Heather | Invercargill
“At the moment home is Waldorf Bankside Apartments. The last couple of weeks I had two of my sisters come to visit, and I looked after their three children, and it was one sister and then the other sister came with her son, and that was awesome, just with the reconnection of family, and feeling the joy of the children, and you know, just being in that sort of spontaneous playing, and having fun.
I grew up in Oamaru, in the South Island, and life for me growing up – it was lots of fun. I came from a big family, so we always had a friend. I did a lot of dancing. So, dancing and movement is a big part of our lives, and being active, and being in nature as well; going to the beaches. I come from a very open family, so I felt very supported and connected and loved, basically.
I live in Invercargill, so it’s not really a place that a lot of people go to visit, and so with family being north obviously, all the main centres are north, people don’t pass through Invercargill, so when my family come to visit, I feel really touched that they want to come and visit, because it makes me feel important, and they’ve made the effort to come and visit. It’s really nice to have that quality time with family and connection, and feeling supported is a big one. It’s been a bit hard-going this past year, and feeling quite isolated, so it was nice to have them come and be with me, and just be, basically.”
