She rang the Red Cross offering to work in a hospital or orphanage overseas. Instead, they suggested she might like to volunteer to support refugees on her own doorstep in South Auckland.
She agreed, trained one night a week for seven weeks, and her life was transformed. She has already helped three family groups to settle.
The first was an Iraqi solo dad with two boys, including one in a wheelchair. Six months later she took on two parents and three children from Burma, and in May she became one of three volunteers for Congolese brothers Marcel and Safari Byeka, aged 27 and 25, and their niece and nephew, both 17.
They had spent almost a decade in Uganda after fleeing into the forest when the brothers' father and sister were kidnapped and killed.
"Our brother was here already in West Auckland," says Marcel. "We knew about our brother being here from the Red Cross because they sent a letter and found us in Kampala. We didn't know where everyone was."
They still don't know where their mother is. "We are still looking. We have some friends, we are talking to them," Marcel says.
Immigration NZ found the group a state house in Manurewa and provided basic furniture. Mrs Townsend bought extras such as saucepans, a TV stand and gardening tools out of her own pocket.
"That's what you do," she says. "There is a need. If it's going to help them settle very quickly, you do it.
"One day I came to take them shopping and he [Marcel] was in traditional dress. I bought him a shovel and a hoe, and he was so keen he went straight out to the garden. He didn't come shopping."
The whole group learned English during their stay in Uganda, and the two brothers were referred to a new Pathways to Employment programme run by Red Cross with Work and Income funding for refugees ready to work. Adviser Claire Speedy has helped them draw up CVs and took Marcel to visit a cooking school because he worked in cafes in Uganda.
But it was Mrs Townsend who took both brothers to Manukau Institute of Technology, which used special refugee funding to provide free places in an English course for Marcel, who wants to become a chef or a community worker, and in a tertiary foundation course for Safari, who wants to become a doctor. The brothers are also looking for part-time work in a cafe or in the building industry, where Safari worked in Uganda.
"I've been in touch with Perry's Berries [at Wiri] because the berry season starts soon and it's close enough for them to bike there," Mrs Townsend says.
All four members of the family were given bikes that were donated via the support group Refugees As Survivors. The two 17-year-olds go to James Cook High School, and Mrs Townsend is always on call.
"Some days I hope the phone never rings. Other times the phone can ring and it's all go," she says.
"Working with the refugees has been very good for me. It teaches you tolerance. You learn very quickly that your way is not the only way.
"I've also learned a lot."
Volunteer's role
• Set up home for refugees before they arrive.
• Help enrol with schools and doctors.
• Help with budgeting, shopping, using Eftpos.
• Show how to use public transport.
• Generally explain how things work and be their friend.
• It involves three hours' training one night a week for seven weeks.
• Transporting family from Mangere centre to their new home.
• "Full-on" support in first two weeks.
• Visit socially and when problems arise for at least three months, extending to six months if desired.
How can I make a donation?
You can make online donations, phone donations and offline donations.
MAKE AN ONLINE DONATION HERE
Phone donations can be made on 0800 90 5000.
Offline donations can be made by printing off the form below and filling it out (app users tap here). Or look in the print edition of the Herald.
