Kindness of reader means safety at last for Liep

Ignored by Housing New Zealand for three years, a severely autistic boy’s family has finally moved into a state house where his safety – and their sanity – is secure.

Six-year-old Liep Pal is clinically hyperactive and can’t talk. He lacks a sense of danger and was prone to flinging himself from the balcony of the second-storey apartment his family lived in for 12 years.

HNZ admitted it failed to follow up with the Pals, despite letters from the youngster’s doctors detailing the likelihood he would seriously injure himself in the apartment.

The letters also emphasised the psychological strain on his mum, as his full-time carer.

HNZ took action after the Sunday Star-Times made Liep’s story public in April.

And last month, Liep and his family moved into their new home in the east Auckland suburb of Meadowbank.

Liep’s parents are refugees from war-ravaged South Sudan and he has three siblings.

Gatluak, Liep’s father, works for a refugee resettlement organisation.

His mother Lilian was tearful when she spoke of her family’s move to Meadowbank: ’’

‘‘I’m crying, but so happy.’’

Their new house is on a peaceful cul de sac with tui in the trees. It is a stark contrast to the rubbish strewn complex ridden with noisy parties and fights they lived in before. There is a fenced yard, and Liep has his own bedroom.

‘‘Liep has never had space before,’’ said Lilian. ‘‘We watch him run around, laughing. That is something new.’’

They also have a trampoline, delivered courtesy of a Star-Times reader, last week.

Lilian said she dreamed of sitting on her new deck with a coffee, watching her son bounce within the zipped up mesh walls.

‘‘My time is still full with Liep, but living here is clearing my mind,’’ she said. ‘‘He’s finally safe.’’

When Auckland mum Sarah Page read about Liep she had an ‘‘Oh my gosh, that’s us’’ moment.

Her young son Max is also autistic, and a trampoline had been a revelation for her family.

‘‘These children need to bounce, they need that energy outlet, and their behaviour changes.’’

She began fundraising for a trampoline for the Pals, then Hamilton-based trampoline company JumpFlex stepped in and offered her one of its tramps for free.

Liep’s parents used the $1300 These children need to bounce, they need that energy outlet, and their behaviour changes. Page raised to buy Liep a sturdy bed—his jumping had broken flimsier models—and an iPad, and they opened a savings account in his name.

‘‘We could have spent it on bills, but we wanted something tangible that will help us always remember people’s kindness,’’ Gatluak said.

He was also grateful to the media—not an easy lesson, he said, having come from a country where speaking out against the government was perilous.

‘‘This is something we have come to love about New Zealand,’’ he said.

‘‘The truth can be told, the public can judge ‘is that normal?’, and the Government can listen.’’