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12 Wednesday <strong>February</strong> <strong>28</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi<br />
Our People<br />
SELWYN TIMES<br />
Bev Elder<br />
Making sure no one feels<br />
In her roles with the<br />
Two Rivers Community<br />
Trust and <strong>Selwyn</strong> Civil<br />
Defence, Darfield’s<br />
Bev Elder has been<br />
supporting people<br />
in need since the<br />
earthquakes. She<br />
spoke to Georgia<br />
O’Connor-Harding<br />
about what drives her<br />
to help families in the<br />
community<br />
Why did you decide to<br />
get involved in Two Rivers<br />
Community Trust?<br />
It was more the other way<br />
round. After the earthquakes,<br />
the community here established<br />
the Malvern Community Hub<br />
and for about five months we<br />
channelled everything you<br />
could think of into the city in<br />
convoys. It was everything out<br />
of our garden’s pantries and<br />
goodness knows what. We did<br />
that for about five months and<br />
then when things began to settle<br />
down a bit more, we realised<br />
people wanted to continue<br />
helping people and so it evolved<br />
into the Malvern Community<br />
Hub. From there, the Darfield<br />
Baptist Church picked up the<br />
need to have the Two Rivers<br />
Community Trust so there was<br />
a legal entity and other things<br />
could grow and happen out of<br />
that.<br />
Are the Malvern Community<br />
Hub and Two Rivers Trust two<br />
separate organisations?<br />
Two Rivers has got four main<br />
streams to it and community<br />
support is the stream we are<br />
under. I manage that stream for<br />
Two Rivers. The hub falls under<br />
that along with other things.<br />
Tell me about some of the key<br />
projects you have been working<br />
on lately?<br />
Regular programmes we<br />
support are the Craft and<br />
Cuppa. That is specifically for<br />
people who are lonely and need<br />
to come out and talk to other<br />
people. They can do crafts if<br />
they want to, but they don’t<br />
have to. It is a chance for lonely<br />
people to integrate into a bigger<br />
community. The folk from<br />
Westmar Senior Care Centre,<br />
some of them come along to it.<br />
It is just nice to be out and about<br />
in the community and meeting<br />
other people. Language and<br />
Laughter is another one. It came<br />
KINDNESS: Two Rivers<br />
Community Trust community<br />
services stream manager and<br />
<strong>Selwyn</strong> Civil Defence worker<br />
Bev Elder helps families in<br />
need of support in Malvern.<br />
PHOTO: MARTIN HUNTER<br />
out of our knowledge there were<br />
many migrant women kind of<br />
trapped on farms and some of<br />
them desperate to have their<br />
children get into some kind of<br />
pre-school programme so they<br />
start learning English. We have<br />
had people from South America,<br />
Egypt and India. They gather<br />
together to do conversational<br />
English and help with whatever<br />
project they are on about.<br />
The Malvern area gets a lot of<br />
people coming from overseas?<br />
Absolutely. For the women<br />
in particular, they can be very<br />
isolated on their farms. The<br />
husbands can be off to work and<br />
he is integrating with others and<br />
learning English, but she is at<br />
home maybe with a child or two.<br />
We have a particular compassion<br />
for those women.<br />
In your role, what are some<br />
interesting things you have<br />
learnt that you think others<br />
would be surprised to hear?<br />
It is certainly around the<br />
perception of poverty. Because<br />
we think, ‘oh, this is where<br />
retired farmers come,’ and<br />
retired farmers clearly have<br />
a lot of money. There is a<br />
misconception about the level<br />
of poverty. That is quite an<br />
interesting one to tackle. We<br />
offer budgeted advice and run<br />
the foodbank so we are seeing<br />
those people who have hit a<br />
speed bump on their road and<br />
they are really struggling. But<br />
it is interesting to convince<br />
other people there is that level<br />
of poverty. The other critical<br />
element is about housing and<br />
the need for social housing. The<br />
market sourced system simply<br />
doesn’t work. The two are kind<br />
of linked.<br />
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ROAD SHOWS<br />
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Tuesday 6 March<br />
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Lushingtons Café,<br />
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You must be proficient in English and preferably<br />
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COURSE DATES:<br />
INTERPRETING<br />
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maria.fresia@interpret.org.nz<br />
www.interpret.org.nz<br />
Enrol now: www.interpret.org.nz/become-an-interpreter.html
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