National Office Christian World Service PO Box 22-652 Otautahi/Christchurch 8032, Aotearoa/New Zealand phone: +64-3-3669274 fax: +64-3-3652919 natsec@scm.org.nz

Wednesday, 21 August 2002

Dear SCM Senior Friend(s),

Greetings from SCMA! We are writing to let you know our news of the past year and to advertise a visit from WSCF Co-Secretary General, Beate Fagerli, to New Zealand. Beate is based at the WSCF Inter-Regional Office in Geneva and she has timed her trip to attend both the New Zealand and Australian national conferences being held this year. We are very excited to be able to have her and hope that you may be able to join us at one of three Senior Friend events that are being held around the country. (We also apologise for the rather short notice of these events but Beate has only recently being able to confirm her trip and dates – we are very lucky to have her).

Beate Fagerli – SCMA Speaking Tour 2002

Auckland

When: Saturday 29 June, 2.00 pm.

Where: The Wesley Hall, St John’s Theological College, 202 St John’s Road, Meadowbank, Auckland.

Queries: Roger Pym, 521 0099.

Christchurch

When: Thursday 4 July, 7.30 pm.

Where: Old Stone House/Cracroft Community Centre, Shalamar Drive, Cashmere, Christchurch.

Queries: Tess Windle, 366 9274 .

Dunedin

When: Sunday 7 July, 1.00 pm.

Where: Evison Lounge – Clubs and Societies Building, University of Otago, Albany St (next to Poppa’s Pizzas).

Queries: Kumari, 021 154 1766 or 477 1428 (hm), 479 5387 or Ulrika, 477 6650.

Beate will talk about what WSCF and SCM movements around the world are up too. Please bring your questions! In Christchurch and Auckland there will be tea and biscuits following her talk. In Dunedin, the afternoon will begin with a short service and then conclude with afternoon tea.

SCMA News

Since we wrote to you last June we can report:

● We have had a change of National Secretary. Michael Perkins left in September after two and a half years in the position to work for the Ministry of Education in Wellington. Happily he remains on the National Coordinating Group and is also webmaster of the SCM website. He has been replaced by myself, Tess Windle, who has been a member of SCM Canterbury/Lincoln and SCM Victoria for much of the last ten years while doing undergraduate and postgraduate study at Canterbury and then when working in Wellington. The position remains a half-time one and I also work 20 hours per week in the Bachelor of Teaching and Learning Programme at the University of Canterbury.

● There are currently four small local units, based at Otago, Canterbury, Victoria and Auckland universities. SCM Otago has been busy this year with organising their university book sale, leading a fair-trade coffee campaign, and having regular forums on a range of issues. SCM Canterbury/Lincoln has also had number of speakers at their fortnightly meetings and has organised this year’s national conference (being held at Governors Bay, 1-5 July). SCM Victoria and Auckland units have held some interesting occasional events but unfortunately are down to very small numbers this year. They are hoping, however, to gain new members when the new Regional Development Workers (RDW) scheme begins later in the year (see below for more details).

● From September 1-10 SCMA is hosting the WSCF – Asia Pacific region Women Doing Theology Conference. Participants from 14 countries in the Asia Pacific region will be attending and local resource people have been invited from through-out the country. This is an important event in the life of our movement and the first time (that we are aware of) that a WSCF programme has been held in New Zealand.

● In last year’s letter to Senior Friends we mentioned the Regional Development Worker’s scheme. This is still being developed, but when it is underway each of the four current units will have a Regional Development Worker for five hours a week, 40 weeks of the year. Initial funding has been gratefully received from the Church Women United in Aotearoa/New Zealand National Committee, SCM Otago’s book sale and a small bequest. Ongoing funding will be sought for the scheme and we are looking forward to the huge difference it will make to have units able to publicise activities better and to be able to do more networking (and recruiting!) with places such as local secondary schools.

● A number of SCMers have also participated in WSCF Asia Pacific conferences and programmes in the last year. Sonia Petrie went to the Ecological Concern Programme (Taiwan); Stuart Bradshaw to the Women and Men Partnership Programme (Hong Kong); Emmeline Taptiklas to the 15^th Regional Committee Meeting of the Asia Pacific Region and the School for Ecumenical Leadership Formation (Thailand) and currently Abe Huie-Jolly is attending the Student Empowerment for Transformation Programme: Searching for Alternatives in the Midst of Globalisation in the Phillipines. At the end of this month, Natalia Batchelor is doing a three month internship programme in Thailand, working on the Burma issue and in October I will be attending the 3^rd National Secretaries Meeting in Thailand. SCMA has also been proud to be the nominating organisation for Geoff Keey (a recent Senior Friend) who has been selected to be the NGO environmental delegate on the official New Zealand delegation to the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development, being held in South Africa later this year. SCMers are certainly getting out there!

Supporting SCM

When we mailed out the SCM History Booklet last year we included a donation slip and were thrilled to receive approximately $2500 for the national movement. Our income mainly comes from the SCMA Trust (formed in 2000 to manage SCM’s assets such as the Nairn Street house and bequests; contact Ron Cormack, Williams and Batchelor Chartered Accountants, PO Box 8575, Christchurch, ph 03 343 3348), WSCF-Inter Regional Office and WSCF – Asia Pacific, grants for specific projects (such as the RDW scheme) and donations. Any donations are very gratefully received and will enable us to continue our current activities and to look to expanding them in the future. This new financial year we are facing some shortfall with a projected drop in income from the Trust and also increased rental costs for our office space. If you are able to make a donation it would be very appreciated and a donation slip is enclosed. We also appreciate prayer, encouragement and any other assistance you are able to give to the rebuilding of SCM. It was great to receive all the feedback and letters we got last year and do thank you for your interest.

Hopefully we may see some of you at Beate’s talks.

Yours faithfully

Tess Windle (National Secretary)

On behalf on the National Coordinating Group