Carer calls for artisans' help

HELP WANTED: Anamaria Jones hopes there is an experienced and kind person in Whanganui who can work with her grandson Razeal.PHOTO/STUART MUNRO

Finding support for her grandson is a full-time job for Whanganui woman Anamaria Jones, and right now she is seeking someone with woodwork, metalwork or other artisan skills they can share.

Razeal is 13 and to all appearances is a physically active and healthy teenager who enjoys the same things as most boys his age - computer games, playing guitar, walking a friend's dog - and there is a bandage on his shin from a skateboard mishap.

But Razeal has a condition named pachygyria, a rare brain disease caused by malformation of the cerebral hemisphere, and he also lives with the after-effects of a car accident that occurred when he was just 18 months old.

Mrs Jones, who has full-time custody of Razeal, said because her grandson did not "tick the right boxes" when it came to funding and support, he had not been able to attend school since November 2013.

He has a visiting teacher from Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu Correspondence School who works with him for six hours each week.

"Razeal is very interested in learning how to make things and it would be great if there is someone in Whanganui who has a workshop set up where they would be willing to show him what they do," Mrs Jones said.

"His teacher, whom he calls his buddy, would go with him and it would be so good if he could do something like that for an hour or two each week."

When the Chronicle spoke to Mrs Jones in September 2014, she had been refused an increase in Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS) funding from the Ministry of Education because Razeal did not fit the criteria, and she was unable to get ACC support to keep him at school.

"I'm no further ahead and Razeal is still not able to attend school, but I am grateful for the hours he has with his buddy.

"If there is someone who has the time and the skill to help him learn something new, that would be wonderful."

-Anyone willing and able to offer support can call Mrs Jones on (06) 344 6779.