To Friends Everywhere,

Tënä koutou, tënä koutou, tënä koutou katoa,

Fifty two Young Friends and three Very Young Friends gathered at the Quaker Settlement in Wanganui for six days over Easter. The theme for the camp (YF: The Future) encompassed both our focus on sustainability and discussions about our future within Aotearoa New Zealand Yearly Meeting. A workshop on the second day gave us an introduction to ideas around climate change and we found we had many ways of understanding our relationship with the Earth. Through a further session and time spent in silence, particularly during an epilogue on the last night, we were able to delve deeper into what these concerns mean to us as Quakers. Consideration of the Minute we brought to Yearly Meeting last year and reports from participants at a number of recent international Gatherings furthered our investigation of our place within the wider Quaker community.

Young Friends had further discussion around last year’s decision to become ‘Aotearoa New Zealand Young Friend’s Meeting’. A long and intense Meeting for Business allowed us to make some progress towards clarifying our thoughts and intentions in formalising our structure, but we are aware we have only just begun to explore this issue. We were grateful for the presence of two Australian YFs and several people with links to Britain Young Friends General Meeting who contributed valuable wisdom and information about YF structures in other parts of the world.

Our fantastic Bridget (McKendry) produced some of the most amazing food ever eaten at a YF camp, with particular assistance from Suzanna Remmerswaal, Alex Simpson and Richard Mottram. We enjoyed spending time with the settlers at a shared meal on the first night, and thank them for sharing this special place with us. The service component of this year’s camp was spent working around the Settlement. A great deal of effort went to digging out a giant Pampas as well as weeding, pruning, clearing and cleaning. The collective achievement was satisfying, and joined other traditional activities (such as large-scale sing-a-longs, games of soccer, and wrestling competitors in the kissing game) in helping us re-form our special relationships with people who are geographically spread. We are once again moved by the beauty of meeting together and sharing in so many ways.

Arohanui,

Sarah Tailby, Hannah Newport, Chris Hall, Leith Pugmire, Thomas Owen, Marion Leighton, Anna Dunford, Ria Pugmire and Thomas Watts (YF 2007 Epistle Committee).