EIT graduate Rosina Reiri has redeemed hard-won experience and sorrow in helping others. 

Born in Dannevirke and raised in Tikitiki, Rosina lost her father when she was eight, and her mother at 15. She helped her grandmother raise her four younger siblings, before moving to Wellington.

A mother at 19, she escaped a violent relationship with her son’s father but floundered without a support network.  CYFS social workers supported her to get her life back on track.

“I moved back to Gisborne to find myself again, and so my son and I could be closer to my whanau where I felt safe, and to my uncle who is like a dad to me.”

Now 29, she is has graduated from EIT with a Bachelor of Applied Social Sciences (Social Work) degree.

She started down this path when her son was about to start school and her Tuhono Whanau social worker suggested a social work programme at EIT Tairawhiti.

“I thought that with everything I had been through I could help other young people.”  She completed the certificate course, and found she really enjoyed social work.

“When I first came to EIT, I was quite young and nervous because I never finished college – I left school in sixth form and didn’t know what to expect. I thought I was quite dumb actually, but with the experience I had so far in my life I thought I could make a difference. The certificate course helped me find myself through self-reflection and reconnecting through whakapapa. I discovered that I wanted to carry on and enrolled in the degree.”

While the study was enjoyable, it was also challenging.

Her degree completed, she secured a job as kaiawhina at Ngati Porou, supporting pregnant mothers and their pre-school children.

“Probably the most rewarding thing is seeing growth and development within families. My biggest goal in my work is to empower whanau to be independent, and care for and nurture their children.”

During her work she shares her own story and experiences in the hope it will inspire her clients to overcome challenges in their own lives.

“With resilience and perseverance we can overcome and better ourselves and our children’s future.”  Rosina is grateful to family who helped care for her children so she could study and work and friends and EIT lecturers who supported her when times were tough.