Lockdown delivers friendship
Age is no barrier for a pair of women who have become firm friends since their paths crossed during the pandemic, writes Siobhan Downes.
When Sharon Olsen turned 80 in April, there wasn’t much to celebrate. New Zealand was in the middle of the level 4 lockdown, leaving Olsen, who lives alone in Dunedin, confined to her home.
She had signed up to have her groceries dropped off at her door every week, after New World teamed up with the Student Volunteer Army to offer home delivery to elderly and vulnerable customers.
But what started as a practical service turned into something much more precious, after Olsen struck up a friendship with her volunteer, 23-year-old Maddi Mitchell.
‘‘She’s been a big part of this little journey,’’ Olsen said.
‘‘It’s just one of those things. You can’t force people to do things or interact, but we just seemed to click.’’
From the very first delivery they hit it off, having a wee chat from a safe distance – Olsen peeping through her sliding door, and Mitchell standing a couple of metres away in her garden, wearing a mask.
‘‘We talked about various things,’’ said Olsen, who worked as a nurse.
‘‘I asked her questions about herself. She asked me questions about myself, and what I’d done. We built up quietly from there.’’
Mitchell, who graduated from the University of Otago in December with a degree in public health and now works at the university, said that after their first meeting she asked the
organiser of the volunteer programme if she could keep delivering to Olsen throughout lockdown.
It turned out Olsen had phoned up to specifically request Mitchell, too. With every visit, they kept finding more things to talk about. ‘‘I’d stick around outside her door for half an hour,’’ Mitchell said. ‘‘We have a similar world view, so we’d talk about politics and mental health and things like that.’’
Under alert level 2, it was safe enough for Mitchell to ‘‘hang out’’ with Olsen inside her house. Even after she stopped having to deliver Olsen’s groceries, they continued their weekly catch-ups.
‘‘I had other supermarket runs where they’d just give me a thumbs-up through the window,’’ Mitchell said. ‘‘It was nice she still welcomed me into her home even after the grocery delivering finished.
‘‘It seemed a lot more genuine because there was no reason we had to be in each other’s company, apart from the fact we just really enjoyed it.’’
During one visit, Mitchell expressed an interest in learning how to knit. ‘‘She gave me all her patterns and the needles and wool and everything, and showed me what to do. We were aiming for mittens but I’m still pretty amateur at it.’’
In exchange, Mitchell offered to help teach Olsen some new skills on her computer, such as using Facebook to message family and make video calls.
‘‘Well, she tried to teach me – I can only play games on it,’’ Olsen admitted. ‘‘I like solitaire . . . it fills in time for me.’’
The pair haven’t been able to see each other in person for a while, as Olsen has been in and out of hospital and Mitchell had been in Auckland with family.
But they’ve stayed in touch over the phone, and plan to reconnect now Mitchell is back in Dunedin.
‘‘She can go away and do her thing, and then let me know when she comes back. That’s good friendship to me,’’ said Olsen.
Mitchell said their unique arrangement had been beneficial to her as well. ‘‘The whole situation with Covid was pretty bleak, so it gave me a really nice reason to get out of the house. It’s helped me just as much as it’s helped her, I think.’’