“It’s just so hot!” Attempting to avoid a summer heatwave on her drive up to Birmingham, Katie Sadleir is bubbling with excitement. Just days before the opening of the Games, Katie, the CEO of the Commonwealth Games Federation, is busy reviewing Covid practices for late entry arrivals and preparatory workshops for para athletes, as well as overseeing the launch of the Commonwealth Pride House, and with the Commonwealth Sports Ministers’ conference. It is clear she is firmly invested in her organisation’s strapline ‘Sport is just the beginning’. 

“I mean, it's central and its core and it's our reason to be. But it's what happens as a result of those conversations in sport - the trade programmes, the huge legacy stuff… that whole series of significant stakeholder opportunities that wrap around making the most of the Games in terms of forging relationships beyond this period”, she says. For Katie, the true buzz of the Commonwealth multi-sport environment lies in what this “multicultural hothouse… does to actually grow people”. 

One of the first things Aislynn Rogers remembers striking her about London was the amount of culture she was hit with, just walking down the street. Having moved over from Auckland in the summer of 2019 after a stint of travel, Aislynn, 33, was living in Brixton while she was looking for a job. She recalls sunny days spent wandering around the borough, taking in the music, the accents and the murals.

“I remember being a bit too nervous to go on the tube to explore because it was just, at that point, a bit too much for me. So I would walk a lot; all around Brixton and around Clapham,” she says. “There was so much to experience that you don’t come across in New Zealand.”

Following high school, Aislynn launched herself into a conjoint degree in property and commerce at The University of Auckland. It was a slight variation on what her engineer dad had encouraged her to get into; urban design. Looking back, Aislynn says he must have had an inkling, as she would go on to end up in the property and construction space.

Aroha: Maori wisdom for a contented life lived in harmony with our planet, by Hinemoa Elder

This book came to us highly recommended, and it did not disappoint. It was an easy read and for those of us who listened to it we had the extra pleasure of listening to Hinemoa read it to us in her New Zealand accent and hear Maori spoken which was a treat!

Full of personal stories, but not ego driven it was easy to find parts of this book that resonated with where we were each at. The weaving of story through the 52 whakataukī / proverbs was well done, it reminded us all of home and connected us to each small section of the book. It made us think a little more about the heritage of our country, and our impact on the planet.

As this book was broken down into 52 sections it was easy to dip in and out of the book with ease and it was a book that we all thought we would come back to and gift to friends. Those of us you came together to talk over the book pulled out a few of our favorite whakataukī: