4
Work
My mother was pleased that I had come home, but not very welcoming as I think she thought I would not find work easily, and was afraid I would be dependent on her. She didn’t want me there in Whangarei, so I came back to Auckland with Aunty Lucy as soon as possible. The person renting my unit was not due to leave for another two weeks, so I stayed with Aunty Lucy for the remaining time. Unwinding and coming back to earth was something of a slump. I had no winter clothes as I forgot to leave some out, but God had that all in hand because Mum, bless her heart, had been to a church fair and bought some nice things for me to wear. We were just warming up with spring coming to a close with summer on its way. With the last rent paid and my furniture unpacked out of the back bedroom, life returned to something like normal. Yet not completely as I needed to find work. “Well,” I thought, “I will go by bus to Bader Drive in Māngere to see if I can get a cleaning job in the hotel or motel industry.” I went to several places that day and although they were courteous to me, and one place gave me an interview, they felt I would not be able to do the work. I was satisfied to know that I had given it a try. Social Welfare was my next bright idea, so I worked doing home help. I did that for a while and had some really lovely people to work for. I then rang some of the nursing agencies and thought to myself “The first one that gives me an interview, I will work for.” That was Medox. I had a very good boss, then things changed but I was very glad of the experience with them as it was preparing me for the next move I would take. I did a course to become an office worker because I wanted to know if I would be able to use a computer – no mouse in those days. I found that I could, and did my CV on it. I pressed escape and it did just that, so I had to start all over again! I was standing on the bus stop coming home from the course when I thought “Does the Lord really want me to do this course?” The answer came back loud and clear “Yes! and witness to them all too.” This I did. When the course ended my tutor said I was being wasted as a nurse aid so she advised me to be an occupational therapy assistant. But my age was against me and I could not be guaranteed a job at the end of the training, so the tutor at North Shore Hospital said “Don’t call yourself an OT, but on what you have told me the background experience you have should be enough to get work.” So I called myself an Activities Provider and began work shortly after.
Finding Work
It happened like this. A call came on the phone “Would you like to do night shift at Invermay Lodge?” to which I said “No.” I asked if they had someone who worked like an occupational therapist. The Matron said “No.” I told her a little of my experience and she said “Come and see if you can work with my residents.” and that became my first activities coordinator job.
In order to get more work I started to find out where some of the rest homes were and discovered there were five small rest homes in Pah Rd alone. Then I had a hunch to go and knock on the door of Elizabeth House rest home, but didn’t get a response. I tried all the others. Then someone said “Try the one in Wilding Ave, Epsom- St Patrick’s.” After I had contacted St Patrick’s the doors flew open at Elizabeth rest home too because the managers knew each other. I could have worked every day of the week as the demand was so great. The government of the day realised that the old folk were much happier when they were doing things like arts and crafts, and I took in games as well. I became quite passionate and had a reason for all the things I was taking and doing with them as I worked. During the course I was doing, I did work-based training which taught me how to divide tasks into sections so that I could get a team of people to make one thing as a group. This was very useful as more people were getting involved. Papier mâché was good for this as an example. It was a very interesting time in my life as every rest home had its own unique style. The managers were great to work for. I only gave up on two of them for various reasons. It wasn’t long before I was working six days a week, but I cut it down to five as I needed two days off to keep my house going and prepare for the week ahead. I really enjoyed my work with the elderly folk and I’m sure it has been due to the influence that the Lord Jesus has had on my life. Many a time I have felt His guiding hand and the words of wisdom He has given me.
Drug Arm
As I settled into the routine of the worker-day world, I had joined a house group which wanted to do work in the community. Our leader rang some organisations to see if we could help them but they could not accommodate us as there were eight of us. At this we were really surprised. Then we heard of Drug Arm who were overjoyed to have us all and offered us training in South Auckland for six weeks. The purpose of this training was to go as a group with some of the regular team members in a van around the city and also out in West Auckland so we could gain an understanding of what impact drugs had on people.
We would go in groups of eight and serve coffee and buns which one of the team would have previously picked up from Baker’s Delight at 6 pm. We would meet at the Baptist Tabernacle and butter the buns then pray for about half an hour before loading up the van and going to car parks and wherever we felt the Lord would have us go. Normally the team I was in would do the central city and go out to the car park in Mission Bay. At about 11.30 pm we would go in pairs and leave two people near the van and we would keep within eyesight of the van. If there was trouble we would jump back into the van and drive off. Later on we would come back to see if all was calm. We often had to get hot water from one of the fast food places if the gas cylinder in the van wasn’t working. It was on one such night when there were two groups of Pacific Islanders milling around looking to pick a fight. The security guard had tried to move them on but they were not in a mood to respond. I said to the team “Let’s stand at the back of the van and pray in tongues quietly and see what the Lord will do.” We prayed for something like five minutes then boof!, it was all over and they just scattered. There were times when we had good discussions and sometimes not. I found that when I talked about behaviour the eyes would open and the jaws would drop, as the last thing they think about is how they affect others. Another time a young lad said that his father hated him. “Why?” I asked. “He does not like what I do” came the reply. “Do you think you could change that?” I said. I suggested that he think about what would please his Dad. It didn’t have to be something big but if he would take the rubbish bin out to be collected or keep his room tidy or anything he knew would please his Dad, to try it. He thought about it for a while and said he would try it.
We had a three week roster that took the pressure off having to be there every week and it worked well. One night I met up with a guy who had moved to Wellington and had got a job in a hotel and was doing well. I hadn’t seen him for several years. What joy filled my heart to see him looking fine and doing well.
Some fifteen years later I had occasion to meet someone else we had met on the street. I was at a church service with a friend and heard the testimony of this person. He had been a transvestite, now changed back into being a male, attending church and was training to be a teacher while at Laidlaw Bible College. I was really pleased to see him and would have encouraged him more if I had been told about him at the beginning of the service. I remembered that he had told me his Grandmother always prayed for him and I had said “Don’t despise the prayers of a grandmother”. I felt her prayers had been answered.
Israel
In 1994 I went to Israel with Rachel and Bill Millwood who were doing tours there every year. I got to know them as he was the head of Cornerstone Christian Counselling at Radio Rhema at the time that I was doing telephone work there. The Feast of Tabernacles usually starts sometime in September. Christians around the world gather in Jerusalem to celebrate the festival and the Jewish New Year. This is when the Jewish people go into makeshift booths to look back over the past year and pray to God about the plans they will make for the year to come. There is great celebration that lasts for about ten days ending with a march through the city, which we took part in. Some of the orthodox Jews came with their children to ask me for New Zealand flags. They came to speak to us without their coats on, which was quite unusual. In Christ Church Jerusalem we joined in a Shabbat meal. There I met up with an Aboriginal lady whom I had met at a hui of reconciliation between the Maori and Aboriginal people. She remembered seeing me there. I was amazed and even have a photo of her at the meal.
On one of our days in Jerusalem we went to the garden tomb where we celebrated communion. There seemed to be a real presence of the Lord’s approval of us being there. Another time that I felt the presence of God very strongly was when visiting the Mount of Olives. As I came out of the little church on the hill, I was overwhelmed by a strong presence of the Lord in which he gave me a prophetic word that New Zealand would help Israel in its time of need. We did such a lot in that time, some of which I can’t elaborate on. We visited the fortress of Masada and had a barbecue with Jewish dancing just before dusk. We took a public bus to Haifa where we saw a beautiful aquarium. When I saw the many colourful fish, I thought to myself “This is where the fashion designers come for inspiration for colour.” We visited a kibbutz and I swam in the Dead Sea.Twice! Another highlight was being baptised in the Jordan river, which fulfilled a comment I had made years before. When someone had asked me about being baptised in water, I had said “I have been baptised as an Anglican, but I can hardly go to the Jordan to be baptised, can I?” Now, years later, it happened!
Organisations
While I was still working full time I joined an organisation called Vision Impaired Empowering Women which was attached to the Foundation of The Blind but then became a charity in its own right. We went into recess as we couldn’t form a committee. A few months later our coordinator had a phone call from a 70-year-old who wanted to join our group, so we decided to have a meeting and those who came were Lottie, the coordinator, Glory, a committee member, Nancy and me. Lottie wanted to stand down. I took her place, as coordinator. Nancy volunteered to be secretary and Glory said “Aye.” We all agreed to the change by playing musical chairs. We called a general meeting to increase the committee to six and to nominate our treasurer. I remained coordinator for about eight years having meetings every six weeks and half-hour committee meetings before each event. What a wonderful committee I had. They were so willing to do the tasks needed. We had a fund-raising concert once a year where my music teacher friend Chris Finley would offer to bring her piano students to perform. Also folk from the Foundation of the Blind would come at Easter time to perform. At our meetings there were speakers to educate, speakers to entertain and always plenty of discussions. We would also organise a midwinter Christmas dinner, a games or sports day and a Christmas party to wind up the year. In January we would start with a picnic. Looking back I think this was the way I was able to give back to my section of the community and I enjoyed every minute of it.
