Introducing Lou: Your Community Facilitator for Mahurangi East

These questions have always hovered along with me, since I was young. My darling mother, who was taken from this world prematurely, was an expert ‘connector’ and growing up at her side was an education. She just loved people, and was endlessly fascinated by them.

In the supermarket she would hear out every little old lady and make fun in the aisles with every infant. She hosted dinner parties and gatherings that people talked about for years. She made my sisters and I stand up and sing for the old folks in the rest home. She rallied a team and saved our local picture theatre from demolition. She ‘matched made’ the singles in her life wherever she could. She bought joy and connection to every room she entered.

I’m very proud of this whakapapa, this heritage of mine. The questions above continue to drive my quest to understand something that we all know matters deeply to the human experience; belonging.

To the reader I ask, “What about you? What do you think creates belonging and connection?” “When have you felt joy with others and what do you think bought that about?”

I think we’ve won ‘the lottery of life’ living in Mahurangi, and I’m grateful to get to add my little bit. If you think about these questions, and have an idea you’d like to action, I’d love to chat. There may be a way the Rodney Community Team can partner with you. Email me: lou@rodneycommunity.org.nz