Barefoot fundraiser steps up for families
Hope to provide sports shoes here and in Africa
Vini Williams’ mum tried hard to make sure all of her eight children had the opportunity to play the sports they loved. It wasn’t easy, he says. With a love of rugby, shoes were always an expensive requirement and sometimes Vini went without.
At times Vini received rugby shoes from others “who worked their butt off to get them for me”.
“My mum always did what she could to keep me in sports. Low income families can’t always give their kids those $100 pair of shoes — they want to, but they can’t pull that money out of nowhere.”
Vini wanted to help students from low income households. So with childhood friend Jack Keeys, both 26, they have created fundraiser Barefoot for a Future to raise money for sports and school shoes for students here and in Africa.
They’ve partnered with The Salvation Army New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa Territory to distribute funds.
“We are trying to ease that sort of strain families put on their sports — the classic Kiwi family will do everything they can to keep their kids in sports, so if you can ease that strain on low income families — why not?”
The pair — who were raised in Paeroa — will walk more than 100km in just five days, completing two of New Zealand’s Great Walks barefoot.
In April they’ll head to the South Island and do the Abel Tasman Coast Track which should take a few days, Vini says. Then they’ll go back up North and take on the Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk which will take two to three days.
Vini, now based in Hamilton, says he started training with 5-10 kilometre daily walks to toughen his feet up.
“My feet have seen better days, I’ve been getting some blisters. In the early stages you’re trying to get use to different surfaces so when I first started I had to rest for a few days afterwards, my feet were so sore.”
Jack, now based in Auckland, says he’s been running on gravel to toughen his feet up, ”which is working well — but leaves a few bruises and blood blisters along the way!”
The tracks are usually done in nine days (five days for Abel Tasman and four for Waikaremoana). “We’re going to do both in five days — including travel time and all in one go.”
Jack says the plan is to walk Abel Tasman track in two days and one night — about 14 hours — then 10 hours, and then fly and drive to Waikaremoana to complete across one afternoon, one full day and a morning (6 hours, 10 hours, 6 hours).
Jack has organised some successful charity fundraising challenges including the Gumboot Marathon, where he ran the full Auckland Marathon in a pair of red gumboots to raise money for Melanoma New Zealand and the Rural Support Trust. He raised more than $22,000.
Their Barefoot for a Future target is to raise $5000 but hope to raise closer to $15,000. “We’re hoping to empower children across Aotearoa and Africa with their new shoes — the impact of that is pretty priceless.”
"Low income families can’t always give their kids those $100 pair of shoes — they want to, but they can’t pull that money out of nowhere." Vini Williams
Two of Bay of Plenty’s most vocal voices for and against Ma¯ori wards in local government are set to come together in a charity event to debate the Treaty of Waitangi.
Iwi representative Buddy Mikaere and Western Bay councillor Margaret Murray-benge will headline the public debate on March 30.
The event has been organised by Greerton Lions as a way to generate discussion and raise money for the local community. Entry will be via gold coin.
Greerton Lions president Terry Molloy said the club traditionally did not get involved in politics.
“We as a club are agnostic on the issue. We don’t have a formal position on the Treaty or Ma¯ori at the governance table,” Molloy said. “We are holding the debate because it’s an important issue to resolve, generate discussion and to raise money for the community.”
Molloy said the club was expecting a “lively and entertaining debate”.
Mikaere said he was looking forward to it.
“I think it will have a lot of interest, especially with the by-election coming up for the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, the emphasis that has been put on Ma¯ori representation on council and the fact Margaret herself is a councillor. These are issues that deserve discussion and debate in a public forum.”
Murray-benge was part of a group of “concerned citizens” which rallied signatures for a now-defunct petition against Tauranga City Council’s August decision to establish a Ma¯ori ward.
She also organised a meeting in January featuring Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash, Hobson’s Pledge spokeswoman Casey Costello and former New Conservative member Elliot Ikilei who spoke about their views on Ma¯ori representation.
In response, Mikaere organised a group of people to attend and stand in opposition to the meeting, some with signs, some with their voices - resulting in heated exchanges between some.
The exchanges included boos from protesters, scoffs from the crowd and one person yelling there was “no equality in the confiscation of our land”.
Mikaere said he agreed to the upcoming debate to ensure there was a balance to what was presented.
He had no intention of the evening becoming a slagging match.
“I can be responsible for my own behaviour. If other members of the audience and the other side of the debate want to express themselves at the same time, it’s something beyond my control.
“If ever there was a time for rational discussion about Ma¯ori representation this is that time. Why I’m saying that is I believe there is a change in attitude coming in and you can see it in things like the Panepane Point debate and the handing back of that land.”
In October, Western Bay of Plenty District Council voted to return part of Matakana Island to local Ma¯ori after consulting with the community. The feedback gained 7121 submissions in support and 260 against.
Murray-benge, who voted in favour of the return, said she hoped to present her views on the Treaty, and reasons for them, fairly and without interference.
“Because I believe people just don’t understand what it all means, what is actually happening out there and what it means for democracy.
“Where has New Zealand come from?
Where is New Zealand going? What influence does the Treaty have on our Government?
“It’s going to be a real healthy debate to have. We need to have a fair, honest and open discussion, without people taking sides and insulting each other,” she said.
Murray-benge believed the debate would be “quite worthwhile” and she looked forward to shaking hands with Mikaere. “I hold a view, I’ve got to be able to say why I do.”
The debate will be held at Tauranga South Bowls Club on Tutchen St (accessed off 11th Ave) from 5.30pm.
Dinner for those who want it starts at 6pm for $27 per person. The debate begins at 7pm for a gold coin entry per person.
■ For more information visit the Greerton Lions Facebook page or contact member Eugene van der Merwe on 021 103 7784.
"They have also been unable to explain events which, in the absence of explanation, appear both remarkable and highly curious." Coroner Brigitte Windley
Murky accounts surrounding a mysterious scuba diving death have frustrated a coroner unable to determine a cause of death after conflicting accounts by four men on the dive boat.
After two police investigations and a three-stage coronial inquest, the family of Thai national Bua-ngoen “Goy” Thongsi, who died off the North Canterbury coast in February 2015, still have no idea how she died.
“Unfortunately, and sadly for Ms Thongsi, [. . .] I cannot be satisfied, even on the balance of probabilities standard that applies to my jurisdiction, that the sequence of events which led to Ms Thongsi’s death has been fully disclosed,” Coroner Brigitte Windley says in her 78-page findings into the death released yesterday.
The body of the 37-year-old crayfish scuba diver, who was possibly pregnant at the time, was recovered off Motunau Beach two days after she disappeared.
Coroner Windley ruled the accounts of her dive companions to be “insufficiently credible”.
The inquest’s key witnesses were four men on board the boat on February 8, 2015, whose identities can finally revealed today: boat owner and skipper David Avei, a married man who admitted having a relationship with Thongsi at the time of her death, along with Brent Chappell, Ina Tikeii and Wally Mohi.
“Despite rigorous exploration, the witness accounts of these men remain largely irreconcilable on key points, and individually and collectively fail to disclose a plausible and cogent explanation for either Ms Thongsi’s loss of buoyancy, or her death,” Coroner Windley concludes.
However, she found it was unlikely Thongsi, described as a keen but relatively novice scuba diver, died after a medical event, or from equipment failure or any natural event like a shark attack. Examinations found nothing wrong with her gear and she had nearly a full tank of oxygen.
In February 2019, after a third hearing, Coroner Windley asked police if they would undertake any further review or investigation into Thongsi’s death.
They reopened the case with oversight and review by senior detectives but concluded that no criminal charges were under consideration.
Police have always maintained that her diving inexperience was a contributor to her death.
But Coroner Windley did not find the police inquiries helped provide a sensible or credible explanation for the cause and circumstances of Thongsi’s death.
The inquest heard how Thongsi had dived into the water from a boat off the Motunau coast on the morning of February 8, 2015, after spending the night at Avei’s house.
She resurfaced after her spare regulator was leaking some air. Avei pushed the regulator a few times which appeared to fix it, the inquest had heard.
Another member of the dive party, Chappell helped Thongsi as the skipper Avei returned to the wheel of the boat.
But as Thongsi went back below the water’s surface, versions of events differ.
Avei thought she was breathing as she went back under and saw bubbles emerge. However, Chappell, who had been holding her hand, described her as showing no signs of life, looking through him, and sinking straight down.
Three inquest hearings were unable to establish who released air from Thongsi’s buoyancy compensator.
During the inquest Avei was questioned why just one “half-hearted search” was made after she disappeared below the water’s surface and why it took him nearly an hour before ringing 111.
“I was just hoping that she would come up,” Avei told the inquest, adding that after not being seen for four minutes, he didn’t think she would be alive.
The varying accounts were hard for Coroner Windley to reconcile — and led to her making scathing remarks in her findings — although she stressed there was no suggestion anything sinister happened. “They were largely poor witnesses who professed to be unable to recall, in a sensible and coherent fashion, an event which should have been highly memorable,” she said.
“They have also been unable to explain events which, in the absence of explanation, appear both remarkable and highly curious. Aside from their inability to explain how Ms Thongsi died, despite her very close physical proximity to them, they cannot satisfactorily explain the delay of more than an hour in seeking to summon assistance, or Mr Avei’s cursory rescue effort.”
She added that the group, and Avei in particular, showed an attitude to Thongsi’s death that “revealed none of the selflessness or urgency which I heard more typically accompanies a divingrelated death”.
Avei’s behaviour, including the quick abandonment of a rescue dive and an anxiety to depart the scene, all indicated a “disturbing level of indifference” to Thongsi and her fate, the coroner found.
It all led to Coroner Windley being unable to make a finding as to her exact cause of death. “Unfortunately, and sadly for Ms Thongsi, despite testing the evidence at length under oath over the course of three inquest hearings during 2018, and a thorough investigation being conducted by police, I cannot be satisfied, even on the balance of probabilities standard that applies to my jurisdiction, that the sequence of events which led to Ms Thongsi’s death has been fully disclosed,” Coroner Windley says.