Apart from the eight years in which we were based overseas, Barby has been working at the Refugee Resettlement Center in Auckland since 2002. This year she is a ‘release teacher’, spending one day each week in three different classrooms, with three different age groups. Impressive—and demanding.
One day is spent with 11-13 year olds—from Syria, Colombia, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Sudan, Vietnam and China. Imagine it! Recently they had a session on ‘Exploring Art Together’—with the letter of the day being “E”. Barby decided to work with an emu—in all likelihood, an unfamiliar creature to the children.
Up on the board she posted an image of the eyes and beak of an emu, together with a couple of examples of what she wanted them to draw. A table-full of coloured crayons was made available to them—and off they went…
Here is the art gallery at the end of it all. May they bring you as much joy as they have brought us—and please, please, don’t miss the fake eyelids and the cigarette :).
And here are those images which Barby put up on the board…
nice chatting
Paul
About Me
the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.
Recent Posts
Football helps me train preachers. See, when you speak to me about football—or, ‘footie’—I need to know where your feet are before I can understand what you mean. Are your feet in Ireland, or Brazil, or the USA, or NZ—or in crazy Australia? It must be the most fanatical sporting nation in the world. Within…
Having been born in 1959, I don’t remember much about the 1960s. But I have heard a lot. Hippies. Drugs. Rock ‘n Roll. Assassinations. Moon-walking. A quick trip across to ChatGPT informs me immediately that it was ‘a transformative decade across the world’—marked by the civil rights and feminist movements, Cold War tensions, consumerism and…
Wonderful 🙂
Loved them all. Bless. What a joy.
Fantastic! Such a special opportunity!