Transcript
Doug Taylor:
G'day. Today, I'm having a chat with Qim and Phoenix who live in Ipswich and whose house was badly affected in the recent flood, such that a significant amount of it is uninhabitable. And often in these disaster events, we rightly focus on the impacts on bricks and mortars and the kind of immediate response. And in this conversation, we really wanted to bring to your attention the fact that there are these other impacts like the children and the family and their education being significantly impacted.
Doug Taylor:
So Qim and Phoenix are a family that we proudly have supported for a number of years and provided extra supports in response to the floods. We may be starting with you, Qim, about how you've fared through COVID, particularly with the challenges of homeschooling.
Qim:
That was actually quite hard, because I work in an essential line of work, what we do here. So I'm at the Ipswich Foodbarn and we cater to thousands of families in Ipswich and the surrounding area. So it was a necessity that I go to work and help the community, and also try and attempt to homeschool while the COVID was at its peak in, with the kids being at home. I have two of my own and I have one of my sister's children that I take care of as well. So that was hard to juggle the community that we assisted and the kids at the same time. So it was really hard while they kept them out of school.
Doug Taylor:
I can well imagine trying to work and homeschool at the same time. That's a great challenge and enormously difficult. And technology access is really important, isn't it, with homeschool, and we know that for a lot of the families that we support, not having technology makes it really, really difficult.
Doug Taylor:
Now on top of all this, COVID, homeschooling, then we had the floods, and you being in Ipswich, were really impacted by the flood. So Qim, tell us, how did those floods impact you and your family?
Qim:
The floods inundated... We live in a Queenslander and it inundated the downstairs living area of the Queenslander. So we were out of our house for 13 days because that's how long we were without power. They shut it down two days before the house went under because of the street surrounding us went under before us. So our power got cut off two days before the flood hit the house and we just didn't get out in time.
Qim:
I still had to open the center, open work to make sure that all the families that have been displaced were able to eat at least. So I still had to come to work and make sure that the community was being serviced with their hampers, while knowing that my house was about to go under and not really being able to do much about that. It was a choice between the house or the work. And unfortunately we opted to go with the work because there was a lot more people that were affected worse than we were, and they needed to eat and they needed all the donations that were flowing in to help them out.
Doug Taylor:
And tell me, I know that you've had support and you're supporting a lot of people through all this yourselves, but you've also had some support as well. The Smith Family's had a relationship with you, Qim, and the girls for a number of years. But tell us a bit about what we've been able to do, work alongside with you and providing support in response to the floods.
Qim:
I'm a New Zealander, so I don't qualify for any sort of payments. I mentioned that to Smith Family when they reached out and asked if we were affected by the floods, and I had spoken to them and said that we were. Kids have lost their tablets and their stuff that we had purchased for them for when COVID hit the first time, to allow them to be able to be homeschooled. And they'd lost that in the floods and Smith Family helped out with financial support to be able to at least replace some uniforms and be able to get some electronics back so they can continue to work. And because Phoenix is Year Nine, and she requires to have a tablet or a laptop that she can work with. So at least she's been able to get another laptop that she can work with at school, and more uniforms.
Doug Taylor:
That's great. I'm glad that that support's been useful, because those things are just fundamental, aren't they, to getting back on with your education. So it's great that's been useful.
Doug Taylor:
But look, thank you. Really appreciate you taking the time to share with us those insights. We think it's important. Often we focus on the immediate impact of natural disasters and floods and we focus on bricks and mortars. They're really important, but it's these other things, books, uniforms, technology that we often don't think about. But as Qim and Phoenix, you both said, they really do make a difference. So thanks for sharing those insights with us today. We really appreciate that. And thanks, Qim, for your support for your community in Ipswich as well.
