Friendship forged in quake connects Kiwi, T.O. families
Canadian couple given refuge in February 2011 when Christchurch, New Zealand, was devastated
A Toronto couple who found refuge from a devastating earthquake in the home of perfect strangers on the other side of the world is playing host to their benefactors and relishing the chance to keep building a firm foundation for a friendship begun on shaky ground.
Hershi Kirshenbaum and Martin Fallick found themselves caught in the chaos and tragedy of the deadly earthquake that ravaged Christchurch, New Zealand in February 2011. The couple found safety in the home of the Wikaira family, who said they felt called upon to shelter the stranded tourists due in part to the tenets of their Maori heritage.
Six years after they opened their home, the Canadians returned the favour when Maia Wikaira and her parents, Martin and Rachel, came to North America.
The reciprocal visits and blossoming friendship, both families said, have helped reframe a natural disaster in a much more positive light.
“Sometimes, when some things come out of perceived disasters, you make the best of them,” Martin Wikaira said in a telephone interview.
“I think that the relationship that we have formed not only with Canada but with in particular this family, that’s going to be the legacy, ” Wikaira added.
Members of both families were just visitors in Christchurch when disaster struck on Feb. 22, 2011.
The Canadian couple were hunting for a local map when the quake struck, ultimately killing 185 people and causing widespread damage throughout the city.
“Kirshenbaum and Fallick, trying to managed to make their way on to a military transport plane leaving the city. Maia Wikaira was also on that flight.
Wikaira was by now in communication with her frantic father, who was watching events in Christchurch unfold from the family home in the capital city of Wellington.
Telling him of the Canadian couple she had recently met, she explained to him that they planned to try and find a hotel.
But Martin Wikaira said the idea flew in the face of a Maori tradition known as “manaaki ki te tangata,” which means to look after your own people.
When Fallick borrowed Maia Wikaira’s phone to try and make accommodation arrangements in Wellington, she acted on the family tradition.
“I said to Maia, ‘I’m sorry, but there’s just no rooms, here’s your phone, thank you for lending it to me,’” Fallick said. “She said, ‘That’s OK, you’re coming home with us tonight.’”
After returning to Toronto, the retired couple kept in touch with the Wikairas.
When they learned that Martin and Rachel were planning a visit to North America to watch Maia graduate from Stanford with a master’s degree, they decided it was time to return the favour.
The two families spent the last week in June together, this time at the Canadians’ home.
Those meetings, she said, have set the stage for the friendship between the two families to extend to future generations.