Tereanna never expected to find herself “homeless,” but that was before the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods when her whānau lost their home and all their possessions. The whānau was split up and found themselves living in various separate places. Tereanna, her husband and three youngest children were crowded into one small room where they had to pack up their blow-up beds every morning and reinflate them every evening.
In desperation, Tereanna came to Visionwest hoping to find accommodation and discovered so much more.
Listen to Tereanna tell part of her story.
The first time our place flooded was during the deluge on January 27 2023, but it didn’t end there. After that, there was water coming into the house every time it rained. We had no idea where it was coming from, and the landlord didn’t seem terribly motivated to find out. It was really hard for me to allow our kids to be in a house where water was coming in through the walls and floors every day. It wasn’t just the one flood. It was every time it rained.
It was crazy. I didn’t know what to do because I’d had surgery just four weeks prior to the flooding and I was still recovering from that. I had three little kids to look after … it was a lot to take in at the time. One thing I knew for certain, I had to remove my children from a mouldy damp house that was hazardous to their health.
Tereanna visits Visionwest
Tereanna heard that Visionwest Community Housing provided accommodation support and so, one day, homeless and with no place to go, Tereanna came into the Visionwest Whānau Centre. The team introduced her to Becks, one of Visionwest’s Community Connectors.
Becks was the most welcoming, beautiful person I’ve ever met. She didn’t judge me or treat me like just another person who needed help. She treated me in a way that made me feel like I wasn’t forgotten. That was what it felt like at that point. I felt like the rest of the world had moved on and I was forgotten. But Becks listened and asked me, ‘What do you need?’ I answered, ‘I need everything.’
Tereanna with three of her children.
This was the reality for Tereanna, her husband and their children. They needed everything. All five of them were crammed into one small room having lost their home and all their possessions in the floods. While Becks couldn’t do anything immediately, she kept in contact and, at that point in time, that’s what Tereanna needed the most.
Becks just kept that contact and that was the coolest thing. It made me feel that I was not alone. Until that point, that’s how it felt. When I rang other organisations for help, I felt doors were closed on me. I went to Government agencies, and they said they couldn’t help me although they did try to find emergency housing for us, but it would have meant we would be split up and, after all the children had been through, we didn’t want that.
In reality, we already were split up. Our older children were in emergency housing, and we were in our little room with the three younger ones. That made things worse. You lose every material thing and then you lose a part of your family too. We’ve not been together since the floods – we all live in different homes now.
The greatest gift – hope
Tereanna credits Becks with giving her the greatest gift she could have wished for at that time… hope. By connecting Tereanna with different options for accommodation and other support at a time when the family was still shell-shocked from the flooding and struggling with motivation, Becks made Tereanna feel like she could keep going. Having previously viewed dozens of potential houses and missing out on them Tereanna, with Beck’s support, found a place within days.
What a relief to find a place to live but then there was another immediate challenge – we had no furniture. Everything in our flooded place was damaged, either by the flood water, or the mould that seemed to grow on everything within days. We did our best to clean stuff, but it was hopeless.
Becks was amazing. She got us a new bed each; I know they’re worth a lot of money, so we were all incredibly thankful. We’d been sleeping on air beds for three months. Every day we’d have to deflate our beds and pack our stuff away and then, each evening, we’d have to get it out again and pump the beds back up. But now we were coming home to a house that had beds and clean sheets and blankets. All these things were gifted to us by Visionwest.
We were given a brand-new lounge suite, also. I looked at it and was a little hesitant at first. We’ve got three young kids and kids can be pretty rough on furniture, but Becks was insistent that this was for us.
We got help with food from Manaaki Kai and Becks gave us food gift cards to get all those extra things you need to keep three hungry kids fed.
Tereanna’s car challenge
Then the family was hit with another challenge. As they were setting up home, Tereanna’s car was stolen. It was brand-new to her, and she’d picked it up just before moving into their new house. Just a few weeks after all her work gear had been lost in the flood, all the replacement gear was gone also.
The day my car got stolen, Becks phoned to ask me to come down to Visionwest. I told her I couldn’t because I had no car. Becks couldn’t believe it. She came around with some more blankets and sheets because we only had one sheet each then, as she was leaving, she said, ‘No guarantees, but I’m going to try and do something for you to help with transport.’ Two days later, she phoned to say she had a car I could use.
For the six weeks it took for the insurance on her stolen car to come through, Tereanna received the use of one of ten loan cars supplied to Visionwest by MG Motor Group. It meant that for those six weeks, she could go to work, drop the children at school, and complete all her other regular tasks. For Tereanna and her family, Visionwest’s Community Connector service was a lifesaver.
Knowing there was someone thinking of us and supporting us was an awesome, awesome thing. Previously, I’d had organisations say to me, ‘Sorry, the date to get support has ended,’ when we were still struggling after the flooding. Even after all this time, a lot of people are still struggling in so many ways, physically, mentally, financially… That’s how we ended up at Visionwest and that’s why I still go there for support. Visionwest doesn’t have a time when the support runs out. Becks and the Community Connectors are there for anyone who has a need, no matter what that need is and no matter when it happened.
I never thought something like this could happen to my whānau. I don’t sit and take things for granted anymore because I realise how quickly life can change. And, to have Visionwest there, never judging, always asking if we’re okay, is just wonderful.
The challenge isn’t over
Tereanna admits, since losing their home and all their possessions in the floods, some days are more challenging than others. Like many children affected by the floods, Tereanna’s tamariki all have what she calls ‘rain anxiety.’ The sound of rain on the roof can bring back memories of the flooding and bring on a sense of dread.
When we were looking for a new place to stay, I put a lot of thought into what kind of house we should move into. That’s one of the reasons it took so long for me to find one. I wanted a home that was up off the ground on a section that was not too low-lying. I checked where water flowed through each property and checked fences because, with a lot of the houses I looked at, I could see how far the water had risen during the flooding. Having been through that ordeal, it now affects everything I do. I certainly don’t think I could go through it again.
One of the great services Visionwest offers is counselling. Counselling is so important. If I didn’t have The Wellbeing Centre [Visionwest’s counselling service], I don’t know where I’d be right now. They’ve given me tools that enable me to cope. I’ll be honest, for a while I was just sitting around in my pyjamas all day. The counselling and other support I’ve received from Visionwest has shown me that there is life after the floods. It just takes a little bit longer to get over the trauma than it does after other situations because, for people who have been through a flood, the weather, especially heavy rain, is always a potential traumatising factor.
Tereanna finishes by talking about Visionwest and how they help people who have been through tough times.
I’ve learned that, even in the toughest times, there are people out there who want to help. Organisations like Visionwest, where they want to open their arms and offer support. They’re not here to shame you or make you feel like you’re another number or put you in a queue. They’re committed to supporting you in your time of need.
Visionwest never made me feel like I was just another someone who needed something. They listened to what I needed and then they continue to check to see if we’re okay. Especially Becks. I don’t know how many people she checks up on – there must be more than just me – but the most important thing to me is that when she checks up on me, she makes me feel like I’m the only one.
Click here to read another story about Visionwest’s Community Connector Team.
By late-June 2023, Visionwest had been able to: support 3,152 households with food; open a pop-up pantry for whānau who had lost everything in the flooding; provide $219,766 worth of replacement household items to 84 households; provide 171 counselling sessions to whānau affected by flooding, along with seven community group sessions and visits to five schools to help pupils impacted by trauma associated with the flooding, personally visit 164 red or yellow-stickered homes to check on residents and ensure they had food and other necessities; support 296 households who had contacted us with accommodation needs.
Click here to read the Visionwest Flood and Cyclone Report.
**We understand that it is a great privilege when someone generously agrees to share their story. This blog and other material are shared with Tereanna’s permission, and we thank her for her generosity.