RROGA News 2020

Page 4

PRESIDENT'S REPORT

President's Report Tena koutou katoa. Nau mai, haere mai! Welcome everyone! There was a meme circulating a while back in lockdown. It said something to the effect that if you’d been asked in 2010 where you’d be in ten years’ time what might you have answered? It’s a typical job interview question by the way, and the internet is full of ghastly sample responses, very few would fool an interview panel. But none of those responses ever suggested the possibility that one might be hunkering down in a Level 4 lockdown during a global pandemic, hemmed in by something that wasn’t alive and that you couldn’t see. ‘How are you?’ said the surgeon about to perform a smallish procedure on my finger once we’d moved to Level 2. ‘Fine,’ I replied. ‘I loved Level 4, the world stopping from its ceaseless angry activity – He raised an eyebrow. – the fact that Papatūānuku gave us the flick,’ I continued earnestly. The surgeon was concentrating on the ultra sound image. ‘Papatūānuku,’ I explained. ‘Earth mother and wife of Rangi-nui from whom all living things originate.’ He plunged a large blunt needle into my finger, I yelped, and the conversation dwindled away. I acknowledge the huge irreversible hardships COVID-19 has caused many New Zealanders. But here’s the thing. Because. Just for a few brief weeks, our pressing concerns to one side, the planet was allowed to be. ‘India’s coasts witness bumper hatching of rare turtles’ Millions of endangered Olive Ridley turtles were seen hatching near India’s beaches, amid nationwide lockdown. Recently, Odisha’s Gahirmatha Beach and Rushikulya Rookery, the most preferred nesting grounds of the Olive Ridley sea turtles, witnessed lakhs* of them. According to a news report published in The New Indian Express, around 3.7 lakh Olive Ridleys have laid eggs at Rushikulya Rookery till now, while 4.2 lakh Olive Ridleys have turned up at Gahirmatha Beach for laying eggs. The report added that over six crore** eggs will be laid this year. How exciting is that? And it’s only one of many such stories. Who was in your bubble? Probably not a turtle. How did you

spend your lockdown? Probably not on a beach in India. Thank goodness the Olive Ridley mama turtles had it all to themselves for once. You were reading, gardening, relaxing, working remotely, working. Fortunately for RROGA, after a highly successful reunion weekend with record attendances, this time coincided with writing articles for our magazine. For compelling COVID-19 related reasons it was decided the delivery would be via digital means this year, with a very small number being printed for Gibson Girls and archival records. From a sustainability point of view, the committee thinks it’s good progressive step. Our meetings became digital; once again, sustainable and efficient, both time and energy wise; we intend to keep doing it as much as we can. You can read about everything we did over the past year in the magazine. Philanthropy, fostering social connections and more. It’s a great hardworking committee. I thank them all. But back to Papatūānuku. Last year I spoke about interconnectedness. This year I’m talking about the need and value of isolation. Because regeneration happens when we allow space. Space for questions. What is our place on the earth? What are our responsibilities? To the turtles. To trees, to butterflies. To other humans. To this school we love. How do we morally respond to our privilege?

RROGA NEWS I 2020 04


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