The Reluctant Gardener

April 2010

One of the first things Russell did when he got his current State House was to mow over the garden and turn it into a lawn, yet he now finds himself enjoying regular visits to Wesleyhaven Village where he tends his own patch of vegetables and finds solace.

“It’s so cool there, it’s a place to sit, a place where I can take time out, listen to the tui and woodpigeons. I’ve even got to know some of the residents there.

From the mowing over a flower garden, to now planting a garden and growing vegetables, there seems to have been quite a change in Russell’s approach to life. Russell readily admits that ongoing battles with ACC over a 2008 leg injury had left him frustrated, and when ACC told him that they had suspended all his claims, this news combined with losing his home help entitlement left him at a very low ebb.

Fortunately for Russell these same changes of circumstance led him to be reassessed by the Nurse Maud organisation, who in turn recommended regular visits from Wesley Community Action’s Community Worker, Anne Ross. It was from those humble beginnings there have been some recent positive changes in Russell’s life.

At the stage when Anne entered his life, Russell by his own admission was prone to, “mope around a bit..... the whole ACC thing mucked me around big time.”

Since then Russell says the assistance provided by Anne and Wesley, “has been “brilliant...... really supportive it’s not so much the advice that she gives, but that she gives me other ways of looking at things, it’s really turned me around.”

Russell jokingly relates that when Anne first introduced to him the idea of gardening his approach was more like one of the Tui beer advertisements, “Yeah Right”, he thought, and promptly put the idea, “on the back burner.” However a persistent Anne arranged for a trip to the local plant shop, seedlings were purchased and things literally grew from there, to the point where he proudly relates, “I’ve even given some of the lettuce I’ve grown to my cousins.... ‘I say hey bro, I grew this!’”

As Russell’s vegetable supply improved so too has his outlook on life. There are still battles for him to face, however now he seems better equipped to face them. He recently received a call from his local MP Trevor Mallard to attend a meeting to discuss his ACC claims and a long stalled hearing regarding re instatement is nearing culmination.

When Wesley Community Action recently put the call out for the donation of a ‘freezer’ for the Wesley Community Foodbank at Porirua, it was Russell who responded and donated his largely unused freezer.

Russell’s lounge proudly displays his National Certificate in Mental Health Support, and it is his hope that he can re enter the workforce as a mentor to those worse off than himself.