Solo mothers taking big step to help themselves

Twenty South Auckland solo mothers are taking the first steps to new lives through a programme that aims to prevent another tragedy like that of the Kahui twins.

The women, ranging from teenage mothers to grandmothers who have spent decades bringing up children, were drawn from Manukau's 11,730 domestic purposes beneficiaries to get a "hand-up" into paid work.

In a 12-week programme which started yesterday at the Tamaki Ki Raro Trust, they will use the networks of the trust's 50 staff and their own personal contacts to either find jobs or start their own businesses.

The programme is the trust's third since chief executive Sharon Wilson told a community meeting after the deaths of babies Chris and Cru Kahui in June 2006 that the welfare system needed reform to give families practical help as well as money.

Regional social development commissioner Isabel Evans picked up the challenge and enlisted Te Puni Kokiri to co-fund a pilot programme for 19 Maori solo mothers last year.

Seventeen of the 19 found work and Ms Evans funded a second course late last year and the one that started yesterday. There is not yet any ongoing funding.

Some mothers on the latest course, such as Lisa Te Pania, 26, had children after leaving school and have never been in paid work.

"My kids are both in school now," she said. "I just want to get out there and learn things that we don't have."

Others, like former pharmacy technician Dionne Ryan, 37, are already planning their own businesses.

She wants to develop eco-tours from land she owns in the Far North.

Vanessa Hapi, 32, was hired by the trust four weeks into the first course because of her experiences of owning and running two pubs.

"I was working 14-hour days and never seeing my children, having someone else care for my children," she said.

She had to sell the pubs when she developed ovarian cysts.

"What I found is that it's really important to have a balance."

Sharon Wilson told the women she came from a similar background - she grew up in Otara, left school at 14, had her first baby at 17 and became a solo mother of three children at 21. She learned then that just getting a benefit was not enough.

www.tamakikiraro.co.nz