Latest news with #Affco
1News
01-07-2025
- General
- 1News
Wairoa woman who moved 14 times after toxic flooding finds a home
A Wairoa wahine forced out of her home by Cyclone Gabrielle's toxic aftermath has finally found somewhere she can call home. Lucky Hawkins moved 14 times in two years between short-term rentals, Airbnbs, whānau homes and even beaches after floodwater mixed with chemicals from the business next door swept through her property and made it unliveable in 2023. Last year, desperate for stability, she and her partner bought a house bus. Even that was battered by storms and setbacks. The past week has brought tears of joy and disbelief for Hawkins after moving into a permanent home in Tātau Tātau o Te Wairoa's Te Rauā residential development. ADVERTISEMENT 'After more than two years of uncertainty, constant upheaval, and surviving with only the barest of necessities, we now have something we haven't had in a very long time, a home," Hawkins said. 'A warm, safe, stable whare." The residential development consists of 43 homes which are used as affordable rentals. Occupants face a robust selection process to prove hardship, reliability and the ability to pay their bills. Nine of the homes are now occupied. Hawkins says she can't help but feel guilty. 'There are so many people in similar situations to mine. People living in sheds. I feel guilty that people are hearing my story. ADVERTISEMENT 'I know what it feels like to have no place to belong, everything starts to shift. Your footing feels unsure. For us, the first thing to go was our health, physically, mentally, and emotionally. 'But now, everything has changed. We're home. And because we have this foundation, we can look forward. We can rest, heal, rebuild and dream again. 'For me, it means picking up where I left off, back in Wairoa, continuing the journey I began years ago. From night shifts at Affco to full-time study.' On the morning of the cyclone, she remembered thinking about 8am that, after all the hype, nothing had happened. 'My mum, who is profoundly deaf, was living with me at the time. I was writing her a note to say, 'see, I told you nothing would happen', when suddenly I saw all this water coming down the street. 'The water went through our house. We managed to save a few things, but the reason we had to leave was because we lived next door to a panel beaters and toxic chemicals washed through our home and it wasn't safe to stay.' Hawkins said education had changed her life. ADVERTISEMENT 'After working at Affco for three years, I decided I needed to do something. I did OK at school, so I started studying during the day and worked at night.' She has completed 12 qualifications 'right here in Wairoa' and is now in the final stage of her Doctorate in Professional Practice, focused on how education can transform individuals and communities. Her first paid job was teaching intensive literacy and numeracy in prisons. She has just begun writing a children's book, which she hopes will become a series. 'We are not just thankful to be back in Wairoa, we are transformed by the gift of returning. 'We carry our gratitude in everything we do next.' LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Scoop
30-06-2025
- General
- Scoop
She's Moved 14 Times Since Toxic Flooding Forced Her Out – Now She Has A Place To Call Home
Article – Linda Hall – Local Democracy Reporter A Wairoa wahine forced out of her home by Cyclone Gabrielle's toxic aftermath has finally found somewhere she can call home. A Wairoa wahine forced out of her home by Cyclone Gabrielle's toxic aftermath has finally found somewhere she can call home. Lucky Hawkins moved 14 times in two years between short-term rentals, Airbnbs, whānau homes and even beaches after floodwater mixed with chemicals from the business next door swept through her property and made it unliveable in 2023. Last year, desperate for stability, she and her partner bought a house bus. Even that was battered by storms and setbacks. The past week has brought tears of joy and disbelief for Hawkins after moving into a permanent home in Tātau Tātau o Te Wairoa's Te Rauā residential development. 'After more than two years of uncertainty, constant upheaval, and surviving with only the barest of necessities, we now have something we haven't had in a very long time, a home. 'A warm, safe, stable whare,' Hawkins said. The residential development consists of 43 homes which are used as affordable rentals. Occupants face a robust selection process to prove hardship, reliability and the ability to pay their bills. Nine of the homes are now occupied. Hawkins says she can't help but feel guilty. 'There are so many people in similar situations to mine. People living in sheds. I feel guilty that people are hearing my story. 'I know what it feels like to have no place to belong, everything starts to shift. Your footing feels unsure. For us, the first thing to go was our health, physically, mentally, and emotionally. 'But now, everything has changed. We're home. And because we have this foundation, we can look forward. We can rest, heal, rebuild and dream again. 'For me, it means picking up where I left off, back in Wairoa, continuing the journey I began years ago. From night shifts at Affco to full-time study.' On the morning of the cyclone, she remembered thinking about 8am that, after all the hype, nothing had happened. 'My mum, who is profoundly deaf, was living with me at the time. I was writing her a note to say, 'see I told you nothing would happen,' when suddenly I saw all this water coming down the street. 'The water went through our house. We managed to save a few things, but the reason we had to leave was because we lived next door to a panel beaters and toxic chemicals washed through our home and it wasn't safe to stay.' Hawkins said education had changed her life. 'After working at Affco for three years, I decided I needed to do something. I did okay at school, so I started studying during the day and worked at night.' She has completed 12 qualifications 'right here in Wairoa' and is now in the final stage of her Doctorate in Professional Practice, focused on how education can transform individuals and communities. Her first paid job was teaching intensive literacy and numeracy in prisons. She has just begun writing a children's book, which she hopes will become a series. 'We are not just thankful to be back in Wairoa, we are transformed by the gift of returning. 'We carry our gratitude in everything we do next.'
Scoop
30-06-2025
- General
- Scoop
She's Moved 14 Times Since Toxic Flooding Forced Her Out – Now She Has A Place To Call Home
A Wairoa wahine forced out of her home by Cyclone Gabrielle's toxic aftermath has finally found somewhere she can call home. Lucky Hawkins moved 14 times in two years between short-term rentals, Airbnbs, whānau homes and even beaches after floodwater mixed with chemicals from the business next door swept through her property and made it unliveable in 2023. Last year, desperate for stability, she and her partner bought a house bus. Even that was battered by storms and setbacks. The past week has brought tears of joy and disbelief for Hawkins after moving into a permanent home in Tātau Tātau o Te Wairoa's Te Rauā residential development. "After more than two years of uncertainty, constant upheaval, and surviving with only the barest of necessities, we now have something we haven't had in a very long time, a home. "A warm, safe, stable whare," Hawkins said. The residential development consists of 43 homes which are used as affordable rentals. Occupants face a robust selection process to prove hardship, reliability and the ability to pay their bills. Nine of the homes are now occupied. Hawkins says she can't help but feel guilty. "There are so many people in similar situations to mine. People living in sheds. I feel guilty that people are hearing my story. "I know what it feels like to have no place to belong, everything starts to shift. Your footing feels unsure. For us, the first thing to go was our health, physically, mentally, and emotionally. "But now, everything has changed. We're home. And because we have this foundation, we can look forward. We can rest, heal, rebuild and dream again. "For me, it means picking up where I left off, back in Wairoa, continuing the journey I began years ago. From night shifts at Affco to full-time study." On the morning of the cyclone, she remembered thinking about 8am that, after all the hype, nothing had happened. "My mum, who is profoundly deaf, was living with me at the time. I was writing her a note to say, 'see I told you nothing would happen,' when suddenly I saw all this water coming down the street. "The water went through our house. We managed to save a few things, but the reason we had to leave was because we lived next door to a panel beaters and toxic chemicals washed through our home and it wasn't safe to stay." Hawkins said education had changed her life. "After working at Affco for three years, I decided I needed to do something. I did okay at school, so I started studying during the day and worked at night." She has completed 12 qualifications "right here in Wairoa" and is now in the final stage of her Doctorate in Professional Practice, focused on how education can transform individuals and communities. Her first paid job was teaching intensive literacy and numeracy in prisons. She has just begun writing a children's book, which she hopes will become a series. "We are not just thankful to be back in Wairoa, we are transformed by the gift of returning. "We carry our gratitude in everything we do next."
NZ Herald
26-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
If freezing works close, rural towns die. We need a plan to save them
In total, 95,000ha of Kiwi land was bought by foreigners and converted – or is in the process of being converted – between 2015 and 2025, according to Overseas Investment Office records. Pine trees, which are brilliant at sequestering carbon, are not completely taking over. If you look at a timeline of Google Earth satellite images from 30 years back until today, Hawke's Bay's map shows a pop-up of dark green mould-like spots, rather than a dark green wave as some would have you believe. Farmland is still in the vast majority, even if, in Tararua communities like Pongaroa, those still left feel like they're surrounded on all sides. The forestry industry adds value to our economy. China likes our timber. But the industry's ability to generate positive income while the trees actually grow means its benefits pale in comparison to the glory days of our sheep, beef and wool industries. What made those economic days so powerful and so romanticised in the Kiwi imagination is the equity the industries provided to our society. Needed a good-paying job? Go to your small town's local meatworks. Didn't like the meatworks? Join a shearing gang. No qualifications were needed and not a lot of transport – just the ability to get up, day in and day out. When meatworks began to close from the 1980s onwards, the job losses in the regions left gaping holes. Instead of shearing gangs, actual gangs began to thrive, fed a steady diet of poor and alienated youths who had no easy-money job to walk into to better themselves. Today, the remaining abattoirs are still a celebrated part of the communities they sit in, but they're also a source of constant apprehension. In Takapau or Wairoa, for example – both on the precipice of a changing landscape of pines instead of sheep – the main hope is that they'll survive another decade. Ask anyone in Wairoa what would happen if Affco were to pack up and leave. If the town is struggling now, its hope of pulling residents out of that hole would be completely hobbled without its main employer. Perhaps it's time for the Government to think about this in a different way, before it's too late for the likes of Wairoa. We need some bold thinking to find a new industry regional New Zealand can latch upon, one that can give those without qualifications a steady income, on a scale that matches that of the meatworks. One thing is for certain, forestry alone cannot. Sign up to the Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
