North Island Opening Ceremony Waitakere Auckland

Today we marked the start of the North Island leg, with a fantastic ceremony kindly supported by the Waitakere City Council.

The Te Pai Centre was the venue for todays opening ceremony, and the proceedings began with the arrival of the team and a traditional Maori welcome. The powhiri was conducted by the young memebers of the local Marae.

Traditional song and dance, combined with call and response from both parites makes for a truely beautiful welcome for the World Harmony Run team. The team listens most respectfully to the speeches from the Maori elders, and Uddipan Brown speaks on behalf of the World Harmony Run about its significance to New Zealand.

The team members then sang a song by Sri Chinmoy called 'A New World of Peace'

Both parties concluded in the traditional Maori way by pressing noses, here is Mr. Ishida the Consul-General of Japan joining in.

We then moved indoors for the rest of the ceremony where all our distingished guests were introduced by MC Jogyata Dallas. We were most delighted and honoured to have the Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse present. She spoke so beautifully about the need for communities to come together, and the future we must leave for the children.

Several children from Golden Grove school read out poems of peace they had especially written for todays ceremony. They were very brave, as some were only 6 years old and needed a little help.

The audience watched and listened most carefully.

We were then treated to an amazing singing performance of a combined schools choir led by the equally amazing Marian Sinclair. 150 children sang for us three songs, Pacifica, Climb, and a great rendition of the World harmony Run song compltete with all the actions. Our thanks to Marian, her fellow teachers and the kids for giving us a real highlight, they sang so beautifully that many guests said they were almost moved to tears.

We presented two Torch Bearer awards today, to individuals that have helped  make a real difference in their communities. Firstly we were very happy to award Waitakere City Councillor Linda Cooper for all her efforts over the last 16 years. Linda has made a real difference in her comminuty and was instrumental in making todays ceremony possible. Through her enthusiasim we were able to recieve the generous support of the Mayor and the City Council.

Our second recipiant was the ever joyful Marian Sinclair for her huge efforts with school music in the West Auckland Community. She leads a childrens choir of 500, from many different schools who are due to give a concert evening in the Auckland Town Hall in November.

Our other guests included musician Jeffree Clarkson, Councillor Judy Lawley, Consul-General of Italy Mr. Magaraggia, Consul-General of Samoa Mr. Pogi, George Valentine the Northern President of the United Nations Association of New Zealand and Ian and Michelle of SGI. Here all the guests held the World Harmony Run torch.

Our ceremony concluded were it began, outside with a peace tree planting. The plaque and tree were kindly donated by the Waitakere City Council, so fittingly Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse lead the planting while Councillor Cooper read out the proclomation. Together they unveiled the plaque. This was a very peaceful and serene ending to the days events, and will serve as a permanent reminder for all future generations.

Later that day...

We were fortunate to once again be invited to the national rugby teams training session, by thier coach and World Harmony Run Patron Graham Henry. Graham is the most amazing coach with an incrediable record of wins, and at the same time has a big heart. One month earlier we went to his house for the second time, and sat down with him and his wife in their lounge. He is most supportive of the World Harmony Run and said of the founder Sri Chinmoy that 'He was obviously a great great man, a very special person.'

Today though we presented Graham with the Torch Bearers award for his inspiration and support, and took a few photos with him and the All Blacks after training.