[ad_1]
He was on probation after serving a sentence for aggravated robbery, trying not to slip back into a life of crime after a transformative experience in a Maori prison.
She had escaped an abusive relationship, taken her seven children with her, had recently converted to Mormonism, and was facing jail time and bankruptcy for an identity theft case.
A decade later, Dave and Jo Conrad are married, raising children, own their home in North Canterbury, and he has a full-time job.
They met while “wrestling” with a dating app and were brutally honest.
READ MORE:
* Kete launches a food bank focused on Maori
* Coronavirus: more than 1000 families without basic hygiene elements during the Covid-19 outbreak
* Additional navigators from Whānau Ora deployed to assist families in distress in the south
* 400 Maori families from the South Island will run out of food before the end of the lockdown
* $ 56.5 million to spend on the Maori coronavirus response package
STACY SQUIRES / Stuff
Dave and Joanne Conrad and their children moved from the North Island to Christchurch in 2018.
“She was a good Christian girl and … I liked death metal music,” Dave said.
Jo had a “bad past” with former partners and did not want it to happen again.
His seven children did not affect Dave, whose honesty convinced Jo.
They were married six months after she proposed and had two more children.
From north to south
Their first major hurdle as a couple came in 2018 when the owners of their Te Awamutu rental advised them to end the rental.
One of his sons was expressing suicidal thoughts after being bullied.
They were both unemployed. Dave found his convictions to be a major barrier to employers, and Jo was receiving treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.
STACY SQUIRES / Stuff
They have relocated to their own home, a new job, and new schools, things that once seemed insurmountable.
Dave had joined the church and the couple prayed for their situation. Said God told him to go to Christchurch. They found a three-bedroom rental in Riccarton.
Feeling depressed and unsupported, the family went fishing.
Dave Pollard, who works for the social agency Te Ora Hou, was close with his children.
He told them that the organization could help them find a school for their children.
They took it. Te Ora Hou helped her children enroll in Christchurch Boys’ High School and introduced them to Whānau Ora’s navigator, Amanda Smith, who helped them plan their goals.
STACY SQUIRES / Stuff
The pair have been supported by Whānau Ora’s navigator, Amanda Smith, left.
For Dave Conrad, landing a paid job was first on the list, but he had been told he was “unemployed.”
With a tip from Smith, Dave got an interview with a smoked salmon company and was offered a full-time job. It has been there ever since.
Last year, the couple got a mortgage and bought a house.
Dave said that with Smith’s support, the family had addressed major issues and transformed their circumstances.
STACY SQUIRES / Stuff
The pair have been supported by Whānau Ora’s navigator, Amanda Smith.
The government committed $ 3.2 million to increase Whānau Ora’s boater workforce as part of its Covid-19 response.
A 2018 review found that the “strengths-based, aspirational” approach created positive change for whānau and recommended that the government continue to increase investment in it.
One of the three agencies in charge of Whānau Ora, Te Pūtahitanga or te Waipounamu, has increased its workforce on the South Island from 60 to 100 boaters this year, in response to Covid-19.
Dave said that Whānau Ora respected and recognized Maori te ao.
“I don’t know if we could have gotten to where we are without him … we were struggling.”
He believed that Whānau Ora’s inclusion of the spiritual and cultural aspects of life could help non-Maori and people “who don’t even realize they are missing that element.”
The executive director of the South Island Institute, Helen Leahy, said that Covid-19 would increase the number of families in precarious circumstances.
”It can provide all the material support in the world, but sometimes people just need another person to help them plan out of an economic situation, or issues related to custody, a health diagnosis, a problem with the owner, a leakage. house, a relationship problem. “
Smith said the most important aspect of Whānau Ora was empowering Maori and Pacific Whānau to trust their cultural identity and achieve their moemoea (dreams).
For those who survive the daily grind of poverty, aspirations are often forgotten.
“We say that if you could start over and money was not an obstacle, what would you want for your life? … We divide it into what they hope to achieve in a given period.”
Whānau Ora’s Minister Peeni Henare said the government had increased funding by more than $ 200 million and annual funding for commissioned agencies by 75 percent.
In late September, National announced that it would improve the scope of Whānau Ora.
“It was under a national government that Whānau Ora started,” said Whānau Ora spokesman Jo Hayes.
