ATWC Social Workers Fly To Christchurch To Help Families

Auckland social workers Sarah-Jane Shearman and Litia Bitu are no strangers to dealing with traumatised family members who may feel unsafe in their own homes.

But the two women, who work for the Anglican Trust for Women and Children’s Family Start service in Otahuhu, Auckland, say their social work skills were thoroughly tested when they volunteered to help Christchurch victims following February 22’s devastating earthquake.

Helping old people, parents and children who were confused and stunned after having “all normality stripped from their lives” and who were often too scared to leave their homes was a hugely challenging but rewarding experience, they say.

ATWC sent Sarah-Jane and Litia to Christchurch for a week to work as volunteers for the Earthquake Emergency Response Teams which the Salvation Army and New Zealand Christian Counselling Social Services (NZCCSS) are coordinating.

ATWC – a major Auckland charity which offers child-focused and family-based social work support, counselling, and pre-school services to more than 3000 people across the city – has committed to sending more social workers to Christchurch over the coming months.

“There has been an overwhelming response from ATWC staff who generally want to volunteer their skills and experience to assist however they can in Christchurch,” says ATWC’s Director of Social Work, Judy Matai’a.

The Salvation Army and NZCCSS hope to help 280,000 households in Christchurch – many who are still lack basic items, including getting access to enough fresh water every day.

“There were hundreds of families we could have helped,” says Sarah-Jane. “But after our first day, we quickly realised that it was better to focus on quality than quantity – because there is not much you can achieve by spending only a hour or so with people.”

Working in 13-person response teams, the ATWC social workers spent up to 12 hours a day visiting a total of about 30 families in central suburbs including Shirley, Lynwood, Darlington and Richmond as well as Parklands, further north of the city.

“Some of the families in Parklands were still waiting to have their houses assessed after the September earthquake,” says Sarah-Jane. “I dealt with four families whose lives were at a complete standstill.”

As well as checking to see if families had enough water, food, and access to adequate toilet facilities, the social workers tried to comfort people who could not sleep because they kept reliving the earthquake, mothers who were scared to drop their children at school and people who were terrified of going outside their homes.

Both women say they quickly found they could help most effectively by tracking down the right organisations and services to help people.

“It was great when we could make breakthroughs for families and establish networks that would provide for them in the long term,” says Sarah-Jane.

Litia, who comes from Nausori Village, near Suva, in Fiji, is used to dealing with the aftermath of floods and hurricanes there.

She was shocked by the devastation in Christchurch but amazed at the selflessness and generosity of people there.

“Everyone we talked to was concerned about other people who they thought might be worse off than them. Often people would say no to a food voucher if they thought there was someone in the neighbourhood who might need it more,” says Litia.

“It was a very grounding experience.”

ENDS

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