My daughter, Aaliyah-Grace, attended the Pride Lands After School Care programme at Berhampore School, for eight years, from the beginning of the school year in 2010 when she was 5 years old, until the end of the 2017 school year, after she had turned 13 years old. She also attended Pride Lands holiday programmes regularly throughout this time when my work commitments required it.
Over this time Aaliyah-Grace saw a range of numerous staff come and go. Most clearly enjoyed working with children and engaged with children with enthusiasm. The most obvious example of this is Moses Ariama, the owner and director of Pride Lands. Moses’ passion and enthusiasm for his work, and his aspiration and vision for Pride Lands, and children in general, is apparent in his interactions with children.
Pride Lands After School Care and Holiday Programmes enabled Aaliyah-Grace to meet and develop relationships with a wide range of children from many schools from around Wellington. This allowed her to develop an understanding and appreciation of children and adults who are different from the children whom she attended school with, and provided her with opportunities to develop skills for interacting easily with children across a range of ages, genders, capabilities and cultural and ethnic groups. She also developed a range of strategies and skills for initiating, maintaining and enjoying relationships with others in general, in a manner that wouldn’t occur in a school environment.
After Moses began as Club Supervisor at Berhampore Pride Lands, Aaliyah-Grace’s confidence increased dramatically, as did her enjoyment of being at Pride Lands, due to the input of Moses. This was an unforeseen but much valued benefit of her attending Pride Lands. I generally arrived to pick her up to find her smiling and laughing, involved in a wide range of interesting and fun activities, and often reluctant to come home. This regularly made my day! Many of these activities were led, and sometimes created by Moses. It was a pleasure to watch him at work, involved with the children, all having a fantastic time.
Aaliyah-Grace’s enjoyment of attending Pride Lands increased so much that she even began requesting (begging) to attend in the holidays on days that my work obligations did not require her attendance. This was not financially viable for me, but I saw her requesting it as a fantastic sign of the quality of what Pride Lands was offering.
Moses as well as many of the earlier staff, demonstrated genuine interest and care for Aaliyah-Grace, seeming to like and appreciate her as an individual. Moses continues to demonstrate a strong genuine interest in her, even as she nears 18.
Moses has been a positive male role model for Aaliyah-Grace, who does not have a father figure in her life, or male relatives living locally. Moses appeared to put a lot of time and energy into developing a strong relationship with Aaliyah-Grace which was appreciated and valued. In the past Aaliyah-Grace had demonstrated a lack of confidence and trust in males. This seemed to have decreased as her relationship with Moses grew.
When my son Mason-Khan turned 5 and started school in 2018, Pride Lands After School Care was my first and only choice. I know that the programme will continue to offer him the same benefits as it did to Aaliyah-Grace.
Pride Lands After School Care and Holiday Programmes offers a crucial and essential service to working parents, who either choose to, or have to, work. The services they provide allows us to work with peace of mind, knowing our children are safe in a quality programme and environment. The programme now located at South Wellington Intermediate School, is in a convenient central location, with children attending from schools outside of the area. The pickup service which Pride Lands provides from schools outside of the area is valued. Their flexibility is also very much appreciated.
I would not hesitate to recommend Pride Lands After School Care and Holiday Programmes to others requiring this service.
Thank you to Pride Lands for the services that they do offer and provide.
Stephanie Hall
