Kāpiti Kids Motivation Trust organiser Roger Booth, who is a District-Wide candidate in the Kāpiti Council election, has lined up a school visitor for next term.
“Nathan Gray is a bit different from those we have brought into the district to inspire and motivate children in our 17 primary schools in the last three years.”
“We have described our visitors as sporting and cultural individuals or identities, and that is what they have been. Sporting visitors have included Olympic champion swimmer Danyon Loader, BMX world champion Sarah Walker, World Mountain Running champion Melissa Moon, and our own All Black Christian Cullen. To date the ‘cultural’ individuals have included our own dancing legend Sir Jon Trimmer, singers Tina Cross and Ray Woolf, and guitar virtuoso Paul Ubana-Jones.”
Mr Booth says “This time we widen the ‘cultural’ aspect, by exploring the ‘distinctive practices and beliefs of a society.”
Two years ago one of the Kāpiti Kids Motivation Trust visitors was Tanemahuta Gray, who introduced the skills of the taiaha to children in six Kāpiti schools. “Tane’s visit to one school, Te Ra Waldorf School in Raumati South, made so much impact that they decided to employ him in a part-time capacity.’
Tanemahuta, who lives locally, is an identical twin, and the next KKMT visitor is his twin brother Nathan Hoturoa Gray, and the subject of Nathan’s visits will be his 4000 kilometre trek along the full extent of the Great Wall of China.
Nathan, who is a qualified lawyer, wanted to be one of the first Westerners in history to walk and document the entire length of the Great Wall. Nathan, who is Maori, set off on this epic journey with four others. One was a Buddhist monk, one an Argentinean photojournalist, one an Italian recording artist, and the fourth a Mormon golfer.
