Mahana Stories

We don’t drive and I have a bit of
trouble getting around so we usually
have a volunteer driver for
appointments and the like. We like to
go for a drive around while the others
get picked up. It’s a bit of an outing.
We did miss that over lockdown.
On the other hand, we had a
wonderful volunteer picking up our
shopping for us so in some ways
things were actually easier. She
would give us a wave and a smile
and over time we started to chat.
She’s even been back to see us since
and showed us how to do our
shopping on the computer.
Our kids aren’t nearby and they do
worry so it really helped that we
already knew the volunteers - they’d
helped us out after the earthquakes
and we knew we could trust them.
We know we’re lucky. We have a
friend who cares for his partner - she
has dementia. All the support they
were used to had to stop during
lockdown and it’s hard when routines
change.
Pat &
Chris
It’s great when people
have neighbours or
family checking in but
not everyone has people
around or feels
comfortable reaching out
People have their own problems
and responsibilities and you don’t
want to add to that. Even for those
people with family nearby, there’s
pride in being able to organise
things for yourself rather than relying
on them to do it.