Director of Identity 

Tomorrow all staff and students across both campuses will come together to pray, play, share a meal and walk in solidarity with our brothers and sisters at the Mary Rice Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. Our major fundraiser for the year, the Tujenge Mary Rice Centre Walkathon, will take place in the afternoon and will be a wonderful community event, involving staff and students, Parents and Friends and Old Virgilians, including past Immersion students, some of whom visited the Mary Rice Centre in 2018 and 2019. 

It will be a day to focus upon and to practice our College Values, which are not only an authentic, lived representation of who we are but also who we aspire to become. Our College Values are more than just the Words we use to define and shape us as one people, they also define and shape our individual actions; the Deeds through which people come to know us. 

Community

Each of has the opportunity tomorrow to really connect with the children of the Mary Rice Centre. One example will be in the Grand Final of the Kibera All Stars Soccer Tournament when we see their names being worn on the backs of our players’ tops. This is a very special moment for some of these children, who can’t run or kick a soccer ball, because in this moment they will know that a far-away player is literally kicking goals in their name.

Integrity

We have a connection with others that requires us to be who we say we are - Gospel people who love others as we are ourselves loved. When we try new things, like an African style lunch, when we challenge ourselves to do that extra final lap, when we put others’ needs before our own, we are acting in a way that makes our common identity real.

Justice

At the heart of a day like Mary Rice Day is our call to act justly. We know that there is no difference between ourselves as people but that there is a vast difference in the opportunities we are given; the things we are able to do just because of where we were lucky enough to be born. Raising funds through sponsorship in our Tujenge Walkathon definitely helps to make a huge difference in breaking down barriers like access and poverty but raising awareness of the Mary Rice Centre story helps to challenge injustices caused though ignorance.  

Kindness

Mary Rice Day gives us so many opportunities to simply be kind, to ourselves and to our teachers, families, friends and fellow students. Every time we let someone else go first or step in to offer assistance or simply welcome others into our group we demonstrate that we are living an African way of being, where those who have so little seem to always have so much to give.

Learning

If everyone of us finishes the day knowing one more thing about someone else in our community, whether it be in our nipaluna/Hobart community or in our African community then we will have used our time together as a great learning experience and liberated our hearts and minds from an ordinary viewpoint to an exciting and mutually empowering one.