Joseph's Bio

Hello my name is Joseph North I am 13 years of age. I am year 8 at St Heliers School ill be going to Glendowie college next year. I live with my mum Gillian North and my sister Sophie North i have 2 older brothers Michael and Adam North. Adam has 2 children. I also have a step brother named Luke and a step sister named Jade they live is Sydney Australia.


I am currently working at St Heliers Church. I love to help people. The people I look up to the most are my Mum, my Bothers and Sisters Frann, Pauline, Cherry, Emma, Georgia and Neisha and last but not least is my Grandparents each one of those people play a big part in my life.


I am extremely exicted for our trip to Thailand i look forward to meeting new people and the new experience I am interested in helping others in need I cant wait to enjoy the trip.

Esther Oliver - Bio for Thailand.

My name is Esther and I’m 15 years old. I am in year 11 at Glendowie College. The subjects I mostly enjoy are mainly ‘hands on’, Photography and Food technology. I like drawing, ice skating and listening to music. My mum was born in China and my dad was born in New Zealand. My favourite colours are black, blue and green. I prefer cats over dogs and I have a bird named Louie. I love music and believe that life would be very dull without it. 30 seconds to mars in my opinion is the best band in the whole world. I like spending time with my friends and I enjoy going to the movies and having sleepovers with them. I would say that my closet and best friends would be Alice, India, Olivia And Sabrina.

I want to go to Thailand because I believe that it would be a great experience, it would teach me more about culture and help me appreciate the way we live in New Zealand. I could give help to anyone that needs assistance. I have been apart of Hillside church for a couple of years now. An inspirational person to me would be Jared Leto because his music speaks to you through a different language. 30 seconds to Mars’s song closer to the edge was in remembrance of the 9/11 terrorist attack and there one of their other song’s A beautiful lie also makes people aware of the affect of global warming. There songs inspire me to do good and helpful things.

Georgia's bio

Picture- My sister Eleanor (left) and myself (right)

Hello! my name is Georgia Riding. I am going into Year 13 at Glendowie
College. I live with my Mum and Dad. I have 2 older brothers and one
older sister. My sister is married with one little boy and 5 foster
children, so I enjoy being an auntie. I work part time at Rainbows
End, which is a theme park. I play soccer in the winter and in the
summer I like to go to the beach and hang out with my friends.

I am extremely excited to be going to Thailand. I am looking forward
to meeting new people and seeing new things.

Cherry Shin - Biography

Hey Pakpingjai! My name's Cherry and I'm 16 years old. I was born in Korea but I've been in New Zealand since I was 4 years old. I am happily living with my dad, my step-mum and one of my two step-brothers. I'm in my last year (Year 13) this year at Glendowie College and currently helping out and working at the St Heliers Church and Community Centre – answering the phone, making posters and even doing dishes! I have a strong passion for animals and I have always wanted to do something related to them as a career in the future. I'm not involved with a sports team at the moment, although I am a very competitive person who loves a challenge! I have been involved with cheerleading and dance (ballet, character and hip hop) a few years ago but it is still one of my interests and hobbies. I love hanging out with friends and I love being around people in general. The first photo attached is of me (on the left) and Emma (on the right) who is also coming on the trip as well as Georgia (left of second photo). I am in the middle in a red dress and beside me (on the right) is Neisha, who unfortunately is not coming with us this year..

So, I am going on this trip because I want to challenge myself, reach out and help others in need. I consider myself as an approachable, friendly person and I like to help people who want or need the help I am willing to give. I want to experience this trip in an amazing environment with many good friends from the St Heliers Church and Community Centre which will be a great memory for the rest of my life. I am thankful that God has gifted me with these great opportunities in life and my beautiful friends and family who will support me no matter what I do!

I am very interested to be involved and experience in a different lifestyle for 12 days. I feel like I take the great (but little) things in life for granted and I want to know how it feels to have none of those little things that keep me going today (I'm talking about things such as television, cellphones, laptops.. maybe even electric blankets and super soft beds!).

Anyways, I am very excited for the whole new experience and to start off the year 2012 with an amazing kick-start!

Emma Plom – 17 years old

I go to Glendowie College and am in year 12, I like to have fun with friends
I am excited about our trip to Thailand to see how I can help people that are less fortunate than I am and to see what life is like over there. I am also keen to experience the Thai culture and to see how different and similar some things are compared to here in New Zealand. I have been involved with St Heliers Presbyterian Church from a young age through leadership at camps, holiday programmes and youth groups.

Alice Malone's Bio

My name is Alice Malone. I am in Year 10 at Glendowie College. Some of my favourite things to do are hang out with my friends and listen to music. My friends and I like to talk and we like going to the movies together. At school my favourite subjects are Food Tech and PE or sport. I play netball for a club and when I leave school I want to be a physiotherapist.

I live in Point England with my Mum and little sister. I have an older brother too, who lives with our Dad in Glendowie. My life is pretty much like any other kid’s life in New Zealand.

One of the reasons I am going to Pakpingjai is to see how other people live. I expect it to be very different from how I live in New Zealand, with different conditions and much less in the way of possessions. I hope this trip helps me to be a better person who understands people and other cultures. I also want help people who aren’t as well off as me.

I am looking forward to this trip and I know that while we are there we will all learn much more about each other and work well together.

Welcome to the 2012 trip edition of the blog!

Welcome to the 2012 trip blog! By my reckoning there is only four and a half months to go before we set off on the trip in January.. time flies by very quickly and before we know it PPJ will soon be embracing us into their beautiful hearts. 


This far out from the trip it almost seems surreal that we will soon be in Northern Thailand again. Here in St Heliers and our surrounding area we seem so lucky. But in Thailand at the moment they are going through the worst floods seen for a long time. When you think about it, it seems strange that it was only a few months ago we were hearing about our own natural disasters... and even in Queensland there were terrible floods. It can and does happen everywhere... but the difference is that here in our paradise we have the money and resources to overcome most adversity.  


Anyhow.... for myself personally I am extremely excited over the Rugby World Cup! It is coming up fast and I have great faith the All Blacks will win! I also know that in my photo album to be taken up to PPJ I will have some amazing photos of the RWC and it's effect on our nation. Plus I really look forward to playing the boys up there in Rugby again... perhaps the rules could be taught a bit better!


Anyhow.. cheers..


Your blogger Peter Chatteris