those worse off than themselves and of course were able to get work and life experience from this trip.”

The main focus of the team’s visit was to help out two families by getting their residential homes up to inspection quality and to make them liveable again. The Polytechnic team split into two groups with the first group repairing walls and re-doing the foundation work on the first house. The second group built a new storage shed and completed fencing around the second property.

Polytechnic carpentry student Nick Te Huna was really pleased he went down. “Since the earthquake I’ve wanted to help out in some way so this was a great opportunity to help out a needy family in Christchurch. I was also able to get more work experience and the opportunity to get my foot in the door for future employment.”

The Polytechnic team helped out in Christchurch last year rebuilding part of a nature reserve and certainly aren’t ruling out a third visit to help their fellow struggling countrymen and women.

ENDS

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