Jasmine | Mount Maunganui, Bay of Plenty

“So, home to me, is not necessarily a physical house. I think home is being with those people that you’re safe with, that you trust. I think home is more about the people that you surround yourself with.

I’ve lived in many houses that I would never say felt like a home, but where I currently live with my son, we make that our home, and that’s because there’s just love and support with us, but also, Mauao, the mountain, which you probably can’t see behind us is also part of my home, and that’s where I go to reconnect, and where I go for my self-care and it gives me a sense of having my feet firmly back on the ground, and to me, that’s also a sense of home. 

Home definitely anchors me. It gives me a place where at the end of every day I can anchor myself. It’s where I can revitalise myself. It’s somewhere where I can just have my feet back on the ground, and it just gives me a sense of stability. It makes me feel safe. It gives me a place that I can always go back to.

So, I was born in Whangārei, up north, and grew up in a little town called Cambridge, where I spent most of my years as a young child. Then, I moved to Auckland, and then I moved to South America. I’m half-Peruvian, so we went there to reconnect with my family, and their home, and lived in Australia for 10 years and then I came back to New Zealand to have my son, and really found a passion for youth. So I studied for four years at the University of Waikato getting my degree in social work, and now I work for Tauranga Youth Development Team, working with youth, and I also work with high-risk youth around the Bay of Plenty.”