- Before I became a support worker, I had my own real estate company. That sounds like it's really left-field, but it's not. The job of a real estate agent is to help people realise their dreams. So then when you move into the social sector, it's about helping people with disabilities, hearing them say, 'I wanna live a healthier lifestyle; I wanna eat better; 'I wanna have friends of my own; I want to get a job. Let's find a way to do this.' - Koha Kai, to me, means... family. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2024 (UPBEAT MUSIC) - I'm a little bit... knackered from my drugs. I've got cerebral palsy. I think Mum and I both found out at the same time. And when I was about 30, Child Youth and Family were involved, and there was a great big report written on it. Mum was reading it before I even got the chance, and she came out to the kitchen and said, 'I didn't know you had cerebral palsy.' I said, 'Well, that's a first for me.' Like, oh, that's why I feel different, cos my eyesight kinda goes a little bit funny, and my speech and my walking. (LAID-BACK GUITAR MUSIC) - What's the code? - 0-8-8. - Yeah. - 2-8-6. - 2-8-6. - A butterfly flying in the wind. (LAUGHS) - Goodbye. - And when he got older and we didn't know what he said, and his brother would sometimes say, because Ruben being around him so often, being his twin, could understand him way better than anyone else. That's how he was writing at 6 years. - (CHUCKLES) I didn't try to put any embarrassing photos of you and Dylan. - It's about that time when you were 13, when we found out that you had dyspraxia, thanks to the speech language therapist. - Yeah. - And once they told us that, and we'd done a wee bit of research ourselves, that's when we sorta clicked on that, yes, that was probably gonna be exactly that. Would have been 10 years that you were labelled with the wrong disability. - Well, I was just mostly relieved that, finally, after all this time, we had a proper diagnosis. - Yeah, and we always will, Dylan. (SYNTH MUSIC) - Today being a Friday, we have our food truck that's going out at 9am, but this is where we do our` the Ka Ora, Ka Ako lunches in schools. We've got about, what, 690 kids who have lunches from us every day of the week. When I was growing up, it was like, if you saw somebody that was a little bit different, or someone in a wheelchair, you avert your eyes, because it's rude to stare. They were an invisible people. I wanted to change that. And so we devised a proper teaching program to teach them employable skills. This is Logan, who has recently just graduated from our teaching program. What's your favourite thing about working here? - Getting paid. - The what? - Getting paid. - Getting paid, absolutely. (LAUGHS) We get really good support from the community. You only need to look at the number of order sheets up there. We do` We get asked to do in-catering, out-catering, workshops, events. We do regular food for the under-5s. This is the Montessori lunches, and they go out there, and just different things that the guys are doing. I don't always know everything that goes on, but that's all good. So when we created this space, it was about giving people the opportunity to develop further skills, which are then gonna be transferable into any other food-based industry. They're starting to load the taco truck and that goes out around the community. Um, Corrina and Tom go out twice a week. I never wanted Koha Kai to be the end story for people. It needs to be a stage in their life, and the thing is that we never put a time frame on this, because eventually they're gonna get there. Now, Corrina was our very first graduate. She started doing exactly what Logan is doing, by doing some casual work first, and then moving into permanent employment, and at this point, Corrina has decided that she would like to try moving into a different space in the community. To support that transition, we've moved her from being full time in the kitchen to out in the food truck and sells directly to the public. - CORRINA: I've worked at Koha Kai for nine years. It's just been a really, really good experience. But, yes, Janice is right; I do need to find something else. (RELAXED GUITAR MUSIC) I wasn't doing anything before Koha Kai, cos no one gives people like us a chance. But, in saying that, I'm gonna take a chance and go and see what the world has to offer. - Doughnuts. How much? - Um, 4. - Yep. - 4, 4, 4. - Baked goods 4, 4. Fruit salad? - Fruit salad is 8. - Yep. - And the sandwiches are 7. - That's right. Good job. - I don't like change. I never have. But I'm willing to step out of my comfort zone and have a little bit of change. - I can't decide. - I can't decide. I can't do it. - Do I wanna go? No. Am I ready? Yeah, I think I might be. (DEVICE BEEPS) - Beautiful. Thank you. - Thank you very much. Have a great day. How much is all this? - Gee, 8` 18. - I just hope I do them proud. Oh God, I'm starting to cry. - TV: And we're at home. - And we're at home. - What is that? - It's a Trap Master. - It's, like, the strongest character in the game. - ANNETTE: It's been good being able to go out there to Koha Kai. He is more outgoing now that he's worked there. They got him out of the house and gave him independence and taught him to cook. - (LAUGHS) By two points. - Honk the horn. - Beep, beep. - Aw, that does it. - And leaving home. - Yep. Getting independence. - I think he's actually more capable of being more independent than his brother and his sister. (CHUCKLES) Independence will do all the kids good. Yeah, and, uh, what are they now? 23, and it's about time they left home. (LAUGHS) I'm looking forward to spending some time with their father without all these kids around. (LAUGHS) Well, what do you think you'll cook when you leave home? - They'll have all these new challenges ` how to pay the bills, doing their own cooking. It's all gonna be their own choice. - You guys will love it for the first month or so, and then the novelty might wear off; you'll be wanting to move back. - (CHUCKLES) Good. I'm pleased to hear that. - Dylan is really quiet, really methodical. At one stage there, he was doing 900 muffins a day, which is where he got the nickname Muffin Man, and every one of them was consistent. He'd been with us for three months before I realised he could even talk. His dyspraxia meant that when he did talk, it sounded funny, and people quite often couldn't understand him, and so that meant he didn't have the courage to speak. I know that you're going flat-hunting this weekend. Is this`? This is about you breaking out and getting some independence, isn't it? - Yep. - So, who are you looking at going in with? - What does independence look like to you? - Living your best life, eh? Yeah, I'm really excited for you, Dylan. You know, it's been a long journey for you. - Yeah. - CORRINA: Koha Kai has been a really, really good experience. I just wanna... do something diff` still do` still do the hospitality but away from Koha Kai. But my CV is way, way, way out of date. Here's my CV. - Oh, right, cool. Let's have a look. So how long is this` has it been since you've updated this? - Years. - How long have you been with us for, with Koha Kai? - 2015. - '15, was it? - I think. - OK. 'This is Corrina's first paid job.' It took her, oh, three years to be able to get to the point where we felt that the skills that she had learned could justify employment. - READS: 'I am a fast learner, and I particularly enjoy repetitive tasks. 'I am generally a happy, easy-going person who gets on well with others.' - Um, have you given any thought as to what sort of... places that you're wanting to go to? - I was thinking about the caffs. - Yeah, cafes? - Yeah. - Have you thought about perhaps offering to do some work experience with them? - Yeah... - Yeah, cos that might be a really good. And when they can see how skilled you are` - That would give me the confidence to build myself up. - Yep. - You know what I mean? - Yeah. - It's gonna take a tremendous amount of courage for her, who doesn't like change, and it's going to be quite difficult for her. But I know` I know she can do it. (LIGHT MUSIC) - So this is, like, a wee two-bedroom flat that we've got here. The bedrooms are really big, so when you are sharing a flat here, you can sort of have this all set up as your own space. - He's got a sister and brother that might be renting with him. - Yeah. - But Dylan had to come first. - No, it's such a good idea to rent with other people your first time as well. Like, it's quite daunting. - Mm. - If you are wanting to share with three people, it does make it affordable, and the bedrooms are big enough that you can actually have the two brothers in a room. - So you're OK with still sharing with your brother? Would you rather look at another place that's got your own bedroom? - It's gonna be way bigger than the room you've got now, so you'll have way more space. What bills would you have? - What's that? (BOTH CHUCKLE) Sorry, your brother wasn't here to translate you. 'Well, I know he's perfectly capable.' I think that his biggest problem, of course, is always gonna be the communication if somebody comes to his door or rings up on the phone. - It's not easy moving out on your own, cos when I moved out on my own, I still relied on Mum a little bit. I think it's a big thing for him. Are you ready to move out of home? - Yeah. - It'll be a whole new experience for you, Dylan. You'll love it. - If you need any advice, come and see me. I'll give you the dips and the dabs. Right now, this man is saving a woman from bleeding to death after complications during childbirth. - (YAWNS) - Everyday people can save lives every day. (CHATTER, LAUGHTER) - ALL: Hooray! - Hip hip! - Hooray! - Hip hip! - Hooray! - Happy birthday, mate. - It's your bowel screening test. I've done mine. - WOMEN: Me too! - And it's free! Uso, you've got this! - # There's a screening here tonight. # Pull the stick from the test. Put it in the poo. # Just follow the pictures. It's easy to do. - Koro! You can 'poo' it! - # Don't delay or procrastinate. # Put it in the post. Send it away. # Early detection can save the day. (ALL CHEER) # There's a screening # here tonight. # - ALL: Oh yeah! (RELAXED GUITAR MUSIC) - Today is about me experiencing... what it would be like, working outside of Koha Kai. And how am I feeling about that? Mm... As we all know, I don't like change, but it's a good thing. I think it's gonna be quite daunting, but I'm a lot calmer than what I was yesterday. When I'm feeling anxious, I go into a nice quiet room. Just sitting there, just... clearing my mind calms me down, cos it does. It works. It really does work. New experiences come along. Everybody gets thrown in. And I'm one of them. Hi. My name` - Hi, Corrina. How are you? - Good. - Yeah? Come in. Come in. This is Ethan. So, Corrina, you obviously have some work experience at Koha Kai. - Yes, I do. - Um, how long have you been working there? - I've been working there for nine years now. - So, what do you do? Do you do some food prep and customer service? - We load up the truck, and we go around to little businesses and sell food. - Right. - Mm. - OK. So you are dealing with... - Customers. - ...with your customers as well. - Yeah. - That's great. Yeah. That's what we need. Ari, this is Corrina. Corrina is gonna be helping us today. - Cool. - All right. - I think that's what's holding me back ` is that I'm scared of rejection by businesses. That's` I think that's what it is. It's a big thing for me to` having to go out and change. - Here we go. So always pull that out... - Yeah. - ...so you don't burn yourself. - OK. - Pull that out, get the tongs, and then you turn it around like that. And when that starts to puff up, then that's when it's ready. - Means it's ready. Yeah. - Here's your sausage roll, sir. - Oh, looks lovely. Thank you very much. - Enjoy, won't you? - I will. Thank you. - You're welcome. I do know that change is a good thing, and I'm willing to have a little bit of change. - Was it as scary as you thought it would be? - No. All my troubles just went away. - Oh, that's fantastic. - So, I thank you very much for your patience with me today. It's been very appreciated, and I love it. (QUIRKY ALT-COUNTRY MUSIC) - Dylan's, of course, the master. He's been doing this longer than we have. We're just rookies here. - We pretty much all agree on what we want for this house. - Yup, yup. Haven't played this in ages` in so long. - Am I doing it right? - I would definitely want my own room. - It has to be a three bedroom. - Yeah. A couple of days of him cooking. A couple of days of you cooking. - Ha, yeah. - And then, a couple days of me cooking, and some Burger King. - One actual day of just` - We can have a fish and chip Friday. Yeah. - Yeah. I think it's gonna be very easy living together with you, cos I've already lived together with you for, like, my whole life. - Yeah, we've already sort of been flatting, when you really think about it. - Yes, yup, yup. We got this. - That was very good. - Wow! Good job. - It was like a quick-shot. - Yeah. (BIRDS TWITTER) - I wasn't treated differently at home, but at school, I got bullied quite a lot. Quentin, my brother, and Carly, my sister, would have to come in and stick up for me and stuff. It wasn't nice. I did work experience at The Pantry yesterday. - Oh, how was that? - That was exciting. It was quite good, actually. After yesterday, experience, like, working outside of Koha Kai, I think I can do this. - It's not a 'think'. - I know I can do this. - It's not a 'think'; you can do it. - Yeah. - It's a 'you can do it'. - You just have to believe in yourself, take it one day at a time. - If I don't believe in myself, well, then I'm not gonna get anywhere, am I? - And that's all thanks to Koha Kai and you. - I'm very grateful to Koha Kai. - Yeah. You have worked together in a partnership and achieved so much. - When we first started, we couldn't afford vegetables in the amounts that we needed, so we decided to start growing them. - So, yesterday, when you were at The Pantry, how'd it go? - Great. I enjoyed it. - It is really good to get that experience working in different environments, and with different people. You know, we're just the starting point, mate. - Yeah! You're just a starting point. - So would you reckon, um... you'd be keen to go and put your CV around a few places? - Yeah, I think I'll be keen. - Have a chat with some people. - Yeah. - Yeah, yeah. Cos there's a few- I mean, in hospitality at the moment, they can't get good, reliable staff. - Oh, well, I'm your woman. - I know. I know. (BREEZY ACOUSTIC MUSIC) - So, this is my mokopuna, (LAUGHS) Boston, and he's 9 years old, and he loves being involved in the mahi here at Koha Kai, don't you? - Yes. - Yes, he does. Good boy. Go and do some dishes. (LAUGHTER) - Can't wait, what we're gonna have. My favourite food would be... roast chicken. I love it. - Ooh! I like Chinese or Thai noodles for that. - They awhi those young people along. It's amazing. And it's lovely to see them, cos I know quite a few of them and see them develop, you know? It's wonderful. - I would have been sitting home on my own if this hadn't happened. And, um, no, I think it's great. - Ana mihi nui, kia koutou. Nau mai, haere mai, tutaki mai. Ki te Koha Kai, ki te whakanui, e te kere, mi te tahi. Welcome. Welcome, everybody, to the gathering at Koha Kai. Our focus, as always, is on including those kaumatua with our tangata whaikaha ` people living with the challenges of disability. We like to live our beliefs that all people in our community are valued for the strengths that they bring and for the learning that they can provide for the whole community. All we are doing is providing an opportunity, teaching people to achieve independence and autonomy and equity in the community, and all of those things that non-disabled people take as their daily right. - I think I've grown as a person just because of being at Koha Kai, I think.