Tuesday, April 16, 2013

He Tangata

I don’t usually have a reason to come into this part of the city.  Every time I do the landscape has changed.

I still don’t like how many empty spaces there are where there used to be a bustling city.  I’m still not immune to the crunch and rattle of demolition machinery.

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How do I find the words to explain I feel to visiting bloggers?  I struggle to even find words to describe how I feel to myself.

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Yet the spirit of Christchurch is not the buildings, or lack thereof.  As the proverb says:

He aha te mea nui o te ao?
He tangata! He tangata! He tangata!

What is the most important thing in the world?
It is people! It is people! It is people!

This is what the Inaugural National Bloggers Conference highlighted for me.  It wasn’t a corporate style conference held in an expensive hotel.  It was a community gathering, hosted at a local library and in various cafes around the city.


Image: Sophie Slim

I enjoyed learning some new techy stuff thanks to Talia and Meghan. (You can expect a gradual spring-clean down the side bar in the near future).  But the most important part of the gathering was getting to know some wonderful people.

Ka Pai to Miriam, Juliet, Treena and all the team.  You were great.

P.S. – check out what else everyone got up to over the weekend here.

4 comments:

  1. so glad you enjoyed yourself x

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  2. I'm so sorry to see just how far Christchurch still has to go to recover from the earthquake. Sadly events slip so quickly from public awareness, so it's good to be reminded.

    The conference sounds brilliant.

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  3. Great post Claudia. It was nice to meet you on the weekend :)
    x

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  4. It was so good meeting you, Claudia! Thank you for the cute flower and the lollycake! I even have your name tag you made for me hanging on my whiteboard :)

    I can't find words to explain how I feel about CHCH too! I'm usually in town but of course, only on the ground and when I am high up, it's in the port hills where I can't see much anyway. It was definitely a strange feeling being up above C1 and looking down at the city!

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