– Dorothy – 12/12/96
“Who escapes change in NZ today?”
I think that phrase sums up New Zealand life in the late eighties and nineties. Gone are the days when people went into one job and stayed there for all their working life. Now government policy makers have made countless changes and we have to adjust.
I teach communication, so I guess my job is about helping people to make changes – changes to how they feel about communicating and the way they communicate. I meet all sorts of people and as they talk to me I find they are nearly all making changes – new jobs, new businesses, new research, new ways to help people.
My own career has had its changes – “a dog leg career” someone called it. I started teaching Latin and ancient history in a school and then a university. I thought this was a great job and it was a marked change to being a full time wife and mother. More change when I added to that teaching speech and drama and then looking after my mother for nearly ten years. After her death came another change – a heart attack which seemed like a stopper on everything. But it wasn’t a stopper. It actually turned out to be a starter. In the search for health came a diet change. I was found to be allergic to dairy products, so I cut them out. That change gave me so much new energy that I set up a consultancy teaching oral and written communication for life and business. That change opened many doors and gave me contact with many new people. Change isn’t easy, but it is challenging and it can be exciting.
Changes in government funding have meant changes for voluntary organisations – less funding, more need for volunteers, more fundraising. People have responded to the need by making personal change to fill this need.
The people I meet have fascinating stories. I want to share them with you so keep checking this page for new stories of people making changes to improve their lives and the lives of others – a school teacher and a farmer moving to manage a ski lodge, a retired drama teacher compering a talkback show for Greypower, a working mother completing a degree and working for adult literacy, a successful publisher from Sarajevo who became a refugee in New Zealand and is working to promote peace, a student politician who is concerned about issues vital to us all in New Zealand ……..
The list is endless. Keep reading!
