BLOG 006

WATCH THE VIDEO

Play Video

Winter holiday was upon us again and this time we were bigger and stronger as a community! For the Winter school holidays, we thought what better way to reward our community members after a long semester of hardwork than a series of holiday programs for different age groups! 

Up first was Go kart racing! We had 26 participants in this all-boys event from the inner suburbs of Melbourne and some from outer suburbs. This event had the added benefit of connecting various boys from different postcodes to all get together and start meaningful friendships, as well as giving them a space to voice their concerns and areas they wanted help in whilst in a safe and relaxed environment. 

We all got together at 6pm at the Go kart centre and quickly signed our lives away, I mean literally! But we first went through an extensive safety protocol in the case of an emergency so that we could all comfortably have the maximum amount of fun. The competitiveness was shown on the track that day, these fella’s got in tune with their inner Lewis Hamilton and clocked world record times… not really, but we sure did have fun!

 

                                  Congratulations to our winners!

Up next was our under 15’s event. 16 Kids all under 15 spent a day with us at Kemizo Entertainment Centre.

The children got to learn how to rollerblade, play in the arcade and have a fierce battle in the laser tag arena. After all the activities of the day, it’s safe to say that our members were immensely tired.

HIGHLIGHT

The highlight of the winter holiday trip was definitely the trip to Mount Buller!

Previous
Next

We decided that it would be good idea to go to Mount Buller this time, instead of Mount Baw Baw again because our community members had showed interest in seeing the iconic location last winter, and at IMAAP we keep a keen ear out for what our community members are saying.

We learnt a lot from our first experience at Mount Baw Baw last year, this time we were much better equipped to handle the snow. Another key difference this time was that we are taking on board a group of 36 to mount Buller which is exponentially larger than the approximately 15 participants we took to Mount Baw Baw. For the safety of all our participants, and to maximise their trip we hit the books and created a full proof plan that had no room for mistakes (is that even possible? – well turns out it was on this trip. Problem free!! cheer cheer!)

We all met up at 6am and made the long journey to Mount Buller which was approximately 4 hours considering multiple toilet breaks. As we were getting closer to Mount Buller we certainly felt a change in temperature as we got higher in altitude but this time we all had appropriate clothing which enabled us to combat the cold and enjoy the snow as it should be.

We did various activities such as tobogganing and chair lift sightseeing, which were thoroughly enjoyed by everyone! Apart from one member who was quite terrified of the chair lift, but she was adamant on doing it!  Overall this trip was extremely successful in bringing together African youth from inner Melbourne suburbs and majority of the participants it was there first time seeing snow, so of course they had a good ol’ time, while being thankful that they didn’t have to deal with the snow all winter long.