Gaille – Kelston
“The last time was about 20 minutes ago; there was a guy who was sleeping here at the Wesley Community Centre where we’re holding the market every Tuesday and Friday,
and I pulled up and I saw him asleep so I went over to him and woke him up and I says to him, do you want some fried chicken, and he said yes. So I went and bought him some fried rice. The other day I saw this guy cleaning windows in cars in Avondale, so in spite of what everybody says, that we shouldn’t be encouraging them, I think it’s better that we encourage them. It keeps them out of our windows, out of our cars. It keeps the crime rate amongst the youth to a minium. They’re earning money. It isn’t an easy road, cleaning windows. I mean, you have to be dedicated. You have to have done your research in which is the best spot to clean windows.
You have to be traffic-savvy. You have to be light-savvy. So yeah I reward them. Every time I see them at the side, or washing windows or that I hand them over some money or even a couple of cigarettes. I originally was brought up the first seven years of my life was in Waitahanui, Taupō. It was a little ah community where everybody knew one another. We knew the local doctor. It was a tight-knit community. Then, when the urban drift took place we went to Hastings where there was work, and my dad worked at the freezing works. So I was in Hastings for a very long period of time, and then moved to Auckland. Went around part of the world, and then decided Hastings was far too small for me, and moved to Auckland, and here I um. I’ve done a number of jobs in the time. I’ve worked for Like Minds Like Mine, mental health. Ah, I was in the promotions section and then I’ve worked at radio, Radio Wātea.
I was the producer and radio host of a couple of shows, and now here I’m my own boss selling second hand clothing, and really cheap and sort of like doing this job you can tell families that are in need. So, you throw them a few extra, especially when it comes to kids. You see kids on a cold day with no shoes, and no jackets, you just give it to them. So, there’s always an opportunity to give in almost everything that I do. Well, one day it could be me. It could be one of my family. It could be a friend, somebody I know and I’m hoping that we, in a country like New Zealand where we have four seasons, and not clearly defined, some merge, but we have four seasons, we have a lovely country, poverty is just not necessary. It’s just wrong. I mean, when you think about the, the Māori battalion and the war vets that went over to die for a country that they could be proud of, how could they possibly be proud of this?
Part of the reason why I have the urge, the response to those that are disadvantaged, more disadvantaged than me is because I can see that possibly I could be one day one of them. One of my family members could be one of them, and I think New Zealand needs a huge injection of humanity, and we’re lacking in that. There seems to be, in my view, in what I’ve heard and what I’ve watched, more humanity in third world countries than there is here.
I’m a chatterbox, and I’m interested in people, and I met this one guy who, an old fella in Henderson, and he was homeless, but I mean the stories he’s had; he lived with the Indian tribes over in America and knew them very well, and he lived with Māori up North, and a rich network of knowledge and that was somebody that was on the streets. I find them really, I don’t like to use the word interesting, but damned interesting. They’ve got a wealth of experience, a patchwork of stories, I love the fact that I’m not too shy to go up and say, oh kia ora how are ya? The part of the area in mental health that I worked in was for de-stigmatisation of those with mental health issues.
I was involved in media and promotions, organising events and just highlighting well not normalising it, but highlighting the fact that it is out there, it is real and it’s something that we need to deal with, and turning our back on it isn’t going to sort things out. So I was in the promotion team.
I’ve been totally depressed. I know what it’s like to be in the dark place, absolutely. It was all about not being heard, not being appreciated, not being loved. Putting out a lot an awful lot and getting nothing in return. That sense of not being respected. All the nots you can think of; that was me. So, it spiralled me into depression, and down there I felt less than the stuff that comes out of the dog’s bum.
I think when you go down as far as you possibly can, the only way is up, and so I had a look at myself and decided that I’m more than what everybody else thinks I am. I’m honest, I’m trustworthy, I’m dedicated, I’m committed, I’m disciplined. I’m all the things that everybody was telling me that I wasn’t, either through words or through action, and that was my pathway up. I tried counselling, all those sorts of things, but they really didn’t hit the target for me. So when I, I guess I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and it wasn’t a train. It was all good.”
