Teens rewarded for surviving adversity

Dion Chamberlin has lost his mother but has put his life back together. Picture / Richard Robinson

Dion Chamberlin was 13 when his mother went out one night and never came home.

To this day, he has no idea what happened.

"On Thursday, it will be two years since my Mum disappeared," said Dion.

"She went out one night - we're actually not sure where she went - but then she didn't come home the next morning. We never saw her again.

"The police say they've got no idea. She went to a guy's house at about midnight and she was on camera at a petrol station, and then they've got no idea where she went from there."

But Dion's story is one of hope, not heartache.

Two years later, the Papakura teenager is putting his life back together. Rather than be crushed by loss, he decided to learn from the pain.

Dion is one of seven teens to receive the inaugural Leaps and Bounds Awards for the way they are coping with what would crush many others: violence, drug and alcohol abuse, death and illness.

The initiative was launched by the Child Development Foundation and the Outward Bound Trust.

Today, four of the inaugural recipients tell their stories, of pain and courage, in their own words.

Dion moved from Waikato to Auckland last year to put the disappearance of his mother behind him.

"One of my sisters is 10. She was only 8 then. She hasn't really understood it that much.

"My other sister's probably the worst out of the three of us. She's 12. She was 10 at the time, and it was a couple of days before her birthday.

"She's probably had the roughest time.

"[When I won the award] I just didn't know what to say. Then I found out there were more than 150 people nominated for it and only seven were chosen.

"What's helped me most is I've always thought that no matter what happens, you're going to live.

"You'll make it through eventually. No matter where you end up, you're going to end up somewhere."