Enliven Training Day|| The Recap

Hi Everybody!

Due to my increasing interest in the pro-life movement, I, along with two of my sisters, attended Enliven - a training day meant to educate, inspire, and train up the next generation of pro-lifers in NZ.



Despite the aim at the younger generation, a few middle-aged to older people attended.

After a fairly early morning, the three of us headed off to the University of Auckland campus in the city. It took us a short while to find somewhere suitable to park. (I know; we're quickly earning a reputation for our parking. xD Disclaimer: I'm not the driver.)

Once we'd parked, we quickly found the building where the training day was being held. Inside were a few people, since we'd (surprise!) been a little early. I immediately spotted Frances, who was setting up a registration table with notebooks, pens, several piles of different pamphlets, badges with little feet engraved, and rubber babies. After greeting the few people we knew, I helped Frances adjust a few things on the table, though I'm not sure how much I actually helped!

 Once we were asked to greet people, I spoke to several people who walked in at various times. Some were students at the University who'd been invited by either Owen Posthuma, or Joshua Brunton, I found, or had been dragged along by their siblings. (Just kidding.) Others had found out through Facebook. Personally, I'd been told about it by Frances, who'd had a hand in organizing it. I also wouldn't have been able to attend if it wasn't for my older sister, Bianca, going. Thanks, Bee!

I was pleasantly surprised to find out, while talking to a student, that she was actually pro-choice! (Not because it's good to be pro-choice, but because I was hoping that the training day would challenge her (and everyone else's, including my own) thinking.) Throughout the day, I spoke with her a few times, and found that she was quite tired, but was finding the sessions interesting. While she agreed with some things, she found it hard to tell me exactly where she stood. I believe she stayed for most, if not all, of the day.

As we were motioned into first session, Frances started the live-streaming on Facebook, introducing the day to watchers and encouraged others to tune in. I picked a random seat on the side of the lecture room, unconsciously worrying a friend who walked in, wondering what my sisters had done to me. :D Then Frances came around, and asked me to keep her company in her front-row seat. I quickly moved to the front row with her, offering my handbag to help her phone, which was live-streaming the session, stand up straight. Callum Hammond, a fifth-year medical student, was the MC for the day, and he was also taking the first session. His object was to help us identify who we are as a movement, who we are not, and to give us a short history of abortion in NZ.

We had a break for morning tea after Callum's session, which gave us time to digest the information we'd heard. The scones were also pretty good. :D The catering was done by Lydia Posthuma, Francesca Yuen, and my sister, Bianca. They all did a great job!

The next session was by Brendan Malone, and his subject was to do with abortion apologetics. This session taught us why abortion is wrong, gave us good arguments against abortion, and also taught us ways to refute the arguments that pro-choicers often use.

Following Brendan's session was the first session by Sandy Simpson. She introduced pregnancy counselling to us, told us the object of counselling, and showed us that women who've had an abortion normally suffer from a few or more of many horrible side-effects, which could be either physical, psychological, or emotional.

After Sandy's session, we migrated back to the main room for lunch, which was a selection of either rolls or scones, with fillings. Delicious! I talked with a younger girl, who wasn't sure exactly where she stood on the subject of abortion. I may or may not have spilled some of my lunch on the floor. Can you tell I don't eat out very often?

The two speakers now each had two consecutive sessions where they'd speak at the same time, in different rooms. I switched between rooms a little, trying to get the best of both. Except that when you try to do that, the opposite often happens. :) In one of Sandy's sessions, we had to practice listening skills, which, of course, was rather humorous. Francis recorded this session as well as the others, and I feature twice. The first time was when we practiced good listening v. bad listening with the person beside us, and the second time was a role-play illustrating the importance of calmly listening and guiding a person who is distraught. I played a little 3-year-old girl who'd locked herself in the bathroom, and couldn't get out. Having experienced this with my little siblings, and other children who've visited over the years, I knew a little about how kids react. So I very much enjoyed it, though afterwards I wondered whether I'd overdone it a little! However, people were laughing, so I thought I must have done a sufficiently satisfying job.

In one of his sessions, Brendan spoke about the use of media to further the pro-life cause. He was really helpful, and gave us all some awesome advice to take home. One of his main points was that even though the media can be really helpful to spread information, stand up for life, and enlist other pro-life advocates, it cannot and must not be allowed to take the place of actually being around and talking face-to-face with others, especially MPs.

Dinner was delicious, though messy, and I had a lovely time catching up with Emma Rankin, and listening in on other people's conversations. My sisters were also out-and-about, talking to other people, gathering names which were promptly forgotten, and grabbing napkins for me. Bianca was enlisted to take pictures, so she was sneakily snapping photos of unsuspecting persons.

The concluding call to action was delivered by several people, who offered many different ways to practically get involved in the movement. (Though I'll just warn you - if you don't have Facebook, you won't be able to do much.) (Actually, you still can help a lot. #DefendNZ has a Givealittle page where you can donate $1 or more to help #DefendNZ from Assisted Suicide. While the money is important, the number of donors is what counts the most.)

It was wonderful to catch up with people I'd previously met once or twice, and also to be a part of something which will hopefully inspire many to be active and stand up for life!

What do you think? 
Would you like to get involved?