6 May 2009

Staff and flatmates from Pact’s Te Miringa Whakaaro are excited about an upcoming move to the old North Taieri School in Hazlett Road, Dunedin.

The move will bring the together Te Whare Oranga and Ahuru Mowai, currently housed in two different suburbs in Dunedin. The former will be housed in the former school and the latter in the former headmaster’s house, both of which have been extensively redecorated.

The properties sit on about four acres of land with extensive gardens, play equipment, a vegetable garden, a glasshouse, basketball and tennis courts and a gazebo.

When Otago service manager Lynn Hall first saw it with Te Whare Oranga team leader Harry Tutaki, she says, “we just fell in love with the place.”

Lynn says one of the benefits of having the two services in one place, will be to embrace the concept of whanaungatanga or interconnectedness.

“That interaction between the houses, everybody being close to each other. That’s for both the staff and the whanau. In separate areas, staff don’t necessarily connect as much as we’d like. Being here, there will be a sharing of transport and there’s a huge big vege garden and there will be a sharing of that. “

The Ahuru Mowai house is being renovated and a small extra bedroom is being added as a sleepover room, meaning the house will have six bedrooms in total. The Te Whare Oranga house will have nine bedrooms when renovations are finished (it currently has six), with eight rooms as main bedrooms and the ninth smaller bedroom being a respite room.

The whanau will not move in until the alterations are finished. Ahuru Mowai’s house renovations will be finished in time for an auditor’s visit in early May, meaning people can move into that house in late May. Te Whare Oranga will move into its new home at the end of July.

The property is some distance from Dunedin, but Lynn points out it is only a few minutes’ drive from Mosgiel. It is also closer to the Mosgiel Abilities Resource Centre, which many of the Ahuru Mowai whanau attend. Lynn says there are also buses between Mosgiel and Dunedin and the two services will be able to share transport that previously was separate.

“I’m hoping that with sharing the transport, our travel costs may not increase that much.”

Lynn says clients have been shown the property and were impressed. “They wanted to know when they can move.”

She says staff were also impressed.

“Staff have had to do some thinking about the extra travel it will involve for them but they’ve come together to share the travel.”

Lynn hopes whanau will be able to have some physical activity in the massive garden. “We’re hoping they are going to be able to contribute more to where they live.”

Lynn has many plans for the property including turning a double garage near the old school house into a cultural-type centre where people can do bone- and wood-carving and weaving. She also plans to get chickens for the property.

“We’ll also have the Pact barbecue here this year—there will be lots of events that we can host.”