Manawatu WEA
The Federation of Workers Educational Associations. Te Whetereihana o Nga Kaimahi Akoranga o Aotearoa. The Manawatu WEA is an adult community education organisation based in Palmerston North, Aotearoa / New Zealand. Our main focus is on non-partisan political, social and economic programmes.We also support a WEA local history group, an Ancient Civilisations short course and a writing class.
Treaty based education
In accordance with our primary objective and a commitment to providing treaty based education we have developed a partnership with tangata iwi through Te Whare Akonga Raranga programme. This Maori literacy project has had positive implications for whanau, hapu and iwi in our region. This year 200 people have been involved in the weaving programme.We will be supporting Te Whare Akonga through their involvement with the Aotearoa Weavers hui in Manawatu at Labour weekend. Over 400 national weavers are expected to attend. There will be hui, exhibitions and displays at Te Manawa and private galleries in the city. Demonstrations of tukutuku, whaariki, korowai and harakeke will be held at the Palmerston North Convention Centre.
Working together
We have developed partnerships with other community education providers and often work in a collaborative way. Some Manawatu WEA members are actively involved in an Adult and Community Education Pilot Project with the Ministry of Education.
Upcoming Events
Friday 28 February 2003: AGM at Open Learning Centre. Guest speaker is Chris Loads discussing the Palmerston North City Council's lifelong learning policy and actions over the last year.
Monday 3 March 2003: Illustrated talk on the Mighty Sparrow, King of Calypso in Trinidad. John Thornley will present a lively and infotaining talk on Trinidad's most famous calypso performer. He looks back at his three years living in Trinidad in the late 60s. During this time he took part in three national Carnivals. The talk takes place on 3 March because it coincides with Trinidad and Tobago's Carnival 2003.
Contacts
Email: john.gill@inspire.net.nz
Post: PO Box 1371, Papaioea / Palmerston North
Phone: 06 3569681
The book, Telling our stories, was published in 2005 to mark 90 years of the WEAs in NZ — download the book as a PDF (1 Mb file) or email us for a complimentary copy. See page 2 of the book for a table of contents for a direct link to the page about this scheme.