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2 Māngere playcentre gives eco-nappies a go By Justine Skilling The Mangere East Family Service Centre’s early childhood centre has come a long way in 21 years. Centre Manager Karen Matata says the centre used to be run out of the Mangere East School hall - which was also used for assemblies and gym classes – and it has always been about providing children and their families a place to learn, play and connect with each other over conversations about simple things like nappy rash or swap tips on getting local bargains. Karen remembers how many of those first parents and grandparents enjoyed participating in the activities themselves, “reliving a childhood they never had”. Nurturing those family connections is an important part of what the early Pictured: An example of a cloth nappy Looking for Childcare Mangere Early Learning Centre Come in and see what makes us so different from other centres. At Barnardos KidStart Childcare we understand that your child needs a safe and nurturing environment to learn, play and grow. Our centres provide a warm and positive environment for children under five years. 20 ECE Hours and WINZ subsidies available. Drop in for a visit or call us now as limited spaces are available. 7:30am – 5pm 33 Cape Road 09 275 5978 Mangere www.kidstart.co.nz BarnardosKidStartChildcare Mangere East Family Service Centre early childhood centre manager Karen Matata childhood centre does as Karen says, “it’s all about whanau and relationships - as that’s the most important thing”. Nurturing the environment is part of this too. Over the years the children have learned to separate their food waste and recyclables from landfill waste and make a weekly trip to Makaurau Marae to feed the scraps to the worms and create compost. And recently, the centre took the opportunity to trial cloth nappies, ditching disposables entirely for three months. Although initially not convinced that cloth nappies would work at the Centre, Karen decided to “give it a go” after hearing about the terrible environmental impact of disposable nappies. She was shocked to discover that these nappies remain in our landfills for over 500 years without breaking down. With a mixed-age roll of 44 children requiring around 45 nappy changes per session, using cloth nappies would significantly reduce the Centre’s environmental impact and save parents a huge amount of money at the same time. Karen says that Centre staff found the modern cloth nappies reasonably easy to use, once they got the hang it. The Centre has it’s own laundry, and staff were responsible for soaking and laundering the nappies each day. Nappies were dried on an outside line when the weather was fine. Importantly, parents were very pleased to be saving money on the disposables they would normally supply for their children to use during sessions. The Centre plans to use cloth nappies permanently once their new building is completed in early 2015. Karen also wants to encourage other early childhood centres to give cloth nappies a go, saying it’s “for the benefit of the environment”. If you’re involved with an early childhood centre and are interested in trialling cloth nappies, Karen is more than happy for you to contact her on 280-3499 to discuss her experience further. If you want to see your ad appear in our next issue or if you have a suggestion for a story email us at: 275times@gmail.com
Ex-Apia Way bouncer busy making a difference 3 Mangere’s infamous Apia Way Bar in the town centre has seen its fair share of colourful characters, but few would have predicted one of its young bouncers would one day be a lawyer doing his bit to keep South Auckland healthy and happy. But that’s exactly what Jospeh Liava’a does as the Company Lawyer and Community Manager for East Tamaki HealthCare. The former Massey road resident worked the door at the Mangere bar, now know as Club R8, after dropping out of Auckland Boys Grammar. His stint as a bouncer also led to him developing an addiction to alcohol. He says he didn't realise he had a problem until a doctor told him his liver was close to shutting down. After kicking the bottle, he went on to do a variety of professions, both here and overseas including factory worker, fruit picker, bank teller, labourer, pipefitter and wharfie. But he says it was his wife Lorraine who gave him the motivation to go back go to law school and realise a long-held dream. His current role Joseph Liava'a, East Tamaki HealthCare Company Lawyer and Community Manager. with East Tamaki Healthcare (ETHC) gives him the opportunity to promote not only the work of one of the city’s largest healthcare providers, but he also provides a valuable service to community workers and healthcare professionals with his weekly “Communitycations” emails which inform those working out south of great events or opportunities coming up around the region. Joseph says his motivation for working for ETHC is to make an impact in the community. “I used to think about the massive gap in health outcomes and life expectancy between Pacific/Maori people and the rest of NZ and get really sad. Then I started to get really angry at the glaring injustices and unfairness in the situation. Now, I just get busy and together with like minded souls we make those changes that need making." And if he won Lotto what would he do to improve his old hometown of Mangere "If I could, I’d buy everyone a house so they could feel secure." To get Joseph's weekly event updates email: joseph@ethc.co.nz Roy shares secret to Māngere Markets' success The Mangere Markets have become one of the city’s most popular weekend attractions bringing thousands every Saturday morning to sample the huge range of fruit, vegetables, delicious food and an assortment of household goods and fashion products. But few know the man who keeps the whole thing ticking along smoothly like a well-oiled machine. That man is Roy Bagshaw and he's been the Mangere Markets manager for the last six years. The retired sales and marketing guru says the key to the markets' on-going success is ensuring the stallholders sell quality products. “I love our stall holders – they are really hardy people who are also really lovely. “And if we get good stall holders, selling good products then we get good customers, coming back again and again.” Roy says another special thing about the markets is the range of cultures and ethnicities represented. “It’s a totally different world [to what Mangere Markets Manager: Roy Bagshaw many kiwis know]. We get every race and colour here. French, Dutch, Hungarian, Afghani, Chinese plus every Pacific culture is represented.” He says one recent development is the use of Facebook to offer prizes and promote good deals. "Marketing has just been by word of mouth, but with Facebook now, we’re starting to promote it more that way." He expects the markets to keep growing and continue to pour money back into the region through the Mangere Markets Trust. “We aim to create a family friendly environment. It’s been going for over 20 years and in that time thousands of dollars has been put back into the community.” For more information about the Mangere Markets: https://www. facebook.com/MangereMarkets Verse of the month: You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid.
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275 Times. Mangere community news.

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