Terangiataahua’s first visit to Visionwest was for a kai parcel, but she left with a booked meeting with the Whānau Centre Support Navigator for further wraparound support and to begin a journey which would change their lives forever.
I was a bit lost. The only thing I really knew for sure is that I needed some help. One day, I was walking past the Visionwest Glengarry Road offices and something said to me, ‘Just go over there and see what they can offer you.’ I saw a lady standing outside and just walked up to her and said, ‘Hello. I need some help, please.’
Terangiataahua was immediately introduced to the team at Visionwest’s Whānau Centre, the waharoa (gateway) to Visionwest’s wraparound support services. That’s where she met Arnia, one of the Support Navigators.
I just cried and cried and cried and cried – Arnia was so patient. She told me everything’s going to be okay. I was a bit wary because every agency I’d ever been to had told me the same thing and had never came through for me. This really was the last straw for me.
Terangiataahua is given a promise
Visionwest’s mission statement is Building Hope Together and that was the promise Arnia made to Terangiataahua, that together they would take a journey of transformation for Terangiataahua and her whānau. Over the next few months, Terangiataahua received support from a number of Visionwest’s support services including: Winter Warmer Funding, Sustaining Tenancy Support, Kāinga Ora Advocacy, Furniture Support, Counselling, Youth Support (Ōhinga Tū), Work and Income Advocacy, and Christmas From The Heart Support.
To be honest, when Arnia said I was going to get this and I was going to get that, I wasn’t really there for that. I was just there for you to awhi (embrace/show love to) me. I guess it’s just that I didn’t really know what I needed. I was lost.
Terangiataahua and life before Visionwest
When asked how life was before coming to Visionwest, Terangiataahua responds that it was very, very hard and that she felt very alone.
I’d just come to Auckland and it was just me. My kids were in Gisborne. I sat in my emergency housing surrounded by all these other kids but none of them were mine. That was hard … really hard. I was surrounded by other people’s kids who would call me ‘aunty.’ I’d look after them until one day my eyes were opened. I asked myself, ‘Why am I giving to these kids when I can’t even give to my own kids and have them with me?’
So, with Arnia’s help and with Visionwest, I got all my kids back. All seven of them. It was a hard road with addiction and trauma, but we got there, and you know why? Because I finally had someone who believed in me.
Terangiataahua and life with Visionwest
Terangiataahua and her whānau were reunited and found themselves in a 2½ bedroom home – there were nine of them living there. One of Terangiataahua’s sons has rheumatic heart disease and was sleeping in a room that was constantly cold and damp. Some support was provided through Visionwest’s Winter Warmer funding and the whānau received extra blankets and hot water bottles for each whānau member and a dehumidifier for the home. But it wasn’t enough.
It was crazy. There was water coming down the wall. At the time, the kids had new beds, but I couldn’t put them up because there was no room. The were all still in the boxes so I stacked them up against the wall just to stop the wet from coming down onto my son.
Terangiataahua also has a son who is a chronic asthmatic and has chronic eczema both of which were exacerbated by their poor living conditions.
My kids were just getting sores left, right and centre. My son got chicken pox on top of school sores, on top of infected eczema. He had to be hospitalised just due to our housing situation. One of my children is deaf in one ear. We’ve only just got treatment for him.
One thing that is obvious about Terangiataahua is the depth of aroha she feels for each one of her children.
I’m not sure where I’d be if I hadn’t had help to change my life. You see, I was missing quite a big part of my life and that was my kids. And I had to change my life around because I really wanted to be a mum to my kids. I admit it, I mucked up when I was younger, and now I feel like I owe them my life and everything beautiful in life so, I do everything I can to be a good mum; and I’ll take whatever help I can get to get there.
Terangiataahua and her whānau
For the team at Visionwest, it’s been a real privilege to journey with Terangiataahua and have her and her children as part of our whānau. She’s touched many of us with her friendliness, her warm smile and her positive outlook on life; and Terangiataahua is so appreciative of all the support she’s been given.
One of the first things Visionwest helped me with was kai. Manaaki Kai [the Visionwest social supermarket] is amazing, especially when you have a large family like I do. My weekly shopping would usually cost me $750 but at Manaaki Kai, for $48 I can get a heap of food. I’m so grateful for that. It’s a real money saver.
I also go to Te Kapu [free community lunch] every Wednesday. I bring my family all the time. I love it. The staff, the people that come together at Visionwest are so humble and it’s just great to be around that. Growing up I was around a lot of anger and hate and so it’s really new and different to me, but it’s lovely and beautiful at the same time.
I’ve been to Mātanga Oranga for counselling too. That’s awesome although I’ve got a few things going on, so I’ve put that on hold at the moment. I’ll be back though because I know I’ve got to work on myself.
One of Terangiataahua’s children is over 18 and there was a need for him to be supported in getting on track and engaged in some further learning opportunities. With support from Visionwest’s youth team, he was accepted into the He Poutama Rangatahi course and was able to engage with a youth mentor. That remains a work in progress.
Terangiataahua was also able to engage with Work and Income onsite at Visionwest to ensure she was getting the correct entitlements through her benefit. With support from her Support Navigator, Terangiataahua was able to collate all of the paperwork she required to complete applications for allowances which ensured she was getting everything she was entitled to for her children.
By advocating for Terangiataahua at Kāinga Ora, more suitable housing was able to be found for the whānau. That has been a life-changer for the entire family.
Having a stable address changes everything. When we were in emergency housing my kids couldn’t go to school because we were moving every seven days or so and they didn’t have a stable address; with no address there’s no way to enrol in school. Same with my kids’ doctors. Without that stable address, and when you have so many kids, we just couldn’t enrol anywhere. One time I had to fight the doctor just for him to give my son a shot in his butt for his injection for his heart. It’s because we were placed in an emergency home far away from the hospital, far away from the doctors, far away from Pak’nSave. It caused so much stress.
I felt like being in emergency housing robbed my kids of getting help education wise. They weren’t allowed to go to school because they didn’t have a stable address. I don’t get it.
Terangiataahua and her appreciation
Terangiataahua is full of praise and gratitude for Arnia and the entire Visionwest team saying that she cannot find the words to explain what the support she’s received means to her. One thing that has amazed Terangiataahua is that, even now that’s she’s doing so much better, Arnia still contacts her to check that she’s okay and her children are doing well.
One thing I know for sure, if I hadn’t stopped at Visionwest that day, and if I hadn’t come this way, I’d still be homeless for sure and, if I’m honest, I’d probably be an alcoholic; maybe even a druggie, and I certainly wouldn’t have my kids with me.
When she speaks about Terangiataahua’s life transformation, Arnia, Terangiataahua’s Support Navigator simply says, “We just opened the doors for her, Terangiataahua had the courage to walk through them and what she’s achieved is amazing.” Terangiataahua, however, is quick to praise Arnia.
Oh, but you helped guide me and gave me knowledge about places to get help and about things I didn’t know would help me. Thank you so much. I just would really like to thank Visionwest for helping me and my family, my big family, get to where we need to be to be better people. To be a better person, for myself, and to be a better parent for my kids.
When I came to Visionwest, I was at my lowest. My lowest of my lowest. I was going to give up on my kids … but not now. If I ever meet anyone in a situation like I was in, I’m going to encourage them to come to Visionwest because Visionwest can change your life around. They really can, they changed my life around.
Sure, I still have a lot of work to do on myself and in other areas, but I’m a totally different person today than I ever have been. Arnia has given me back everything that everybody else had taken from me; my pride, my self-worth, my sense of being a mum. Amazing to think that, not long ago, I was at the point of giving up.
Read another inspirational Visionwest whānau story.
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**We understand that it is a great privilege when someone generously agrees to share their story. This blog and other material is shared with Terangiataahua’s permission and we thank her for her generosity.