Writing a blog is not something I’ve ever done before, but it’s Merrowvista and even the oldest of us get to try new things!

If you perused the staff bios on the wall on registration day, I’m Pippa from New Zealand. I work predominantly in a NICU PICU back home in Christchurch with school and health camps as voluntary fun gigs. My work as an RN has taken me around the world to every continent.

My position as coordinator of the Merrowvista Health team has me seeing camp from many different angles.

I first commenced working at MV in 1997 and it has been an ever changing and growing palette. Health is part of the multi-disciplinary team that tends the campers, even when they are not ill or injured, be it physical or emotional.  Fortunately not all my work is in the clinic because getting out and about to see and interact with your children is one of the best diagnostic tools I have.

These glorious children of yours are precious and I never for one moment forget that. In all I do here at camp I am always doing it with you parents also in mind.  As a parent myself I am conscious of wishing you could be the flies on the wall to see your children move through their days here. At the same time I know it is great for these young folk to be navigating things without parents always present!

Today …. well,  today is Sunday!!

I’m going to bid you all a great Sunday and leave you with these 6 little precepts that I find bring  happiness and meaning to our days here at MV.

Precepts

After a long drought, the village elders called all the villagers together to pray for rain. Everybody gathered for prayer, but only one boy brought an umbrella.

That’s FAITH

When you throw a baby in the air, she laughs because she knows you will catch her.

That’s TRUST

Every night we go to bed, without an assurance of exactly how the next day will unfold, but still we set the alarm.

That’s HOPE

We plan big things for tomorrow, in spite of zero knowledge of the future.

That’s CONFIDENCE

We see all the suffering and unrest in the world, but still we get married and have children.

That’s LOVE

Written on an old man’s shirt, “I am 80 years old. I’m sweet 16 with 64 years of experience.”

That’s ATTITUDE