“My family thought I was crazy to go back up to Te Araroa but I knew I had to.
I just thought, ‘it’s my school — this is where I have to be, with my community’,” Lynn says.
With the roads closed she felt trapped.
“I couldn’t contact our staff — phones were down and there was no internet.
“We were fortunate that in some areas there was power.
“You see it on TV and think ‘Oh gosh, that’s sad’, but in reality when you’re here it’s quite overwhelming.
“I’ve never lived anywhere as isolated as this.
“And now being in such a remote area you realise the hardships our people, the Coasties, endure — and with such good heart and spirit.
“Their families live here, they’re from here, they can’t just up and move.
“Our school didn’t get hit badly with actual damage from flooding, but we had to close for six days because we had absolutely no communication.”
The main bridge, the Awatere 2 leading to the East Cape was damaged and the road from Tikitiki was closed so some families were cut off from school.
“As a principal I felt completely alone. I was making decisions about closing the school and that’s a board decision.
“I’m sure there were lots of other principals who were in the same boat, who are used to doing things by the book, but suddenly there wasn’t a book. The rule book hadn’t been written.
“Some of our families are on the other side of the bridge and students were facing quite a journey to get to school.
“Some whānau had a car on one side but not the other, so they drove their kids as far as they could, they walked over the bridge, then the school bus picked them up.
“Some families were staying in two separate houses because they work on different sides of the bridge."
School re-opened a week later and Lynn’s main worry was that if a student got sick or injured she wouldn’t be able to contact their whānau.
The Matakaoa Manaaki Trust lent them a Skylink satellite phone which meant they had internet but only in the office and one classroom.
“We naively thought Skylink was going to be the answer to everything but a lot of our school couldn’t access it due to proximity. However, we were grateful to have access to the outside world once again.
“That was a new experience — putting out the satellite dish every day.”
The students use Google Docs a lot for their schoolwork but suddenly it was back to pencil and paper.
When the school first reopened there was no fruit, because they couldn’t get deliveries. Milk and other basic essentials were rationed at the shop.
“Our senior students used to go into Gisborne every Friday for their trades training at EIT, leaving at 6am. Others would go to play basketball on Friday night. Whānau visited whānau.
But with the roads closed it was too far — nearly five hours going the long way around, so a 10-hour round trip. Students missed that side of their education, recreation and extended family life.
“Our students have had quite a disruption to their education and I worry about how they’re going to catch that time up.”
‘This was harder than Covid lockdowns’
Whānau celebrations were missed due to the 10-hour round trip and ongoing uncertainty about Waioeka Gorge closures.
“This was harder than Covid lockdowns by far.”
When school re-opened it took some time until they were back at full capacity.
“All of our staff were back but there were still students who couldn’t get there.”
Lynn recalls getting a text from an employee saying they were running late for work because they had to do the grocery shopping for the nannies who couldn’t cross the bridge.
“Everyone had to muck in and help out where they could.”
They are relieved to have the roads open again as it was getting very expensive to travel the long way around with the high price of petrol.
“We are so grateful to the whānau near Tolaga Bay for opening their land for the bypass road ”
More recently the school has been making the most of local school sports events. Last Friday there was the Weet-bix Try Challenge.
Senior students who go to trades at EIT in Gisborne resumed last week.
“We’re mindful of the students’ anxieties, and their wellbeing is paramount. The school counsellors are in twice a week which is a reassuring presence.
“Most of the students’ anxieties of late are about heavy rain again. So every day without rain is a good day. And in spite of the circumstances, they’re happy to be able to get to school.
There will be more hardship. The cost of living and extra petrol costs has hit our community hard. To have KidsCan alongside our students and whānau makes a massive difference.”
KidsCan is dedicated to helping Kiwi kids affected by poverty. They help the one in six children experiencing hardship by providing food, jackets, shoes, and health products to 874 schools and 200 early childhood centres in areas of high deprivation across New Zealand.
A truck with eight pallets of food from KidsCan arrived at Rerekohu shortly after the cyclone.
“I looked at it and thought ‘oh my goodness, how is that going to get unpacked and given out to our community?’
“Our support staff turned into this mighty machine. Everything got divided up and named. The team got on the phone, Facebook and private messaging, and the food was collected very quickly.
“The looks on parents’ faces when they came to collect it, their happiness and gratitude, it was just overwhelming. One dad was so thankful and said, ‘My day could not get any better. Thank you’.”
Lynn said she felt quite emotional seeing the food parcels handed out.
“It was really lovely for our staff to be given all those gorgeous smiles. Everyone was uplifted seeing how KidsCan really cared for our families here. For families on the other side of the bridge our board chair carried the parcels over by hand and then delivered them. The food was very, very well received.”
KidsCan CEO and founder Julie Chapman said it was heartening to hear from schools like Te Waha O Rerekohu that her organisation’s support was making a real difference.
“We hope that despite their isolation, they know they are not alone. In times like these, schools have become the hub of the community, and staff need help more than ever. They are doing so much more for their students than teaching,” she says.
KidsCan’s flood appeal raised $1.5 million to help the children of their partner schools and early childhood centres, and their families, recover.
“It means we’ve been able to send 98 pallets of extra food, and $300,000 of clothing and food vouchers to affected areas, including Te Araroa,” Ms Chapman said.
“We’ll continue to provide food, jackets and shoes as needed. We’re also working with schools to identify families who have lost everything so we can replace furniture, beds, whiteware and homeware, helping them get back to living and learning,”
The cost-of-living crisis is having a huge impact on families in hardship, and KidsCan is now helping to feed 55,000 children a day in more than 1100 schools and early childhood centres, including 39 in Tairāwhiti.
Donations are needed more than ever.
Lynn is concerned about the constant pressure to raise attendance levels when in their situation the reason for absence in most cases is inaccessibility to school. One student’s absences this year are all due to roading issues, and they are not alone.
When the weather is bad students must go home because of the risk of getting stranded on the wrong side from home due to potential flooding.
“So whether it’s a full day or half a day at school it’s important to make sure the time they spent at school that day was positive and they did lots of learning.”
“State Highway 35 is open. It is a rocky journey in parts but once again we can hear the hum of vehicles passing by. Senior students dressed up in their number ones to attend the local ANZAC Service. Primary students were off with a hiss and a roar to attend the Try Challenge. A number of younger students participated in the inaugural surf champs at Onepoto Bay.
“Term 1 ended with a bang when STRIKE Percussion performed in the school gym. Not many performing groups take up the challenge to travel to this piece of remote paradise! Little by little, step by step, a sense of calm and normality prevails within the school. Our students are learning from their whānau how to get on with things when faced with adversity. However, I am the one who has learnt the most.”
