It was early dawn as they began stepping out of the van all dressed alike, in white t-shirts and black shorts and ready for action. Sixteen police recruits were discovering new aspects of community engagement by assisting our Operation Foundation project in Nanuku Community.

Some may call it hard labour and it certainly was hard! Using wheelbarrows and sacks they moved tonnes of soapstone through the narrow tracks in the community to the new building site. The good spirit and heart these sixteen police recruits attracted a large number of children from the community, who also played their part. The huge pile of soapstone diminished and reappeared at the other end of Nanuku, raising the new building site out of the mud and above the high tide mark.