Following an internal discussion and new statistical information received from Facebook, to serve the cleft community better, we have decided to make a couple of changes to our Facebook community pages. We previously had the following three pages:

• Cleft NZ Kids and Teens (Designed for use by our youth members, although open to the public)
• FaceIt: Cleft NZ Incorporated (Designed for use by members of the parent community only, members must be approved to join)
• Cleft NZ Causes (Designed for anyone, open to the public)

However, we have found through information released to us from Facebook, that the actual demographics using each of the pages is quite a bit different to our initial intentions when we set up these pages a few years ago. Therefore, we have changed the name of one of our groups, and slightly altered the intended audiences to fit better with the actual audiences that are using all of our pages, and to maximise the opportunity to engage with everyone who shows an interest in our organisation - please see below for the new format.

• Cleft New Zealand (Available for use by anyone with an interest in cleft in NZ, friends, family, youth, medical professionals, students, media etc. – open to the p

  ublic. Will also be our main avenue on Facebook for advertising Cleft NZ information and activities – accessible at )

• FaceIt: Cleft NZ Incorporated (Available for use by members only, including the parent community, as well as those growing up or have grown up with a cleft. Not available to non-members or members who have a solely professional interest in cleft, members must be approved to join – accessible at )
• Cleft NZ Causes (Available to anyone, open to the public – this page remains unchanged)

These changes will not affect any existing users of any of the pages. We take this opportunity to remind you that our Facebook community is an online community to share lived experience and does not take the place of professional advice. Cleft NZ cannot guarantee the validity of the information found there. If you need specific advice please contact your cleft team health professional. Please note that the views expressed there are those of our members and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Cleft New Zealand unless otherwise stated.

Here”s a bit of info on the people willing to get exhausted, filthy and carry Kenny if it came to it (which we”re sure it won”t) – all in the interests of supporting Cleft NZ to attain it”s goal of raising money towards our Outward Bound fund. Of this group only the Whiting-Ayrey”s are directly affected by Cleft Lip and Palate – the others just feel strongly about the cause and are looking forward to seeing Kenny transform from super-roadshow man to super tough guy. Please send the to family and friends, we need your help to make this happen. If by any chance you want to join this team and enter the event on 18th August in Rotorua let me know asap – the t-shirts are being printed as we write, courtesy of Lema Stewart at Embroidery Works – another great supporter of Dare Kenny.

Pete Whiting – Pete is father of 3 children: 3 year old Henry, who was born with CL&P, Ted, 8 years old and Mae, 5 years. Pete is a big ex-rugby player, so toughness and dirt are in his DNA. Pete is a Senior Principal at Landscape, Ecology and Planning firm Boffa Miskell Ltd.

Louise Ayrey – married to Pete Whiting, mother of Henry & co and currently a Wine Merchant and Cleft NZ Volunteer. Lou loves running and boot camp and completed the Tough Guy 6km circuit in 2011. 2012 will see her attempt

12km.

Hamish Mackie – loyal & supportive friend to the Whiting-Ayreys and always up for a challenge, Hamish has 3 kids of his own and is the founder and Co-Director (with his wife Julia) of Mackie Research Ltd – a firm specialising in human systems research and consultancy projects.

Yvonne O”Hagan-Cole – Tough Northern Irish spirit will hold this woman in good stead for this years Tough Guy – also going for the 12k course after completing the 6km last year with Louise, dressed as a Thunderbird! Yvonne is an extrememly stylish mother of three and works at Annah Stretton Matakana keeping other women as stylin” as she.

Marty O”Hagan-Cole – Marty is Yvonnes equally stylish husband and dad of their three girls. He”s a Principal Engineer for Water Asset Management at Opus International Consultants Limited but that won”t help him keep his “assets” dry come the Tough Guy challenge!

Myles Perry – Tall, lean and active, Myles” laid back demeanour hopefully masks the “Tough Guy” within. As Manager of Airline Resources at Air New Zealand we expect him to fly through….mmmmmm. His two children and lovely wife Jeanette will be there cheering the whole Cleft team come the 18th.

Want to join the team? Freephone .

More info on the Tough Guy challenge is available here

Face It: Growing up with Cleft Lip and Palate can be tough, but we”re tougher!

The Cleft NZ Dare Kenny Tough Guy Challenge took place on Saturday 18 August in Rotorua – photos are now available at  or check out the video below!

Our 'tough guy' Kenny Ardouin at the roadshow in Napier, 9 April 2012

What was it all about?

Growing up with Cleft Lip and Palate isn”t easy, sometimes it can feel like a bit of an obstacle course with many different hurdles along the way, but with a bit of encouragement, support and general toughness, we manage to complete an obstacle course that would break many people at the first hurdle (a lot like the big balls on wipeout).

Speaking of obstacle courses, that brings us to our latest fundraiser – the Dare Kenny Tough Guy challenge. Despite being the nice guy that he is, I think it is fair to say, he isn”t exactly the toughest person to ever grace this planet physically, so what better way to take advantage of his good-will by challenging him (dragg

ing him kicking and screaming) to do the Tough Guy obstacle course to raise funds to develop a new Outward Bound programme for Cleft New Zealand.

What does the Tough Guy challenge involve?

The Tough Guy & Gal Challenge is a 6km physical assault course in Rotorua. The course includes water trails, net climb, crawl under barb wire obstacles, swamp crossings, Genie?en Sie die stellaren Casino-Attraktionen in Ihren Online-Glucks online casino spiele portal #1 – 777. native bush trail, wobbly water bridge, open paddock running, hurdles, wire rope bridge plus what the event organisers have described only as “a new surprise”. Kenny didn”t have to do the course alone though, he was joined by Cleft NZ”s Auckland Co-ordinator Louise, and a whole team of supporters. Meet the rest of the Tough Guy Challenge team here.

When was it?

Saturday 18th August 2012 at Hell”s Gate, Rotorua.

So, what exactly are you raising money for?

As we said, growing up with cleft lip and/or palate is tough, but we”re tougher and go on to achieve great things and not let anything hold us back. Outward Bound  is an amazing character-building endurance course, designed to push people to the limits and unleash their inner tough guy/girl. We would love to be able to provide this life-changing experience to members of our cleft community in New Zealand who are ready for a new challenge, and so we are fundraising with the vision to providing this unique opportunity in the future. More info on Outward Bound is available here.

Free food and a movie. Now that we”ve got your attention, there will be free food and a movie at the next Christchurch event on Tuesday 5 June!

So, what is it? It”s a night for people of all ages to come together, learn more about Cleft NZ, what we do and provide you with an opportunity to tell us what you would like to see from Cleft NZ in the future. It is designed for anybody in the Christchurch area with an interest in cleft – whether it be parents, kids, teens, adults, medical professionals, students or anyone else with an interest!

This event will be hosted by Cleft New Zealand”s South Island Co-ordinator, Kenny Ardouin who will introduce our guest speaker for the evening, Mr. R. Kaipa, a PhD student in the Department of Communication Disorders at the University of Canterbury, who will talk to us about his amazing experiences working with The Smile Train, the international organisation which provides free cleft surgery to children in countries less fortunate than our own (The Smile Train are the people behind the award winning “Smile Pinki” film screened on the recent roadshow). We are very privileged to have the opportunity to hear from Mr Kaipa before he heads to the States shortly, so please do come along to hear about his work, it promises to be very interesting and a real eye-opener for us all. Following this, Kenny will talk briefly about Cleft NZ”s operations in Christchurch and plans to get everything moving again over the next year (we have some exciting stuff coming up, you want to hear about it!), and then following this we will have some pizza and drinks (provided by Cleft NZ) and then will watch the family comedy Marley & Me to wrap up

the evening. Cleft NZ staff will be available on the night for you to talk to about any queries or ideas you may have.

When: Tuesday 5 June, 6:30pm (doors open at 6pm with the award winning Smile Pinki documentary screening from 6pm)

Where: North New Brighton War Memorial Community Centre, 93 Marine Parade, Christchurch (Downstairs)

Who for? Anyone with an interest in Cleft Lip and/or Palate – parents, kids, teenagers, adults, professionals and students are all welcome.

How much? This is a FREE event, although, donations are always welcome!

RSVP: Places are limited for this one, so if you would like to come, please email  ASAP to secure your place!

About our guest speaker, Ramesh Kaipa: http://www.cmds.canterbury.ac.nz/postgrads/kaipa.shtml

About the movie Marley & Me (check out the trailer below)
Genre: Comedy
Rating: PG

This event is a special treat for the city of Christchurch seeing as it”s been a tough time for us all lately, and we are really keen to resume our operations in Christchurch following the earthquakes. As a result, this latest Christchurch event is FREE! Spaces are limited though, so please RSVP by emailing ASAP to secure your place!

The Annual General Meeting of Cleft NZ Inc. will be held on Monday 28th May at 7.30pm, at St Matthew in the City, Cnr Hobson and Wellesley Streets, Auckland City.

Our main speaker for the evening will be Peter Fowler, Orthodontist from Christchurch. Peter is actively involved in a project to collect and examine data from Cleft Units around New Zealand, working towards establishing criteria for best practice in all aspects of Cleft Management in NZ.

Peter”s talk will be of interest to all Cleft paren

ts, families and supporters. Please take this opportunity to hear about important work being carried out for the benefit of everyone with a Cleft!

Kenny Ardouin will also update us on his work as South Island Co-ordinator, and a brief review of his recent successful road show.

Light refreshments will be served after the meeting. Parking is available off Hobson Street on the forecourt in front of, and alongside the church.

Please RSVP to for catering and seating purposes.