‘Even in despair, there is hope’
ANALYSIS: Roy Rangihika has emerged from a decade of crushing debt, pursuit by debt collectors, alcoholism, mental illness and homelessness.
Today, he’s debt-free, is no longer sleeping in his car, and is approaching his first wedding anniversary.
As extreme money transformations go, there are few more extreme than Rangihika’s, and he says: ‘‘Even in despair, there is hope.’’
But the key to his transformation was putting aside his pride, and asking for help. ‘‘That’s the hardest thing to do,’’ he says.
‘‘Help is there, if you ask for it,’’ he says.
Rangihika’s life went from good to awful following a severe back injury around 2005 that ended his time as a fisherman on deep-water ships, which he loved.
‘‘It was the comradeship on the boat. Everybody knows everybody. You’re pretty much family,’’ he says.
‘From being active, and working, to doing nothing was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,’’ he says. ‘‘I went into a rather depressive state.’’
He was in Blenheim at the time, but his relationship didn’t survive the strain, and after the break-up, he ended up homeless.
‘‘I became a chronic alcoholic. I started drinking instead of paying bills,’’ he says.
Under constant strain, his mental health worsened, and he spent time being treated in hospitals in Christchurch and Hamilton. He lost so much after the back injury, he says.
‘‘I had a house and everything. I lost all that.’’
He remains unwell to this day, suffering from chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, which is a neurological disorder leaving him with progressive weakness and reduced sensation in his arms and legs.
He is on assisted-living payments, but he’s also living a life again.
He married in May, is living in a house again, and is playing the bass and leading worship groups at the Ashburton Baptist Church.
It was at that church in 2018 that a chance conversation put him in contact with Christians Against Poverty, which helps people of any faith, or no faith at all, to get out of debt, and establish stable money lives.
The idea is that lets people give their children better lives, and for the religious, gives them the headspace to re-establish their connection with their God.
‘‘I had a lot of debt collectors chasing me,’’ he says.
The loan companies he was in debt to were merciless, he says.
He did not have the skills or income to help himself, and he is dyslexic, which was one more barrier.
‘‘I tried alone for so long,’’ he says.
Some of the debts were to loan companies. He knows he owed a five-figure sum, but is not sure how much it was when he started with CAP.
CAP’s Nicola Dodd consolidated Rangihika’s debts into a single loan, getting his creditors off his back, worked out a repayment budget with him, and took an amount from his income each week to slowly pay off his debts.
He had hope back again, and for the first time in years, spent more on food each week than alcohol.
He started looking after himself better, began to look less
‘‘rugged’’, and that resulted in people starting to talk to him, making him feel less isolated.
It was hard sticking to a budget, but CAP supported him, and he kept reminding himself how much better life would be when his debts were gone.
‘‘CAP was so brilliant in what they have done,’’ he says.
‘‘It took me just over two and a half years to become debt free,’’ he says.
‘‘It’s like a load taken off your shoulders being debt-free.’’
He’s far happier now, and he is convinced being debt-free makes it easier to maintain good mental health.
It was after his debts were gone that he and Nicki got together. He has a selfie of himself from his time sleeping in his car, which he shows people he is telling about CAP to help get his message across.
But he keeps the photo for a second reason.
‘‘It’s a reminder of where I have been, and where I am today, and to be thankful for it,’’ he says.
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