Defence Force wāhine camps inspire youth

Pakuranga College students Depali

Lamba (Year 12) and Andrea Hawke (Year 13) had a holiday experience different from most when they each embarked upon a New Zealand Defence Force wāhine camp during the April term break.

Depali spent the first week at the School to Seas camp sleeping on the HMNZS Canterbury as it docked in Devonport. She was one of 30 female students selected to take part in the camp, designed to show wāhine the opportunities available to them in the Navy in a hands-on environment.

“We got to try lots of different specialisations with an all-female crew, which was very cool” says Depali.

“My favourite activity was practising flood control during firefighting training. Most people don’t equate firefighting with the Navy, but if a ship catches fire in an explosion it’s very important to be able to control the blaze and minimise damage to the ship in a way that keeps it afloat. If you can’t do this, there’s nowhere to go but into the ocean.

“We rotated through some amazing experiences – weapons engineering, deploying underwater