An ex-resident at Te Pā Pori, John has now found a home of his own – and a new lease of life here in Wellington. He shares his story, and reflects on the positive change he brought about in his life.
“I lived in Gisborne all my life, working on the farm as a general hand and groundsman. One day a few years ago, I had a heart attack. I was gone for a few minutes, so they had to shock me back to life. I got a pacemaker, so I needed to take work a bit easier after that. I did a course to become a heavy machinery driver, and found a job driving tractors and rollers. But pretty much as soon as I started, I jumped down from a machine in too much of a hurry and broke my back in two places. I had a broken heart, broken back, broken everything!”
Gisborne is a small place. It only takes you about half an hour to walk from one side of town to the other. While I wasn’t working, I had a lot of people trying to influence me to do things I didn’t want to do, and there are a lot of gangs everywhere. I felt like I was going nowhere. So at the start of this year, I wanted to make a fresh start and I came down to Wellington. I’d planned to stay with my brother, but when I got here I found out that I couldn’t because of his rental contract. I started living on the street, while I tried to get into a better situation.”
Being homeless in a new city was a bit scary at the start. A bunch of my stuff got stolen too, like my phone, IDs and clothes. I remember thinking, ‘What am I gonna do now?’. I started going to DCM and the Mission to help me with everything I needed. It was good to know I wasn’t going to starve, and Whakamaru was flash as. I could have showers and laundry done, and they’d give you all the soaps and whatnot. You could even get a hot coffee and a pie all for free if you wanted it.”
There were a couple of staff members at Whakamaru who were helping me find somewhere to live as well. I was only homeless for 15 days before they introduced me to Te Pā Pori for an interview. When I first came I thought, ‘Far out, this is the one’. And when they said I could come in straight away I was rapt as!”
The rooms are really nice, then you go downstairs and there’s food for breakfast. There are also group activities like ‘Whakaaro mo te Rā’, or ‘Thought of the Day’, every morning. That helped me heaps. I learnt about looking after myself better through budgeting and managing housing. It gave everyone a chance to talk about what’s happened to them and how they’re getting on too. Some guys have to learn how to respect themselves before they can respect anything or anyone else. Respecting this place was easy for me though, because I really appreciated being here. I liked being around the positive kaimahi (staff), and getting to know all the different people who live here. It was a good community to be part of.”
It turned out it’s quite hard to find a flat, so my key worker, Katrina, was doing the hard yards helping me find a permanent place to stay. She also helped me get everything I needed like an ID, phone, and a new GP so they could keep an eye on my heart. It was good knowing I was getting everything sorted to start my new life in Wellington.”
Then a new Kāinga Ora place came up and I was buzzing! I’ve been here for three months now and I’m really happy. I go for walks, see my brother, and catch up with people I’ve met from the Mission. My big goal is to get everything right with my body, then get back into work. I really want to be able to take care of myself well and get everything I need, like good clothes and a bit more food. I don’t mind what I do, as long as it’s a bit easier on my body and is not too much heavy lifting, because I just turned 60.”
When I first came to the Mission I couldn’t believe the help that I got. It’s excellent knowing I still have the right people around me. Another kaiarahi, Te Arahi, comes and sees me every now and then, just to see how I’m getting on and if I need anything for my goals. I reckon if I hadn’t linked in with them I’d probably still be on the street. Wellington is a good city with good people, and when I wake up every day I’m just so grateful to be here.”
John, with City Mission Kaiarahi, Te Arahi & Katrina.
