Thursday, August 27, 2020
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TE NUPEPA O TE TAIRAWHITI THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2020 HOME-DELIVERED $1.90, RETAIL $2.20 MOU SECURES FISHING CLUB’S FUTURE BELT UP: PAGE 5 HOW A SEATBELT AND A CRASH CHANGED HIS LIFE ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT PAGE 2 PAGES 23-26 INSIDE TODAY SAWMILL TO CREATE 50 JOBS Successful trial results in permanent operation KIWI Lumber is to set up permanent operations following the successful trial THE Matawhero site, formerly the Prime of a sawmill at Matawhero. Sawmill and then Far East Sawmills, is owned The operation will create 50 jobs by Trust Tairawhiti. and pave the way for $15 million of The Far East mill was closed down during capital investment over the next three the Covid-19 lockdown and bought back by years and a substantial investment in Prime SPV, a subsidiary of Trust Tairawhiti. systems and teams. The trust had previously paid $7.4 million Kiwi Lumber managing director for the Prime sawmill before selling in to Adam Gresham is confident the Far East Sawmills, with the trust retaining Matawhero mill can be highly successful. ownership of the 22-hectare site. “Kiwi Lumber wouldn’t take this site The Herald understands about 41 staff were on unless we were confident we could employed at the time Far East closed. make a go of it,” Mr Gresham said. Kiwi Lumber took over operations of the “Gisborne will be our fourth sawmill mill in May on a trial basis. site in the North Island. We are pleased with the results of the trial and excited about making our arrangements businesses over the past five years. permanent through a lease with Trust We welcome that experience and track Tairawhiti. “ record to our region.” Trust Tairawhiti chairman Dr Paul Mr Gresham described Kiwi Lumber Reynolds reinforced the significance of as a growing, progressive sawmilling growing wood processing to the region. company marketing radiata pine to the “The trust invested in local USA, Australia, Europe, Asia and New infrastructure to act as a catalyst for Zealand customers. growth in the wood processing sector. The group consists of sawmills in Tairawhiti currently processes 6 Masterton, Dannevirke and Putaruru percent of wood, compared to 39 percent — employing 275 staff — and now nationally. Gisborne. “Kiwi Lumber will not only employ About 50 people will be employed locals, they will also contribute to a at Kiwi Lumber Gisborne, increasing more diverse wood industry and a permanent employment in the region more resilient Tairawhiti economy,” Dr through the creation of a range of roles. Reynolds said. Mr Gresham said Kiwi Lumber Trust Tairawhiti commercial general was pleased to be creating jobs at a manager Richard Searle has worked time when the impact of Covid-19 was closely with Kiwi Lumber during initial contributing to job losses and a lot COLOURS FOR BELLA discussions and the trial period. of uncertainty in businesses and the Gisborne teenager Nina Buscke has never met Aucklander Bella Powell face-to-face “Kiwi Lumber are experienced workplace. but that has not stopped her from designing a colouring book and getting 1000 copies in running very successful timber “With customer contracts in place printed to raise money for life-saving drugs Bella needs to treat her cystic fibrosis. processing businesses, taking on for our Gisborne production, we hope Bella requires the drug Trikafta but it comes at the price of $100,000 every three troubled sites, turning them around and Kiwi Lumber will become a sought-after months and is not funded by New Zealand crown entity Pharmac. Nina saw Bella’s growing them as part of their group,” he employer in the region, attracting a story on TV and decided she wanted to help. She hopes to raise $18,000 from the sale said. high-quality workforce. of her colouring books titled Colours for Bella. STORY ON PAGE 2 They have demonstrated 70 percent Picture by Paul Rickard revenue growth in their sawmilling CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 GISBORNE RUATORIA WAIROA Local News ...... 1-5 Business ............11 Classifieds ... 18-19 The Guide ... 23-26 Births & Deaths ...4 Opinion ..............12 Television ...........27 Sport ............ 28-32 9 771170 043005 TOMORROW National .... 6-10, 20 World.......... 13-15 Racing .......... 21-22 Weather .............31 > 2 NEWS The Gisborne Herald • Thursday, August 27, 2020 Life-changing crash YOU may have seen Kahutia Foster and were always too broke to visit home bought a house and can’t wait for his Facing mortality on television in the Waka Kotahi in Tairawhiti. wedding. New Zealand Transport Agency But his mother made sure her children He wants to climb Mount Hikurangi Belt Up campaign and noticed knew where they were from. with his three children and this year he leads to journey the Ngati Porou tattoo across his On January 19, 2011, on Moorehouse intends to get his puhoro (tattoo on the puku. Sophie Rishworth caught Avenue in Christchurch, Kahutia got the thigh or arm) finished. up with Kahutia from his home in wake-up call he said he needed. Kahutia remembers the “beautiful Christchurch where he talked about It was a Friday, He finished work, moment” when he got to share his story of self-discovery how wearing a seatbelt saved his ate McDonald’s, had a nap, then went when he went back to his marae for the life and turned it around. to a mate’s house where there was a first time. BELT UP NZ: Kahutia Foster as he appears in the celebration and hangi taking place. “I was really embarrassed about my Belt Up Waka Kotahi NZTA campaign screening on AT first, Kahutia Foster was On his way back home, a moment of story . Mum taught us to be private. TV and online. He spent hours in make-up to recreate embarrassed by his story. distraction resulted in his car leaving the But I thought ‘I’ve got a set of keys here, the injuries he suffered nine years ago in a car He was a ratbag, the youngest of three road and hitting a tree. I’ve got to share’. accident. Wearing a seatbelt saved his life. kids, in trouble with the police, a teenage He remembers his arm being flung out “Yeah, you *** things up but with Picture supplied father, high school drop-out and once got the window and becoming trapped after internal reflection you can make a stabbed in the head. the car rolled and struck the tree. conscious decision to be the person you He’d lost friends to suicide and car The tree saved his arm from being torn want to be.” crashes, and then . “it was my turn”. off but his seatbelt undoubtedly saved A car crash that nearly killed him in his life, he said. ■ Kahutia and the nine others in the 2011 turned out to be a wake-up call, He remembers a couple of big guys Belt Up campaign also feature on the thanks to the combination of wearing a trying to lift the car off him. They couldn’t. beltedsurvivors.nz website seatbelt and a fortuitously-placed tree. Going in and out of consciousness, Since then, Kahutia has made himself Kahutia recalls the fire department using uncomfortable and vulnerable to share air bags to lift the car off his injured arm. his story. “I saw the mess on my arm and “Because no matter how many passed out.” people judge or criticise, there is always His first question when he came to someone else out there who recognises was “did I hurt anyone?”. my story as similar to theirs,” he said. No one else was injured but the “And hearing someone else’s story accident and aftermath shook his entire can help, inspire and offer hope.” family. Kahutia, a father of three, was chosen Kahutia had to take a year off to be one of 10 people to front the Belt work to heal and during that time the Up campaign for Waka Kotahi New Christchurch earthquake struck. Zealand Transport Agency. As a result of facing his own mortality, With Ngati Porou tattooed on his puku, he said he began to realise the warning he is unmistakable. signs he had ignored his whole life. The tattoo is testament to his By facing them, Kahutia said beautiful whakapapa. things began to happen. His maunga (mountain) is Hikurangi, He is now engaged to high school his awa (river) is Waiapu and his marae sweetheart Jasmine Briggs and they have is Karuwai. three children. His mum raised Kahutia and his “I stopped doing things that were siblings alone after his father died when holding me up,” he says. WHANAU: Kahutia Foster, fiancé he was only three years old. “I changed the script for my life and it Jasmine Briggs and their tamariki He had forgotten to sign life insurance helped with my physical, mental, spiritual Karino Hikurangi, 5, Mya, 14, and papers and the family did it tough, said and emotional health.” Kahutia Te Rangi, 17 on a recent Kahutia. Today, Kahutia works with troubled hike to Aoraki (Mt Cook) in the They were brought up in Christchurch youth, writes children’s books, has South Island. Picture supplied Teen’s plight inspires colouring book fundraiser FROM PAGE 1 fundraising effort after seeing Bella’s make more money.” connections through the page,” Amy said. by Andrew Ashton plight on the television news. The project has taken off, with books “Bella didn’t know we were doing this “Bella has cystic fibrosis and there’s posted to people as far away as the United and then she contacted me — and they WHEN a Gisborne teenager found out this drug that can help her, but it costs States, Australia and Asia this week.