Linda |Glen Innes
“Kia ora. My name is Linda, and I live in Manurewa. Just recently my work colleague, put some highlights in my hair, and it was just a kind gesture for Mother’s Day.
I was really surprised because I was expecting to pay her about $50 because it’s really expensive when you go to the hairdressers and get highlights put through your hair.
I work for Tamaki Budgeting, we try to help the community in Glen Innes to get rid of their debt. We go over and above. It’s a Christian budgeting service as well, so it’s made up of seven different churches, and we have a board of trustees with different churches on the Trust, so it’s Christian-based. Sometimes we don’t always have the answers, but we can always offer prayer.
I grew up in a little place called Tokoroa. Well between Tokoroa and Putaruru. So, I was raised in the country on a farm, but I went to school in Hamilton. I met my husband here in GI, and we bought a house in Manurewa, but I always come back to GI, because this is the community that basically, I learned a lot from. So, it’s good to give back to the community where I used to live.
I think part of it is the way I’ve been raised. My family values, and also the Christian values that were put into me when I was young. Both of my grandparents were missionaries, and so, and they did a lot of charity work, and so it’s just within you. It’s your heart. We love to give in this community, in Glen Innes. Whatever little we do have; we try to give.
You can’t get by without your friends. Your friends are important because they’re the ones that support you. But the good thing about friends is that they’re there when you fall. So, you know, when things mess up, they’re there to help you, and it’s also good to give back to your friends, I try not to take my friends for granted, because if you do something good for somebody, then they’ll pass it on and do something good for other friends. That chain reaction, we can just spread the love wherever we go.”
