Thank you New Zealand, thank you!

 

 

Thank you New Zealand, thank you!

This goes out to everyone that has helped us here in Christchurch so far, even those who live here.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Let’s look at it, Christchurch is munted, in the east there are at least 10,000 houses needing rebuilding and 128 buildings in the Red Zone have had their lifelines cut short. On top of that, the locals are pretty much stressed out after 6 months of unannounced shakes.

Can we do the recovery by ourselves? Probably not.  The announcement of the formation of CERA (Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority) was greeted with trepidation by some because it may lessen the control we have over our own future.  But wait a moment, let’s think about it, can we do this by ourselves? The simple answer is, no probably not, there is simply too much to do.

In this way, we have to be aware of just how much the rest of the country is contributing to Christchurch’s recovery. And we need to be thankful to the rest of the country, because they are doing it hard too.

At the motel we have noticed 2 patterns of stay, the long term guest of 3 to 4 weeks and the Monday - Thursday guest.  The long term guests are here for the duration and often work everyday.  Monday – Thursday guests come into Christchurch for the recovery on Monday, stay 4 nights and then head home on Friday.  The easy thing to say is, “Hey! Stay for the other 3 days!” and help us put Christchurch together even faster.  But if you think about it, these people all have families too and at the moment they are giving over half of their lives to us.  Four nights here in Christchurch means only 3 nights back home, and that must be tough.  They are all working long hours here and then spend their down time in a motel a long way from home.  They need to go home and see their families, participate in their communities and relax on their lazy boys.  The other thing is that they still need to work in their own communities.  For every day they spend here, is a day less they spend in their own communities, working and playing and for this reason we must be very grateful to them for the efforts and the sacrifices they are making for us. 

For some of our guests this has gone on for 5 weeks now and will probably continue for a number of weeks to come.  In addition, long term guests are here for up to 3-4 weeks at a time before returning to their hometowns.

In this way it is easy to see that this Christchurch disaster will have a large effect on all of the country for many years to come.

Hence we are ever so grateful to those that are working here, by themselves, for us, away from their own homes, away from their loved ones, away from their comfort zones, for us.  This will go on for a long time to come and we are and will be for a long time yet, very, very grateful for their sacrifices for us.

Christchurch Earthquake - National Memorial Service

We didn’t go to the memorial service today.  Maybe we should have but we didn’t.

We don’t feel any better for not going….and we don’t know if we’d have felt any better if we’d gone.  Motel work did have an effect but not as much as the emotional effect.

Friday's paper - names of souls no longer with us & area many of them died shrouded in morning fog.

To be honest, we are emotionally quaked out.  In the space of just over 2 weeks we’ve had to deal with massive disasters in both NZ and Japan and it’s been hard.  

Just as we were getting over the Christchurch quake, the day we got out of cordon and curfew, and looking for some light relief we were hit by the Japan quake and subsequent tsunami destroying so much of what we knew, live on TV.  It’s been one of the darkest few weeks of our lives, and it still isn’t over.  

Two disasters hitting so much we know and love has been hard and I think wanting to get away from it all was the main reason we didn’t go to the memorial service today.

We stayed at home, watched on TV and cried.  It was beautiful to see so many referring to the disaster in Japan – we do know how they feel and what they are going through.

We did have our reasons for not going but they were negated by the raw power of the Memorial Service.  It was an amazing thing.  We thought it was too soon because some people’s names have not been yet announced but everyone gracefully spoke around that fact and included those poor souls.  We though it was too soon because the city is still a mess, but it was only a few hours.  We though it was too soon because we still don’t know the extent of the tragedy but it is a tragedy.  We thought it was too soon but it was an amazing tribute to an amazing, but munted city.

Christchurch Earthquake Memorial Service (photo by Bebe Frayle - thanks!) 

The words of the day, of course, belong to Prince William - 'my grandmother once said grief is the price we pay for love' and he added that “today we love and grieve.”

We love our families, friends and city, and today we grieved for our families, friends and city.  We also love our friends and places we know in Japan and today, one week from their disaster, we grieve for these friends and places. 

There is still so much to grieve for in both countries but somehow our love will keep us going.

The Peters Family is together again

Tomorrow some of us will pause at 12.51pm to remember what happened 3 weeks ago – yes 3 weeks ago.  It’s been a long 3 weeks but I’m pleased that the Peters family will be together this day.  We might have a family game of Monopoly to celebrate!

Mr12 is in that growth spurt phase and we are sure he’s grown a lot while he was away.  It was great to be able to welcome him home today and start to hear his stories – learning to drive the farm truck, learning to shoot and doing all those cool farm things.  After driving down he flew back - thanks to Air New Zealand who is providing special disaster refugee fares for those flying in & out of Christchurch till 31 March.

Disasters have different effects on various people, especially the young ones.  The kids, being kids were pretty much excited about being in the middle of a disaster – something they had really only seen on TV before.  Especially exciting was the school closure part!  But there was also the disaster zone stress to deal with which showed itself in the strangest ways.  Two days after the quake Mr12 was out skateboarding in the middle of Colombo St. – and why not? We were cordoned and the road was empty.  But even though he was only about 100 metres from home, in the middle of the day, the police picked him up and brought him home.  He tried to tell them he lived “just there” but still they made him get in the car.  He came home pumped up from the experience but then retreated to the sofa – his brush with the law teaching him that there was no-where to play in the cordon.  

Jeff’s Mum & Dad were heading out of town to his sister’s and brother in law’s farm for some R&R and we took the chance and sent Mr12 with them.

They got down there and registered with the Red Cross as quake refugees – 3 of some 70,000 plus who took the chance to escape the Garden City.  Next it was off to school.  But not just any school – Blackmount School – a school that has a special place in our hearts!  Both mr15 & mr12 have been casual students there since age 6.  While living in Japan they have visited my sister’s family at Blackmount during the Northern Hemisphere summer vacation and during that time spent time learning to be Southland Kiwis!  

The warmth of the welcome and the depth of care was once again present when our family needed it!  Mr12 was enrolled at Blackmount school and attended classes with the other 15 students over the 2 weeks he was there.  He was pretty chuffed!

While he was away, he missed many recovery steps but he was able to experience firsthand the nationwide feeling for Christchurch on Red and Black Day when school kids and many others around the country wore red and black to support us here in the disaster zone.

So once again we find ourselves truly grateful to everyone in the Blackmount School area in Western Southland.  To Mrs Lewis and students of Blackmount School and their families, we truly thank you.  We have got through a very dark hour here in Christchurch thanks to you all and tonight we sat down and enjoyed dinner together as a family.

Christchurch Earthquake "Fiona – our quake refugee"

Many people have opened their homes to people who have suffered in the quake – it’s the Kiwi way!  This is our story.

On the evening of 24 Jan, just 2 days after the quake, Fiona (not her real name, but one that Jeff kept mistakenly calling her!) appeared in the motel reception.  She wanted to know if we had any rooms, which we didn’t, being full.  She volunteered, in average English, that she had no passport and no money - it was all just a little bit confusing.  Jeff decided to check out the story a bit more because something was just not right.  We soon learnt that Fiona was from Germany and was staying nearby but it was quake damaged and had no power.  We also learnt that she had not really had much to eat since the quake.  We invited her in for a bit of dinner which I think was Spagetti on toast – it was only day 2 after all!

We found out a little more and advised her to go to Hagley Park and register with the Red Cross, especially since she had nothing with her.  And we told her to come back and see us after that.  We needed a bit of time to think and after giving her some food for breakfast and a torch, we reluctantly sent her on her way.

Fiona helps us celebrate "redandblackday"

Fiona returned early afternoon on 25 Feb. after registering with the Red Cross.  She was more cheerful and said she had met someone who had offered her a place to stay.  But it just sounded just a little bit dodgy and so we offered her the option of coming to stay with us.  Fiona stayed with us for just over a week and in that time she…found her passport, got a new phone, opened a bank account, got some money from home and got her life back on track. 

 

Fiona is here studying English and was in an inner city building when the quake struck, they ran out of the building leaving everything behind.  Having no family for support she was obviously in a frozen state for the first 2 days, not knowing what to do.  It was then that she walked into our office.

Awww.... shucks.... we got a real nice thank you card!

Fiona left us 2 days ago heading South to see the country and is going to visit my sis for a farm stay in Western Southland.  She may well be back in Christchurch before heading off home and we will welcome her back as a part of our family again.  Cos that’s what us Kiwis do!

Christchurch Earthquake... again...

At 12.50pm on 22 February, 2011, someone decided that Christchurch had not had enough.  We will never know why this verdict was reached but the penalty was harsh.  We have been visited by a vicious ripping apart of the earth and much that we love in our beautiful city is no more.  This of course refers to both the poor souls who are no longer with us as well as the physical destruction.

Once again, we begin our blog journey as we start to get back to normal and will make periodic updates.  

Today’s message was written to reply to all those who asked how we were.

Thanks for the email and your kind thoughts.  We really do appreciate them and we do need them.  Our beautiful city is a mess, the Cathedral Spire is down, 65 are confirmed dead and many are still trapped in collapsed buildings.  Over 1000 people are sleeping in Hagley Park but at least the big tents are up for the Flower Show and they are out of the rain.

We are shaken but safe.  The Motel is structurally sound and we have power but no water 10 hours after the quake.  We should be back to normal in a day or two and we are thankful for that.  It is the wider city area and those trapped, injured and dead that our hearts go out to.  

The kids were both at school and we spent a stressful 3 hours until we got confirmation that they were ok.  Being kids they were excited and we let them go take some photos.  It was not the time to lay down rules, this was their way of coping and they are good, responsible kids.  Some cops told them to get out of the central city and go home….they said they live in the central city!  

In a word, it was massive, much bigger than the 4 Sep quake.  In that quake we did not have any damage in the rooms but this time we lost 95% of our plates, cups and glasses and a few other things will require repairing.  We will need a massive shopping trip but we should be back to normal in a day or two!

In September the quake was 30kms away and a magnitude 7.1.  This time it was situated pretty much under Lyttelton and it was only 5km deep.  The magnitude was only 6.3 but the shallowness and closeness made the result so much worse.

Just as we thought things were getting better after 4 Sep., we are back at step 0.  Tomorrow we take step 1, and then step 2.  One step at a time till we get back to normal again.

Thanks for thinking of us! We really appreciate it.

19th New Zealand Scout Jamboree

Mr15 and mr12 are with the more than 4000 Scouts and leaders who are taking part in the 19th New Zealand Scout Jamboree at Mystery Creek in Hamilton.


We are enjoying a staycation having the house to ourselves!

Mr15 went up in the Malvern Scout Group advance party to set the campsite up on 28 Dec and mr12 went up one day later. They are due to arrive back in 2 days after 10 days of fun and adventure. If you want to know more about what they are all doing, view the Jamboree facebook page

Mr15, Tak, who has recently been awarded his Chief Scouts Award, the highest award that can be achieved while in Scouts (as opposed to the next level, Venturers) got a special mention in the daily report from the Contingent Leader Adrian Price.


The following is some excerpts from the daily report;


“It was an exciting morning when the Governor General, Anand Satynand dropped by with RH Bill English and RH Phil Goff to see the Jamboree and to have lunch with Takuma Peters who has achieved his Chief Scout award.


Tak went along to the Chief Scout's Luncheon with around 120 other Chief Scouts who have been awarded their badge this year. Jo and I vetted his uniform and presentation last night and Tak organised cover for when he would be away from his patrol during the day. We borrowed a few things from amongst the troop to make sure he had some smarter pants, and a more modern shirt, but I felt like a proud uncle as he walked off to his appointment with the Scouting top brass as well as the top echelon of our political system, representing our group. Well done Tak.


He's become an aspirational goal for our Scouts and a number of them came up to us afterwards to ask just how they could get on the track to their own Chief Scout next year, a few of these were Scouts who'd expressed their intention to leave after the Jamboree.”


Reading that gave us a warm fuzzy feeling and made us feel proud parents! Well done to Tak for the commitment, perseverance and determination required in getting his Chief Scouts Award!


Footnote: Jeff is a Queen Scout (highest award in Scouting) and his Grandfather was a King Scout. Jeff is currently the Chair of the Malvern Scout Group Committee.


Interested in Scouting, call 0800scouts.