Raghavan's visit to Wellington

Between the 8-13th May, the Karunai Illam Trustees supported by its associates hosted Mr Raghavan, also affectionately known as Ragi sir, the Correspondent of the Karunai DHAN school in Nilakottai. There was much excitement about his visit, as it was an opportunity for the Trustees to show off this city, which was home to Jean Watson and also introduce him to our contributors and supporters. His visit was meticulously planned and it worked like clockwork.

The visit began with a visit to 55 Aro street, Jean's Wellington home, and over the new five days, he visited Te Papa, the War Memorial Library, Lower Hutt vegetable market, drove around the South coast, checked out the botanical gardens, and visited the Warehouse, the Brooklyn tip and almost all of the ops shops in Lower Hutt. He wanted to experience the tourist sites but equally wanted a glimpse into our everyday life. His curiosity is unparalleled and he found the visit incredibly stimulating. Sankar and he in particular spent many hours in deep conversations in Tamil as he sought to understand the city and the kiwi life.

A highlight for him was the visit to the Wellington Tamil school where he interacted with children and taught them some memorable Tamil songs and rhymes. The teachers and the children felt very privileged to meet with an educationist from Tamil Nadu and asked for tips for making their teaching interesting for the children.

The meet and greet with the contributors and supporters was another big highlight. This was the first time anyone from DHAN had visited Wellington, and so it gave our supporter base an opportunity to hear firsthand about the school and the Illam and our collective aspirations for the future.

It was also heartening to hear Raghavan’s reflections on Aotearoa. He deeply felt the kindness, humanity of the people he met everywhere and their abiding interest in and care for the environment. He was also amazed at the completely voluntary nature of the work done by the trustees, associates and other supporters of the Karunai Illam Trust. He was determined to take some of these observations back and create a little New Zealand in Nilakottai!