Selwyn Times: February 28, 2018

SELWYN TIMES Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Wednesday February 28 2018 13
alone in the countryside
You don’t always hear a lot
about Selwyn’s social situation?
One of the difficulties is that
the people who have some
control are the people who
decide what is the poverty level
or what is the need for social
housing or emergency housing.
All of the agencies who support
them are distant. They are in
the city or they are hidden in
bureaucratic places. So out here,
we are left to do what can we do.
What do you feel needs
to be done to improve these
situations?
There needs to be a clear
commitment from the agencies
that they will sit around a table
and talk to the people who really
know what is going on. And
explore and discuss until we find
the solutions that are available
to us.
It is really quite simple if
you talk to people in their own
communities, you find what they
need is a change in regulation so
you can put a granny flat on the
back of your property that is not
for a family member but is for
somebody else.
In Darfield of course, we
have a significant proportion of
the population that live alone.
Sometimes they are living like
me in a three-bedroom house on
a quarter acre section which is
far more than I actually need.
But I don’t have any other
alternatives. Where can I find
small suitable accommodation
that doesn’t take it right through
the roof? If we had a forum that
said how could we deal with
this and what is in our power
to do that, we could make a big
difference I believe.
Are there other agencies you
would like to talk to?
Absolutely. Some of the private
organisations that do social
housing. I know the Salvation
Army is struggling with the
definition of ‘need’ and the
limitations on that but they are
another voice.
The agency that controls
income subsidies; they need to
be sitting around the table as
well. WINZ and places like that,
and representatives of the health
system because everybody knows
the healthiest place for a person
is in their own home. How do
we keep them there? How do
we sustain people in their own
homes or make it possible to do
that? It would have to be a forum
that looks at all the aspects.
What is the most difficult
part of your job?
It is a silly thing but really the
most difficult part of my job is
encouraging people to believe
they are not a failure if they have
a speed bump in their life and if
they need a bit of help they can
get it. When they have got over
that, they can contribute back. It
is just the way a neighbour works
with another neighbour.
You must feel like you know
everyone in the community
after working with them so
much?
Just about, and we work hard
to make sure people know we
will stop and listen. We will take
them seriously. We will find
some way – some neighbourly
way – of dealing with what the
situation is. We recommend to
other people, we advocate to
other people, we walk alongside
people on the journey.
Is this your full-time role?
I am full-time bossy my family
tells me. I have had a long career
in teaching and I use aspects of it
in what I do now. But, yes, I am
retired and busy.
How did you come to arrive
in Darfield?
I am really a North Islander
who came down here to
Darfield. I think it was about
2003-2004. When I finished my
teaching career I wanted to be
a bit closer to my children and
grandchildren – not too close but
close enough that I can join in
their lives. Then I thought ‘here I
am, what am I going to do?’ And
it went from there.
And you have been involved
in helping the Darfield
community ever since?
I have a passion for Malvern
because it is the biggest but least
inhabited and therefore the least
serviced part of Selwyn. When
people think of Selwyn, they
tend to think of the big-bodied
population that is Rolleston and
the services there.
We have got so many villages.
They have just as much need and
it is just helping them to find a
voice or find some strategies
that are in their control. If we
can do this together we can
mange it.
You must like being out in the
country?
Yes, and the other element
is because it is rural there is a
spirit of generosity – it is just
wonderful. We never lack for
volunteers; we never lack for
contributions to the foodbank
or people to help out. People
want to be engaged; to be
neighbourly; to express that
neighbourliness.
Has Darfield changed a lot?
The demographics are
changing; it is growing. There is
GOOD WORK: Bev
Elder (right) with
Darfield Community
Garden work group
volunteers Bronwyn
Adams Hooper and
Rhyannon Gregg.
The volunteers were
preparing to plant
heritage apple trees.
no doubt about that in different
kinds of ways. There is a
significant rise in renters rather
than home owners. A lot of it
does depend on what Fonterra is
doing and whether they are in an
expansion phase or not. I think
the township is poised for more
growth.
It has certainly got enough
capacity to grow. It is hard to
know with the forces holding
it back from becoming what it
could be. I guess the focus is
on Rolleston and also probably
it has to do with the fact they
haven’t resolved the whole
issue with the water reticulated
system. We feel out here that is
being used as a reason to not go
ahead with things.
What do you like to do in
your spare time?
I have a very active little dog
so walking is one of them. I
love working in the Darfield
Community Garden that has
been established out there. I
read heaps and I try to learn
something new every year.
CoMe anD see ouR now CoMpleTeD
Two bedroom villas
priced from $400,000
E S T A T E
Phone. 03 421 7796 | Email. sales@woodcroftestate.co.nz
34 KENDON DRIVE, ROLLESTON, CANTERBURY
RollesTon’s only ReGIsTeReD ReTIReMenT vIllaGe
• 30 years experience in the retirement industry
• Two or three bedroom villas with single or double garage
• An investment with 100% capital gain
• On Site Manager and a Pavilion and a bowling green
• Show home open Monday to Friday 10am to 2pm
www.manorgroup.co.nz