A holiday never to be forgotten

Ruth (left) and her sister Helen, a nun who helps people living in the slums of Brazil. Photo / supplied

Waipapakauri grandmother Ruth Cosner was meant to go on an overseas trip of a lifetime, funded by her four generous children, who raised nearly $17,000 over the course of three years.

Instead, she found herself stranded in Brazil by the coronavirus pandemic, which led to three months living in slums and helping some of the poorest people in the world.

The 66-year-old used all her money during her stay and on her efforts to return home, as flights became ridiculously expensive and were suddenly and repeatedly cancelled.

But Cosner she isn't sorry her trip didn't turn out how she expected.

"If it had gone as planned I would have been there two weeks, and we would have just done all the tourist things," she said.

"I didn't get to do those, but I spent three months actually living there, working and meeting the people, experiencing the highs and lows. I'd sooner have had that a thousand times over."

Cosner left New Zealand in February, after her children got together some years earlier to open a secret bank account, adding funds to it when they could afford to. They duly gave her the $16,500 they had raised when they surprised her at Auckland airport with tickets to Sydney, which was to be the first leg of the journey.

Jakki, Brandyn, Rebecca and Luke also visited Sydney with her, then, after a stint back home, their mum set off alone for Cairns, then Ireland and England, before heading to Brazil.

She was staying with her sister Helen, a Catholic nun who lives on the outskirts of Salvador and works with the poor in the densely populated favelas, when the pandemic hit, stranding her.

During those three months she helped her sister, who has lived there for 20 years as a missionary and social worker, teach locals how to make propolis, soaps and honey from her beehives.

"It was not what I expected," Cosner said.

"I have really horrible and really neat feelings about it. It was a horrible thing to happen, but the other side was that I got to experience something other people don't, what it was like living in the slums.

"It's like living in a ginormous commune. There's no space or privacy, and everyone's jammed in, in these flimsy little shacks that are all joined together. There are really neat people and bad people; it's not unusual hearing gunshots, night or day. But these people are amazing. They have nothing, so life is very cheap, but they'll also give you the shirt off their back if you need it."

Cosner, who has 18 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, returned home in mid-June after several cancelled flights and with all her cash gone. Even though she had taken took out "the most comprehensive cover I could get," she couldn't claim insurance.

Now her kids are at it again, raising funds via a Givealittle page to help replace the money she lost. At last report more than $1000 had been raised.

Her son Luke Boyes, who lives in Christchurch, said the family were very worried about their mother being stuck in Brazil during a global pandemic.

"We were concerned because the world was getting turned upside down, and Mum was on the other side of the world. And Brazil was one of the countries hit pretty hard," he said.

He now hoped his mother would be able to use the money raised to visit family around New Zealand now that overseas travel was no an option.

Cosner, however, was unperturbed.

"They (her children) are amazing, but they don't need to worry about getting the money back. I'm home, and I'm a great believer in the saying it is what it is," she said.

"If I never step out of New Zealand again I wouldn't mind. There are lots of places I'd like to see. New Zealand is beautiful, and at the end of the day we've got everything here."

But she admitted to still having itchy feet.

"If I could get on a plane and head back tomorrow I would definitely go back," she added.