Over 100 offenders help at Womad
While it may be unlucky for some, Womad NZ’s 13th anniversary was a sign of success.
Behind the scenes of the worldclass music and dance festival was a well-oiled machine. One small cog that has helped it run smoothly for the past decade is the group of offenders managed by New Plymouth’s Community Corrections.
Community service workers put in the hours wearing high visibility vests, but their work often goes unnoticed by the general public. However, event management were grateful and described their help as invaluable.
Community supervisors oversaw work parties of up to 10 offenders who carried out a broad range of tasks, said senior community supervisor Bruce Ball. All-up, over a two-week period around 115 offenders got involved in the project.
Their most visible task was painting the larger-than-life colourful Womad letters. Others included unloading containers, erecting arches, signs, fencing, pop up tents, and other general supportive work.
The workers were completing court-ordered community work sentences, which ranged from 40 to 400 hours of community work.
‘‘While some pump their hours out as soon as they can, others drag the chain a bit,’’ Ball said.
The reality was offenders have to do the work and with certain projects they are more enthusiastic. ‘‘Womad is one of them.’’
With years of supervising up his sleeve, Ball’s guiding eyes have seen how working on Womad benefited the offenders.
‘‘It’s a positive. It’s a win-win situation. There was a sense of pride gained from knowing they were involved in it and supporting the city.’’
Once things started to go up and they could see the progress, their enthusiasm definitely lifted, he said. By the end of it the results gave them something to be proud of.
One community offender, who preferred to remain nameless, said there was a definite sense of reward gained from being part of it. ‘‘Watching it all coming together was really good, I found it better than some of the other jobs.’’
He was inspired so much he intended to work towards opening his own stall at Womad further down the track.