They are all our children.
The last two days have been crazy. My posts both on Twitter and TikTok regarding a certain individual has seen me struggle to keep up with notifications and is the catalyst for this substack.
At 12, I began babysitting my siblings, from there on, I've gone on to work in Kohanga (when I left school at 14) among other places with my last job before becoming a business owner being at an early childhood centre. I have also been present and helped deliver at the births of 9 of my 16 nieces and nephews.
In my early 20s, my Mother convinced me to not go to a camp for sick kids because in her mind my heart wouldn't have been able to handle it. And while I didn't fully understand her reasoning at the time I have to admit she wasn't wrong. I've always been the “soft” one. The one who will cry at the drop of a hat. I even cried watching Dumbo as a child! But as I've grown older I've been able to take that soft spot that I've always had for kids and use it to speak out about issues that I see affect them.
6 years ago, I took my boy in a whangai arrangement. Along with his brother, my mother and I over this time have an established co parenting relationship over the two of them.
During this time, I have fought the state housing system. I have had arguments with the health system over their ridiculous rules. I've tackled the education system over the school lunch programme and at one stage had a petition urging Jacinda Ardern to step down as the child poverty reduction minister. Due to her resignation, there was no need to continue with this.
I am a huge supporter of Mike King and the work he does with his charity Key to life which provides the I am Hope and Gumboot Friday programmes. These are both mental health initiatives for children and young people. I am Hope focuses on delivering programmes within schools and Gumboot Friday is more for the wider community. You can find more information through the links.
https://www.gumbootfriday.org.nz/
https://www.iamhope.org.nz/
As part of my support for this charity, I have dedicated to raise money to shave my hair off this Gumboot Friday, November 3. The last time I shaved my hair was for a suicide charity back in 2014 but this time due to my hair being virgin (no dyes) I will be able to donate my hair to charity as well which is what the plan is. For those who are interested I do have a givealittle link set up where donations go directly to Key to Life if anyone is interested in donating. Any and all donations will much much appreciated.
https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/funds-for-hope
Every summer, along with some of my whanau we dedicate a week of our lives to volunteer and host at a little event called Funfest. This summer we hosted our highest numbers yet at 48,000 for the week. Funfest is a 4 day event with free rides, entertainment, face painting and bouncy castles among stalls, both market and education focused. You will find me working the games tent, which is always my favourite spot to be because of the cool kids (both young and old) that I get to meet.
As you can see, kids have quite literally been my life for the last 30 years, despite the fact, that I've not birthed a single child. Always the bridesmaid never the bride springs to mind.
But it is my love for them, that pushes me to speak out about unhealthy houses. It's because of them I will offer their parents assistance to get a food grant because no child should ever go hungry. It is because of them that I will continue to annoy the government on issues that affect them, like the lack of mental health funding available for kids. And it is because of my love for kids that I will continue to speak out against people like JM because at the end of the day they are ALL our children
Aroha atu, Aroha mai
Love received, Love returned,
Corina