The whole school of 135 students will be taking part in the activities on Friday.

The senior class is staying overnight to complete the 24 hours through to Saturday morning.

"We hope that the students will learn to appreciate the very real challenges people just like us are having to face due to the effects of climate change," says Therese Petersen, Director of Religious

"And that we can all do something to help make a difference."

St Joseph's is just one of the many primary and secondary schools, Catholic youth groups and university students will hold their own "challenges"

The Caritas Challenge is an annual event aimed at raising awareness about social justice issues in the world.

It encourages youth to undertake an activity for a 24-hour period that gives them an insight into what people living with poverty and injustice experience on a daily basis.

As well as it raises funds for organiser, Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand.

The nationwide event will be launched this weekend and will run for six weeks.

Based on four themes outlined by Caritas - Move It, Live It, Sweat It and Stop It - participants design their own ‘challenge' based on one or more of the themes.

Each year there is a focus on a specific country or region in which Caritas is delivering development programmes.

This year games and activities have been developed by Caritas to teach participants about living conditions in the Pacific, particularly in Kiribati.

All funds raised during the Caritas Challenge in 2017 will go towards supporting the people of Kiribati

Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand is delivering programmes there focused on health, climate awareness and youth leadership, training for women, developing sustainable livelihoods, and agricultural training for youth.

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• Image: caritas.org.nz

The challenge runs from April 1 to May 15.

The annual event in New Zealand aims at demonstrating solidarity with those living with poverty or injustice.

The challenge activities and experiences come under the headings "Move It", "Live It", "Sweat It" and "Stop It".

Social injustices faced by many Cambodians include loss of land, the effects of climate change, human rights breaches and economic instability.

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The Wellington wind had fled; stillness paired with the embers crackling, huddled closer, marshmallows devoured in flame as stories swept us elsewhere and nothing mattered anymore save each other, the flame and the specks of light above.

The weekend meant laughter, wired smiles as morning broke and caffeine rushes; all for a good cause.

Beneath those same stars, rain was falling somewhere far away.

The water was rising, while we slept in cardboard shelters through a cloudless night.

Houses of living memories had been suddenly swallowed by the swollen rivers while we set out to make this weekend as memorable and life-changing as possible.

A day of difference for a lifetime of change.

Solidarity amidst reckless forces

What is solidarity in the face of such reckless forces and what is awareness going to change?

Us.

Though we feel so small, we must begin somewhere to pave the way for a lifetime of change.

We had gathered together to join with 6000 other young people across New Zealand who were also standing in solidarity with the people of Solomon Islands, as part of the inaugural Caritas Challenge, from Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand.

A chance to find out more about the reality of people's lives around the world, to stand alongside them, and raise some money to support people who need it.

Throughout the 24 hours, we reflected on the cost of apathy and what it means to live justly.

Open eyes

During our discussions, one person stated that it is easy to ignore the need if you can't see it, and this simple truth reverberated throughout the room.

What does it mean to open our eyes to the need in Solomon Islands, within Aotearoa New Zealand, our communities, our families, and within ourselves?

What are the costs of ignorance and the costs of choosing to be aware?

I woke shivering; during the night I had kicked my blanket off and in a sleep-induced state, lacked the initiative to pull it back up.

For the rest of the night I rolled into a ball with hands buried deep in my pockets, wishing I had brought something warmer.

But even then I knew that a bed awaited me back home, food would be stacked neatly in the pantry and friends would enquire politely on how I slept and I'd describe the experience as "eye-opening."

But one of these days, we have to begin somewhere.

Huddled around the smoking ashes of yesterday, we knew what we had to do and began.

A day of difference for a lifetime of change.

Jacob Bang is studying English Literature with History at Victoria University. Last year he was on the Marist-Challenge 2000 gap year programme.

Source: CathNews NZ Pacific

Image: Stephen Davies/Caritas Aotearoa NZ

"We need to be far more grateful for all we have because they have so little and even that is being taken away from them," said Mareko Ennor, a Year 12 student at St Patrick's College, Wellington.

Mareko described his involvement in the Caritas Challenge as "life-changing", and said the challenge helped him put a lot of things in perspective.

Caritas NZ Director Julianne Hickey says the flooding in the Solomon Islands has made the situation that much more real for the students.

"They are reflecting on the situation there, sending their thoughts, prayers and fundraising for the people of the Solomons," she said.

The Caritas Challenge is an annual event to raise money for charity work in the South Pacific and prior to the severe flooding, was this year focussed on the Solomon Islands.

Caritas' response in place

Mrs Hickey confirmed Caritas New Zealand volunteers are already at work near the flooded areas.

"These floods will have a huge impact on people struggling to survive", said Mrs Hickey.

With no central sewerage system and septic tanks overflowing, Mrs Hickey identified the spread of disease as a major threat.

Most people in the Solomon Islands grow their own vegetables so if the crops have not been destroyed by floods, the threat of contracting illness due to bacteria and viruses present in the effluent is very real.

While winds are still strong in Honiara, the chance of the nearby tropical depression becoming a cyclone remains low.

Image: Twitter @_binbin

The Caritas Challenge is an annual 24-hour event for schools and youth groups during Lent

At Garin College in Nelson, for example, over 170 students are spending Saturday night in cardboard boxes on the school's tennis courts and going without food for 20 hours to experience and understand what living in poverty is like.

The Caritas Challenge is an annual 24-hour event for schools and youth groups during Lent.

The aim is for participants to join together in solidarity with the poor and in doing so to connect with the principles of Catholic social teaching while raising money towards one of the many international partnerships that Caritas supports.

Youth are encouraged to undertake an activity that brings them closer to the living conditions of those less fortunate.

There are four themes to choose from:

• ‘Move it' - 24 hours of physical activity like running or cycling;
• ‘Live it' - build a temporary structure from cardboard and sleep in it overnight;
• ‘Sweat it' - work in shifts over 24 hours, making products in a ‘sweatshop' environment;
• ‘Stop it' - give up something like technology or food for 24 hours.

Participants seek sponsorship for taking up and surviving the Challenge.

The 2014 Caritas Challenge focus is on the Solomon Islands which consists 992 islands spread across the southwest Pacific.

Ongoing recovery from conflict of a decade ago, presents daily challenges for its people to provide vital services like water, housing, health and education.