Australia-New Zealand Congress and Summer school – Auckland, New Zealand (10 – 19 January 2020)
The 2020 Congress and Summer school was held at St Francis Retreat Centre, 50 Hillsborough Road, Mt Roskill, Auckland, New Zealand.
Our special guests were Duncan Charters, the new president of UEA, and Stefan MacGill, a famous author and ex-vice-president of UEA (2013–2019). Among the program items were a games evening, a whole-day excursion to beautiful natural locations close to the city, a guided tour of Auckland Art Gallery, and a seminar for “Activist Development” (Aktivula Maturigo: AMO), which was about training Esperantists to increase their capabilities as activists for the language.
Download full program (in Esperanto) (304 KB PDF)
Back row: (from left) 1. Paŭlo Garwood, 2. Helen Palmer, 3. Georgia Naish, 4. Cecily Lee, 5. Vicky Crickett, 6. Rouan Van Ryn, 7. Franciska Toubale, 8. Emma Breuninger, 9. Chris Krageloh.
Middle row: 1. Martin Purdy, 2. Don Rogers, 3. Vere Williams, 4. Penny Vos, 5. Ivan Pivac, 6. David Dewar, 7. Karlo Egger, 8. Berni Heinze, 9. Michael Carney, 10. Erin McGifford, 11. Eileen Jones, 12. Paul Desailly, 13. Cindy Lu, 14. Stephen Pitney, 15. Mara Molnja (Marie Elliott).
Front row: 1. Kam Lee, 2. Ellen Thackray, 3. David Ryan, 4. Indrani Beharry-Lall, 5. Sandor Horvath, 6. Bradley McDonald, 7. Jonathan Cooper, 8. Heather Heldzingen, 9. Duncan Charters, 10. Stefan MacGill, 11. Zhang Wei (Wayne).
Missing from the photo: John Hyndman, Marumi Smith, Gary Smith.
Photo: Kam Lee
Emma Breuninger speaking on “Vivo de ‘Germanaj Specialistoj’ en Sovetunio en la jaroj 1946 ĝis 1958”
Photo: Jonathan Cooper
Games evening (winner of the Congress Photo Contest & the People’s Choice
Photo: Helen Palmer
Selected comments (translated from Esperanto)
- I enjoyed Stefan’s conversations and his teaching. … The course location was very good, the food pleasant enough and the program interesting.
- Lots of talking was very helpful for pronunciation and thinking on my feet. It helped a lot.
- The excursion to the art museum with Jonathan’s guidance was also very informative and enjoyable. …
For thirty years I have attended congresses in many countries in Asia and Oceania. All the programs and entertainment and excursions and food and theater and auction, etc. of the first E-event for 2020, in beautiful Auckland, were the best for me. - I loved the course and the congress. Finally, the opportunity to use Esperanto with more skilled and experienced Esperantists. Thank you! I learned a lot in the class for progessing students, especially as Stefan spoke on a wide variety of subjects, and he is a pleasant and experienced teacher.
- The plays were fun. It was very helpful to communicate with Duncan and Stefan about the global movement and to meet – and meet again – members of our local associations.
- Duncan Charters is extremely interesting and he is an expert on the language and topics. We were extremely lucky to have him among us. Everyone was good-natured and friendly. The atmosphere was always welcoming.
- I liked the informal storytelling session, … the games, the photo contest and tree planting.
- A beautiful atmosphere of friendship, friendship, cooperation.
- I liked this congress very much. The meals were good. The performances were good. The location, the houses and the surrounding countryside were good. I really enjoyed communicating with many other people who mastered the language so well. I can’t find one point I didn’t like. I look forward to the next congress in which I can participate.
- It was good that Duncan encouraged people to come up with something in his class. That worked well for the Esperanto speakers who one normally doesn’t hear from to introduce themselves as well.
- The games helped a lot in learning Esperanto. If there were more games in the lessons, I think that would improve the course.
A compilation of all comments about the congress is available for members of AEA and NZEA – email info@esperanto.org.au