Western News: September 13, 2016

14
Tuesday September 13 2016
Our People
WESTERN NEWS
Volunteer work at home and abroad
Chris Allan started the
Joshua Foundation 11
years ago, which helps
troubled youth in the
city. He spoke to Caitlin
Miles about how the army
saved him from a bad
path, serving in Sierra
Leone and throwing
people out of planes.
FOCUSED: Chris and Pamela Allan. Their children Joshua, Rachel and Becky all inherited his adrenalin gene, getting ready to
zipline while in Vanuatu, Chris is on the right.
Chris can you tell me a bit
about the Joshua Foundation?
Well, it started with the aim to
help troubled and at-risk youth.
Now it is about helping all young
people, getting them integrated
into and working with their local
community better. We do a lot
of work with youth in Linwood
and Aranui, but our work is
expanding. We want to create
projects that could be accessible
to everyone.
You said we, who does that
include?
My wife Pamela and I set it up.
Why did you decide to set up
the project?
We wanted to give kids a
chance, show them that they can
be heading down a bad track and
turn them around and get them
focused on making positive steps
in their own life and in their
communities so they can give
back to them. Once you change
one person in a family, that will
have a run-on effect when they
have a family and that will continue
down the line. That’s what
we want to do. Keep supporting
and pointing young people in a
positive direction for their lives.
Where did the name Joshua
come from?
We wanted to get a name sorted
very early on and my wife and
I were both trying to come up
with ideas. As a Christian-based
organisation we were thinking
of biblical names. We decided
to go into separate rooms and
not come out until we had it.
But then we both walked out
of the rooms at the same time
and thought of the same person.
Joshua. He was hard working
and had strong determination
and they are key values we want
to install in other young people.
Did your time in the army
contribute to your idea?
It’s fair to say I was one of those
kids that I now teach. I was not
in a good way, I had left school
at 15 and was starting to get into
some bad things. Then I joined
the army and those guys basically
became my second family. They
really helped to pull me out of
that place and gave me purpose
VOLUNTEERING:
Pamela and Chris
took their children
to volunteer to
work with villages
and children in
Mele-Mart Village,
Port Vila Efate, in
Vanuatu.
and that kind of thing. They have
definitely had an influence on me
and my life and that’s what I hope
to do for these other kids.
What was your time in the
army like?
Like I said they are like my
second family. I also became a
jump master in the army so it
was my job was to throw people
out of C130 planes. I skydived for
25 years and it was really great. I
was a bit of an adrenalin junkie.
You spent time working in
Sierra Leone with the army,
what was that like?
It was horrendous. It was just
after the Civil War in 1993 so it
was a really unstable time over
there. It encouraged me to do
more work in other areas.
You have also done volunteer
work in Vanuatu, can you tell
me about that?
We bought a property over
there when I was a training sergeant.
Just loved the people and
the place. We wanted to serve
the villages with the kids in it.
We wanted to take our kids there
and show them how other people
have to live and show that we can
help them, so we went to some
villages and volunteered with
the people, we took over clothes
and supplies and things they
need. I think it really changed
their perspective on things. Now
we might go shopping and my
kids will point out things that we
could send to Vanuatu. They say:
‘Dad how about we take that over
next time.’ It’s really great to see
them take notice. We just want
to install a passion in them to
help other people.
Is volunteering over there
something you hope to bring
to your programmes with the
Joshua Foundation?
It is, it’s something we are
currently working on actually.
We have partnered up with the
Student Volunteer Army to do
volunteer work in Vanuatu. Then
we plan to open that to kids
across Canterbury. They would
need to fund themselves, but the
plan is to go over for 14 days and
help and live in villages so they
can understand what life is like
and why it is important to help
out these people. They really appreciate
the work that people do
to help and that’s why we do it.
Talking about funding how
do you manage?
We are non-Government
funded and do it all ourselves.
We decided it was worth taking a
risk and setting it up because we
felt so strongly about it so we got
the money ourselves and started.
We’re the same now, we don’t
like to ask people for money. We
know that people make contributions
to other places and have a
lot on their plate already.
What have been some of the
stand out moments from the
organisation?
That’s a hard one to answer.
There have been so many over
the years to be honest it’s hard
to pull out a few. There were two
sisters though who we worked
with, they have actually just got
scholarships for university. One
of the girls has received a scholarship
for Canterbury University
and the other for Otago, so it’s
moments like that that have been
really cool. I don’t want this to
sound bad but I think after a
while you get desensitised to it.
So you still work as well?
Yes, I’m the Officer Commanding
Canterbury Company
for the 2/4 RNZIR (Royal New
Zealand Infantry Regiment).
Do you get any spare time?
Not really. But I don’t mind.
My version of downtime is getting
to sit with mates, couple of
beers and watch the rugby.
You’re a Canterbury supporter
right?
Yes, of course.
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