Maria | Ōtara, Auckland
“I had a heart-to-heart conversation with a homeless man. He told me all about the sadness, and how money always talks now, with the family they pushed them out of their house, and I felt really, really sad for him, and this was a couple of weeks ago.
Now, he’s at my house, and when he first came, he was really scared and frightened, and so I was just there for his ear, to listen to what he said, how he ended up on the road. He doesn’t drink. He doesn’t smoke and he’s 62, this man, and it was mainly over the money business. He was not on the benefit at all, he’d come back from Australia, and he came back to live with his family, and his family threw him out on the street. So, and I think with society now, money talks. I was a homeless worker for 15 years, and coming back to New Zealand and seeing this it just breaks your heart, you hear a story like that, and it wasn’t because he was drunk or drugged. It was because he didn’t have a job, and he was only with them for two weeks. Now, he’s at my house, and I’m helping him out.
I was a nurse in Australia and then I was diagnosed with chemical poisoning, and I couldn’t work anymore. So, I just went down to the city in Canberra, and I sat there, and I felt like you’ve got something that hits you in your heart, and then I go and talk to the homeless. They tell me all their problems and honestly, I’ve been like that for years, even when I was growing up. I helped all my family out, all the people that needed to be helped. It’s just in me. You just feel like crying every time you see that around. So what I did in Australia, I slept on the street. I had a house, but I slept on the street, to find out who I could take back to my place. I found out who was good and who was not. I’d take, like four and I’d put them into houses or even emergency houses. They were only with me for three weeks, and I’ve found somewhere for them to go. But I’ve been like that all my years, doesn’t matter what race it is. To me, it’s sad that you’re in a house and they’re on the street, and it’s sad even if they are not on the street. They still go through a lot of problems. So, that’s me. I just talk to the whole community. I just sit down there and I see someone alone, so I go and sit down and talk to them. That big heart. it’s in me, because when I came back from Australia, I had taken in my brother and another homeless person, and my son was going, ‘oh there you go Mum, you’re doing it again, you’ve got the biggest heart I’ve ever known’. I’ve been doing that all my life, helping people. Doesn’t matter whether they’re related, or their ethnicity, their nationality. It doesn’t bother me.
I was born in St Mary’s Hospital in Auckland. We were staying in Onehunga and we moved out here when I was three months, and this was where I was brought up till I went to Australia.
I’ve started singing, I always sing about five songs. The reason why I come here is because the lady always likes me to sing, and the fella over there in the dairy, and then it’s all those people down there. So, I just sing, sing, sing. I do not take money. A lot of people have tried to give me money for the singing, but I won’t take it. I always say the Lord gave me my beautiful voice, so they can hear me, and they know me. Everybody knows me. I’m happy to do what I’m doing. Not only that, the only other reason why I do it is because I’ve got a nerve problem and I’m always in pain 24/7, when I sing, the pain just goes. All I’m thinking about is the song.
(Singing)
There goes my heart beating
Because you are the reason
Losing my sleep
Please come back now.
There goes my mind racing
And you are the reason
That I’m still breathing
I’m hopeless now
I climb every mountain
Swim every ocean
Just to be with you
And fix what I’ve broken
Oh, cos I need you to see
You are the reason.
There goes my hands shaking
And you are the reason
My heart keeps bleeding
I need you now
If I could turn back the clock
I’d make sure the light defeated the dark
Spend every hour, every day keeping you safe
I climb every mountain
Swim every ocean
Just to be with you
And fix what I’ve broken
Oh, cos I need you to see
And you are the reason, oh
And you are the reason, oh
I climb every mountain
Swim every ocean
Just to be with you
And fix what I’ve broken
Cos I need you to see
You are the reason.”
