Never too late to learn

It was a simple act of kindness around 40 years ago that sowed a seed and changed a life.

At the time, Sonia Taka was a rebellious teenager – a tearaway and a runaway.


Hired – Sonia Taka and her mentor Josie Witika. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

'I had bunked down under a bridge for the night,” she explains.

'A woman, I believe she was a prison officer, came up and threw a blanket over me and offered me a cup of Milo.”

That was a gesture that cut through the nonsense.

'She spoke to me, listened to me, and gave me options. I wanted to be like her one day. I wanted to understand and help kids.”

Four decades, two marriages, five kids, years of menial thankless jobs and six years of unemployment later, the Papamoa resident now has her opportunity to be like that prison officer.

She got a degree, got herself a good mentor and now – depending on her job application being positively vetted – it will be: 'Goodbye WINZ, goodbye handouts”.

She'll be working with the Ministry of Social Development's Youth Horizons programme – they help young people with behaviour problems.

And she'll bring the wisdom of first-hand experience to her role.

'I never had a secondary schooling,” says Sonia. 'I got expelled in the third form.” She hung out with older kids, was a mother by age 16 and married for the first time at 17.

She cleaned and waited tables by night to make ends meet. But when her second marriage ended, and the last of her five children started school, she made a decision. 'I have got to look after myself and provide.”

So the woman who couldn't spell, had no college education and 'got into a bit of trouble” began a three-year special social services degree. 'I never thought I could do a 3000-word assignment. It was hard.”

And she did have to re-submit a couple of papers until she got it right. And eventually, she got it right.

But as Sonia discovered, even a hard-earned degree was no passport to employment. She couldn't crack the market and spent six years well qualified but jobless.

'I would apply for jobs online,” she says.” Sometimes you'd hear back and sometimes you wouldn‘t.”

Then she buddied up with Josie Witika of Waharoa, near Matamata, who mentors WINZ clients into work. 'Yes, she lacked a bit of direction and self-confidence,” says Josie.

The CV was tinkered with, so skillsets matched what prospective employers were looking for. 'I also did some homework on the companies I was dealing with. It's about knowing what you are applying for. These are things I never considered before,” says Sonia.

Interview skills were developed with role playing. '[So] ‘Why do you want to work for us' was a question always asked in interviews. I was ready for it.”

But perhaps the biggest lesson was cold calling – being pro-active and backing up online applications with a visit and a hard copy of a CV. 'They'd think ‘she's keen'. You just have to get out there and annoy them.”

The student was becoming the master.

Then a month back she scored an interview with Youth Horizons. They said they'd 'let her know” in two weeks. They rang the very next day and said the job was hers if the checks stacked up. 'I was rapt – I couldn't believe it,” she admits

So at 53, and after years of struggling to pay the bills, the girl who dropped out of school in the third form is now qualified and heading back into the workforce.

She's finally going to be like that prison officer 'helping and understanding kids with nowhere to turn, nowhere to go”.

'And that makes me feel good about myself,” says Sonia.

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