Dame Silvia reveals Cambodian role

HINERANGI VAIMOSO
Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright yesterday made a last visit to Central Hawke's Bay College before she leaves New Zealand to pursue justice in Cambodia.
In an unexpected announcement at CHB College, Dame Silvia said she was to head to Cambodia where she would serve as an international judge on the panel to try members of the Khmer Rouge regime that ruled from 1975-79.
The regime was responsible for killing an estimated 1.7 million people through execution, starvation and forced labour. It was described as the most violent act of the 20th century and compared with the Nazi movement.
It is not known when Dame Silvia will take up her position in Cambodia but she said she looked forward to helping justice be found there.
She arrived at the school to meet the 69 pupils involved with the Lion Foundation Young New Zealanders' Challenge, one of the biggest school groups in New Zealand.
When Claire Mulinder signed up for what is normally known as the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme as a 14-year-old, she didn't realise it was going to be more than "just a bit of fun" with her mates.
She's now 17, received the gold badge for her achievements and yesterday shook hands with Dame Silvia.
Claire had to master four specialist areas before she could gain her gold award, including tramping in the Ruahine Forest, Mount Taranaki, and an expedition down the West Coast of the South Island.
"I would probably have never done that if I hadn't done the Duke Of Ed," Claire said.
"I had no idea what it was going to be like, I just did it because my friends were."
Claire also had to perform a service as part of the awards scheme.
Hers involved lifeguarding at the local pools and teaching an autistic boy to swim.
"That was really fun, probably one of the most satisfying parts of the whole thing," she said.
But the deeds didn't stop there.
She also had to join a sport. Netball took top spot.
Then she had to learn a skill.
"I did singing for a while - which I wouldn't want to put anyone through again - and cross-stitch, which was embarrassing but kind of fun," she said.
Claire has just returned from a 10-day journey on the Spirit of New Zealand boat which sails around the Bay of Islands.
That latest endeavour was her last step toward gaining her gold badge.
It was her residential project, in which competitors have to whisk away for an adventure with an unfamiliar crowd.
"I had never heard of anyone who had a bad time on the boat but I was convinced I was going to be the first," she said as she nervously bit her lip, remembering.
Pupils were deprived when it came to showering and were left to bathe in the sea during their 6am swim.
"It was weird at first but by the end of it we were all smelly and hairy together."
Claire believed the drive to complete the scheme came from her decision to become a nurse one day.
She is undecided on whether she should study at the Eastern Institute of Technology, where it's close to home, or at Massey University, in Palmerston North, where it would be far enough away from home.
Dame Silvia presented the school with a book about New Zealand history because "plaques are a waste of time" and she was gifted a pen from Te Kura Kaupapa o Takapau and some local wine from a parent of the college.