WFA Spikers Prevail

Our mixed volleyball team has made the Pinoy Community proud. On the thirteenth of August, our very own WFA Volleyball team battled for the Class D championship in this year's Waikato Winter Volleyball Competition at the Te Rapa Sportsdome. It was a hard fought match but the team outclassed their opponents, D Bunch, to clinch the title in 3 sets. The competition was sponsored by the Waikato Volleyball Association.

This is a great start to our campaign for the upcoming Labour Day sports competitions. Winning this tournament gives the squad a huge morale boost and shows that this team can make a serious run at the volleyball title at this years Pinoy "olympics".

Go Waikato Pinoys! We are proud of you. Ka pai, nga mihi koutou.

L2K8...we have a lift off!

I'm quite pleased that my calling came to fruition....people stepped up and said "I'm in, let's make it happen!". As at this writing, people are still lining up and are willing to participate.

We have formed the working bees for Labour 2008 Project - Annual Pinoy Gathering in Hamilton. Our Event Organisers are Myla Bides and Harmen Van Weerden.

Myla Bides - mother of three girls and the "butihing" housewife of Russell. She works for Fonterra's CANPAC group at Te Rapa. She has been involved in many church activities to-date & her family's one of Fr. Frank's favourite parishioners. Myla has extensive background in Publishing and Corporate proposals etc.

Harmen Van Weerden - Harmen is a Project Manager in the Information Technology group of St. John's Ambulance. He has always been assisting and quite involved in many recent WFA undertakings. Harmen is PJ Rigor's stepdad.

Daniel Perry - Promotions and Publicity. Dan works for Caulder and Lawson's Orbit Travel as Business Development Manager. I always call him my "peborit puti", as he has always been reliable and involved in many Pinoy community events and volunteer work.

Rene and Aljun Gorteza - Sports Co-ordinators. This Angelina and Brad partnership has been giving long hours for the community, always committed in promoting WFA Sports - from basketball, volleyball, etc. They have a good working relationship with almost anybody in the community. They are what we call...."subok na matibay, subok na matatag".

Shirley Marquez/ Gordy - Pageant Co-ordinator. Shirl works for Sky Casino Ltd. and has always been pro-active in helping out the best she can. In the absence of any takers, she took the challenge to look after the Pageant side of things.

Kim Perry - Cultural Co-ordinator. Kim works at AgResearch Centre and I have known her for years as someone who always has a bright idea. Kim's latest project is the WFA Youthfest (Aug 25) for our Kiwi-Pinoy Youths (13 - 18yrs old). She is Dan's better half.

These gentlefolks maybe coming to see you or you can go see them... all you have to do is, say "Yes, I do.....want to help make a successful Labour 2008 (L2k8) for Hamilton".

Sayawan Sa Ruakura - Straight from the Sports Coord's desk

The day was 4th of August 2007.

The Block Rosary group organized a fundraising night in support of the WFA sports teams. Their main vision is to buy equipment and other needed stuff for the teams as they prepare for a major sports competition in Rotorua this year.

That night was historic....Filipinos from different parts of Hamilton - old and young, new and old timers alike, flocked into the Farmer's Hall of Agresearch to support this event. I saw people everywhere! On one side, you can hear the laughter of people merrily chatting with good old friends, yet on the other side, people completely mesmerized by the song numbers of the exuberant bands whilst some took the chance to dance the night away...especially when the lights were out! Though some preferred to watch and be there just to support, the event was a blockbuster from beginning 'til end! The night had raised an astonishing $735... far more than what was expected. Simply amazing!

In the last few months, Rene and I (being the WFA Sports coordinators) were faced with an arduous task of gathering funds for our growing sports teams. When the Block Rosary came to us with the idea of having this fundraising cum "gimik" night, we were absolutely overjoyed! The feeling was overwhelming, and who are we to say no? It was like an answered prayer!

I know we were left with a short time to prepare, but our good Lord intervened and took charge of everything. All glory to God for His goodness. In no time at all, we were blessed with a free venue( thanks coach jun and Ruakura pips), an array of performers who are willing to render their talents for free and a whole lot of dedicated people spearheaded by the Block rosary group who unselfishly devoted their time selling tickets, spreading the news up to polishing the minutest details to make this momentous event a reality. An epitome of our bayanihan spirit... A true manifestation of Filipino amalgamation!

In behalf of WFA and the Sports committee, I'd like to commend the Block Rosary group, the performers and all the people who helped in one way or another to make this exemplary event a success.

Maraming salamat po!

Rene and Aljun

Guest Blogger : Aljun Gorteza

Aljun is one of the most dedicated members of the Pinoy community. She is a registered nurse at Waikato Hospital, a wife to Rene and mother to 2 kids, RA and Regor. Aljun and Rene are the WFA Sports Coordinators.

Moving Forward....

The big turnout at Ruakura on Saturday, 4 August showed that indeed the Kiwi-Filipino community in Hamilton is growing...considering we had a crappy weather and the venue was in the middle of nowhere....one would say, wow! indeed Pinoys want to party!!

Our next agenda, Aug 25 for the Youths (13 to 18 yrs old) at the Presbyterian Hall. Its a day of Fun, Games and Entertainment for this age group. This will be a start of merging our youths (Pinoy-Pinoys and Kiwi-Pinoys) into one great youth group.

After that we start our Young Once or the senior members of our community. Those who prefer the Salsa and Tango from the rappers and the bling-bling of nowadays. As at this writing, I am talking to some of our respected members about this idea. Perhaps you can run this idea past your lolos and lolas and get them to get in touch with me.

And then of course, the priority of them all, our Under-12's, the future of our Kiwi-Pinoy generation. I'd like to hear from young parents to step up and help organise mini-sports, fun and games, a day out with our little ones, etc..

With these thoughts, I'd say we'll have one great happy Hamilton Kiwi-Pinoy family/ community. What'd you think?