Di | Kaikohe, Northland

“I’m a teacher, so I quite often have students who come to me, and disclose issues that they have in their life, and sometimes it can be really tough for them, and I think sometimes they appreciate having somebody who’s away from the family setting that can listen maybe a little bit objectively.

I’m a people’s person. I like to interact and be with people. As a teacher, I’m always interacting with students. I don’t mind talking. Talking’s not a problem. I enjoy talking. So, I guess if people want to have a conversation that’s kei te pai. I’m all good with that. 

There’s a lot of mental health issues, and I don’t think, as a country, we really address that. We’ve just put people out into the community, and a lot without support, and they’re just kind of left there to find their way. So having those heart-to-heart conversations is absolutely vital. You look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, and that sense of belonging is one of those basic human needs that we have as a person, as humanity. We need food. We need shelter, but we also need that sense of belonging.

My way of helping in the community is done completely anonymously. Although I like talking to people. I don’t like going out in a public arena and saying, hey look at me. So we started up a pātaka wai ora like the one at the library, at home, just really low key, just put out a little letter drop to the people in our street, starting off small, just to let our little community around us know about it, and we just quietly put access out there, and since then I’ve made connections with other organisations such as Kai Konnect, and we’ve got a really strong bond now, where we exchange what we’ve got with each other. It’s been amazing in lockdown. The amount of community response that I have had has just been really, really humbling. I’ve put photos of the meals that I’ve been cooking to go out to kaumatua and kuia on Facebook, and people have come back and said, ‘hi this is amazing, can I drop off at your front door a bag of oranges’, or a friend to said to me, ‘do you want a leg of lamb, I’ve got plenty in my freezer.’ 

I’ve had a friend of mine who lives in Tauranga, not even near this community say, ‘I want to put some money into your bank account so that you can go and support and carry on with what you’re doing’. So, this food’s been going out to some whānau that need a little bit more awhi at this time, particularly grandparents who are looking after moko, and it’s all very stressful. I don’t know who they are. They don’t know who I am, but I don’t care. I like cooking. It’s my passion and it’s just been a way that I’ve been able to give back to the community, not that they even know me, but it doesn’t matter. It’s just supporting people, but the warmth that has come back from people being generous has been amazing, and I really see that there is a silver lining in the lockdown, that as a community we have started to pull together and look after one another.

I grew up in a very small community with a two-teacher school in the South Island. So, being up here in Ngāpuhi, I’m a long way from home. I’ve been here in this community for 25 years. I grew up on a farm, and I guess we had a fairly simple existence in that we grew all our own produce. We preserved. We valued food. My family were always involved in community activities. My mother, at 80 still supports the Cancer Society. So I guess I’ve come from a family where we’ve had involvement with sports clubs and community groups and things like that. So, it’s just the way I guess I’m wired. 

I know I shouldn’t probably put a political slant on, but I really do admire Jacinda for what she’s done. The message about being kind and about looking after yourselves, and I think collectively, as a nation we’ve pulled together, and we’ve gotten through this because we have done the right thing. I know it’s made me very cross when I’ve seen neighbours who have had a party in the driveway, or they’ve had a huge whānau bubble that just keeps extending, but I think on the whole, we’ve done well. We’ve looked after each other.”