Cyclone stories from Kuri kids

STAYING STRONG: B+LNZ whenua Maori advisers Charles Taituha (left) and Pania King said it was great to see the resilience of the Waerenga o Kuri School children, telling their stories on how they were affected by the Cyclone Gabrielle. They are with students (from left) Mila Connon, Zane Law and Ged Cook, with Charlie Butt in front. Picture by Liam Clayton

Waerenga-o-Kuri school students shared their experiences of Cyclone Gabrielle with Beef + Lamb New Zealand advisers Pania King and Charles Taituha last week.

School teacher Rebecca Denton said the kura was pleased to have the reps come in and hear from the kids.

“These children come from different parts of the Hangaroa district and each of them has a story to share — stories of how they were impacted by the storm and braved the challenges to come to school on a regular basis, post-cyclone.”

Mila Connon, who lives on Bushy Knoll Road, said the night of the storm was “scary”.

“When I woke up the next day and looked out of my bedroom window, I saw the paddocks were covered in water.”

She remembers walking along the road with her parents and seeing the enormous amount of silt and mud deposited on the road and fences.

“As we made our way to the Hangaroa Bridge, it was gone. This is the first time I have experienced something of this scale.”

Ged Cook recalled waking up during the night of the storm and looking outside his window to see the nearby creek overflowing.

At around 9pm, while his family were listening to the radio in their living room, they heard a “big crashing noise”.

“When we went outside the next morning we saw this massive tree had fallen over our fence.

“After further checks my family found that about 400 metres of our fence in another section of our farm had gone down because of the land slipping.

“It was definitely bad when Cyclone Hale came in and caused a few slips, but we didn’t have as many slips until after Gabrielle arrived. Lots of tracks have been taken out too.”

Charlie Butt and Zane Low spoke about the difficulties they faced getting to school when it reopened after being closed for more than two weeks.

“There are some families that are using a boat to travel across the Hangaroa River as the bridge is completely out,” they said.

Ms King and Mr Taituha said it was heartening to hear the children’s stories.

Ms King who also is a member of the Rural Support Trust, said their visit was the first of many.

“Hangaroa is one of the worst impacted areas. We plan to visit more schools around the district and up the Coast over time.”

Listening to what the kids had to say came about after Ms King visited “nannies” in Ruatoria.

“Nannies are like the ears that people can go to and listen to in times of worry. They happened to mention about the impact that kids might have felt in all these weather events. That’s how this initiative came about.”

Before the school visit, the pair spoke with farmers.

Mr Taituha said while there had been some “frustrations” voiced, farmers were reacting to the huge challenges of flood damage by being constructive and figuring out practical means to solve problems.

“It’s been an eye-opener coming to Gisborne. The overall damage here has been catastrophic but it’s been good to see the resiliency in the communities.”

Ms King said in her capacity as a trust member it was crucial to have a more long-term sustainable plan for the region.

“We need to look at different forms of land use options such as a mosaic approach.”