Learning from a third-milestone cluster
Clusters that have moved along the continuum of milestones in their development serve as reservoirs of support and learning, offering valuable insights and experiences to clusters that are at earlier stages. Such clusters are establishing a vibrant community-building process and have one or more centres of intense activity in smaller settings, such as neighbourhoods, which provide a particularly rich environment for growth and learning. Recognising this, members of the Masterton nucleus (Wairarapa cluster) planned a visit to Pā Harakeke (Flaxmere), a suburb of Hastings in the Hawke’s Bay cluster — a cluster that has reached the third milestone. This visit aimed to foster deeper understanding and connection, allowing the Masterton friends to learn from the practices and successes of the Pā Harakeke community-building processes. What follows is an account of their inspiring and insightful weekend in Hawke's Bay.
“...ensuring that the friends in the nucleus are connected effectively to the learning process in a strong cluster that has passed the third milestone, and has a vibrant community-building process in one or more centres of intense activity. This connection could be brought about, for example, by having the core group from within the nucleus visit a more advanced cluster for an extended period, attend gatherings organised in that cluster for reflection, or participate in online spaces with friends from that cluster.”
— Assisting Countries and Regions at an Early Stage of Development, a resource for the Continental Boards of Counsellors, June 2022
Masterton nucleus visits Pā Harakeke neighbourhood
From conversations at the last summer school, plans were made for the Masterton nucleus to learn from the Pā Harakeke neighbourhood. Four adults and three youth from Masterton embarked on a meaningful journey to Hawke's Bay for a weekend in May filled with insight, learning, and connection. The purpose of this visit was two-fold: to provide the youth with a deeper understanding and vision of the junior youth spiritual empowerment programme by engaging with experienced youth in Flaxmere, and for the nucleus to gain insights from a much more advanced neighbourhood.
Making friends with youth from a neighbouring cluster.
Everyone meets at the park after visiting homes in Flaxmere/Pā Harakeke
The visit commenced with a shared lunch provided by the wonderful Lolo family, after which we explored questions that the Masterton nucleus is currently learning about:
How to improve conversations about the junior youth spiritual empowerment programme to have more effective home visits with whānau of junior youth?
How to create consistency with our camps and to naturally connect the families of junior youth to these?
What key points need to be shared about the junior youth programme with parents and friends who are being introduced to the programme?
After exploring and consulting on these questions, we started to prepare for a community dinner and devotions which are regularly hosted at Jaimee and Lolo's house. We were joined by families from the Flaxmere neighbourhood and the wider Hastings community. After dinner, we shared conversation and sang prayers in the purpose-converted garage, and there was a lovely spirit in this whare. Acknowledgements were made to the ancestors whose photos lined one wall of the space.
The following morning was dedicated to studying youth conference materials, exploring ‘the Period of Youth’. We were joined by four youth from the neighbourhood, all of whom had experience serving as animators in the junior youth programme, some of them for several years. They generously shared the impact this programme had on their personal lives through serving those younger than themselves – the skills learned and capacities built – and sometimes leading to a life-changing experience as some have come from gang family backgrounds.
Exploring youth conference themes together.
Sharing dinner and devotions.
The study and sharing were then followed by our splitting into teams and visiting homes of the families of junior youth to engage in meaningful conversations with parents, fostering a sense of community and shared purpose. Once experience was gained, and some junior youth and youth joined the teams, everyone met up again at the local park, for sharing and final farewells.
Being able to study with the friends who live and breathe community building every day, hearing these powerful and personal accounts of how the junior youth programme had impacted so many lives (of participants and animators alike) was an inspiration! While the visit was very short, the glimpses gleaned helped inspire the Masterton nucleus to reinvigorate their junior youth programme, which had fallen by the wayside when the local animators were no longer able to serve at the end of last year. There are plans to support two of the local youth, who have had experience with some of the programme as participants a little while back, to train and be accompanied to serve as animators for an existing group, as well as the next contingent of children graduating from children’s classes.
A junior youth camp is being held in July, with the help of two experienced animators from Hawke’s Bay, which will further cement the friendships built and continue to shape the vision of the local youth.
This article has been shared by the North Island Regional Bahá'í Council.
