Vaniva | Kaitāia, Northland

“I live here in Kaitāia, and I’ve been up here for at least 15 years, and just love the place. I don’t see anywhere else as home for me right now because it has everything. Kindness for lots of people can mean a lot of things, but for me and what I do, it’s going out of one’s way, that extra time, that extra thing that they do for you.

And I’m just so thankful, even in this time during Covid-19, that it seems to come out a lot more, because of our situation. I’ve had an opportunity to be kind and giving, going that extra mile to those around me, especially your neighbours. It’s a great opportunity to be able to get to know them through just being kind to them, and in return it makes you feel quite special, too. 

When you receive something that’s totally unexpected, and you didn’t think you needed it, but it turns out that you do, that certainly speaks a lot for being on the receiving end. But you also get blessed when you give something out, too. You’ve got what it is that you can give to someone else to share, and I strongly believe that when you do something like that, it certainly comes back to you in more ways than one. So, there’s heaps of opportunities in this situation. I just hope that it continues.  It shouldn’t take ah, a terrible crisis to make people be kind.

In the role that I do, being out in the community, certainly through this time doing that extra thing that you need to do for people. I had an opportunity to see a family who was in the stage of being evicted, and the neighbour came through and was able to support that person. She felt very vulnerable, and just didn’t know what to do, and this neighbour came through for her, and just sat and listened, and helped her to gather her thoughts, put some things together so that she could do what was necessary for her and her family. So, she didn’t have to, but she did, and she didn’t just do it by being there. She went the extra mile, and she actually supported the person in whatever that was required. Those sorts of things are quite few and far between.

I’m a volunteer for the Kaitāia Seventh Day Adventist Church, and my role is the community program person, and we deliver programs in the community for kids, kids club, programs, sports events, competitions – getting teams together to take part in our local competitions, keeping the kids off the street, community meals during the week. I’m part of a team that makes that happen in our church. That was pre-Covid, but then during Covid, because all the families that we support in those activities, we formed a relationship with them, so we provide things other than just having their children come to our programs. In Covid, I thought, wow this is a time that I’m not going to be able to do anything, I can have a rest, but they became so much more needy. So, that went up even more. The level just went up heaps. So, it’s been great. Great, in the sense that we can certainly look at ways of how we continue the support them. At the end of the day, it’s not just about the money that we get funded. It’s your time, your commitment, and going that extra mile.

As you would have gathered, I certainly base a lot of how I am and who I am on that I give that all back to my belief and my faith in the Lord. That certainly helped me over the years. My background is in education, teaching and nursing. Those things have certainly come in handy for the role that I’ve found myself in, but those values of generosity, being kind, valuing family, being together, helping people to stay together, those are very important to me, and looking after each other.”