Kei Roto i te Miru: Inside the Bubble

When the prime minister appears on your TV flanked by two New Zealand flags you know things are getting serious, but how do you prepare for an invisible threat? In this episode whānau and health and airline workers talk about how they got ready.When the prime minister appears on your TV flanked by two New Zealand flags you know things are getting serious, but how do you prepare for an invisible threat? In this episode whānau and health and airline workers talk about how they got ready.In March 2020, the team of five million prepared for level four lockdown in Aotearoa New Zealand.There was not much time, and it all seemed to nurse Jacque like a "tsunami was about to hit, but no one knew when...and how it was going to be and what direction to run."Health care workers all over the country struggled as they and the Ministry of Health worked it all out - masks, no masks? Full PPE gear when seeing patients at low risk? What did the World Health Organisation say? What were other countries doing? Although it did settle into a strange new routine, for Jacque managing work and family life and keeping everyone safe, remained a challenge.Angelique Tuaputa, a library worker in Auckland, was not quite so ready as Jacque in the lead up to lockdown."I was away with the fairies," she laughed, 'But my sister was very focused."Angelique and her sister went on a panic shop for their household of three, remembering their Dad's message that the "welfare system" to look after yourself and others should apply - so there is not only enough for the household, but for those in need. Angelique remembered; "It was very full speed, it was a blur, but it was very exciting and strange at the same time to see how people could react to certain situations that were not normal to them."Albert Traill knew exactly what was happening as his shifts disappeared as an Air NZ flight attendant."The heaviness and the gravity of the situation... fully set in when we heard the words of the Prime Minister say we are going to lockdown the country," he said.But the difficulties he faced did not stop Albert having a good time and making the most of family being together in isolation. Between joking about putting out the blue tooth speaker in the backyard and cranking it up to play the dystopian horror film siren from The Purge at 11.59pm on Wednesday 25 March, to continuing to teach Fijian dance classes with his kids online, Albert enjoyed the opportunity to reconnect with family and the wider community.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

How do you lockdown if you do not have a home and how do health workers protect their families when they arrive home from the frontlines? In this episode we hear about housing the homeless and nursing under extraordinary circumstances.How do you lockdown if you do not have a home and how do health workers protect their families when they arrive home from the frontlines? In this episode we hear about housing, the homeless and nursing under extraordinary circumstances.Nurse Liz continued to work through lockdown and while caring for patients also needed to navigate her home life and caring for family. Liz's Dad is in a retirement village with his partner and he was "very mindful of not going out of their apartment," said Liz, "They were quite strict."To get around the separation Liz would give them a call while she was on her daily walk and they would come out to on to their balcony and wave while they had a chat with her on the phone.The challenge of physical distancing while maintaining social connection was overcome in Liz's case by technology and living close to family, but this didn't happen for everyone.Titihuia Keelan is a wife, Mum to five kids, and runs a busy beauty salon from home. During lockdown her bubble expanded to take in 8 kids from her wider whanau who needed support. Titihuia is Ngati Porou and grew up spending time with her Nan."We're used to the whole making big kai and everything," said Titihuia, "We were used to helping out the elders with their washing and everything, that's just a normal thing."But Titihuia's usual support network could not help her out during lockdown. She was alone with her bubble of 12 children.In Northland, community workers banded together to ensure the most vulnerable were cared for during lockdown.Elizabeth Cassidy-Nelson described requests for food parcels tripling, people losing 20 percent of their income, losing jobs, and struggling to survive. She dropped off a food parcel to a whānau with 22 living in a two bedroom house."I'm just really concerned for the conditions in which they're living, they have no other options," said Elizabeth, "But when I dropped this food parcel off, I saw these beautiful smiley little faces, looking out the window, excited about the food that was about to arrive."Elizabeth is Chief Executive of 155, a community organisation supporting homeless people with support services, free cooked meals, legal help and a food bank. During the lockdown, she was impressed by how people and social service agencies worked together and how technology made it much simpler…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

We Learned: From grappling with video calls to the highs and lows of homeschooling, parents, backpackers and a dance teacher reveal how they taught others and what they learned about themselves.We Learned: From grappling with video calls to the highs and lows of homeschooling, parents, backpackers and a dance teacher reveal how they taught others and what they learned about themselves.When you cannot interact with the world in the usual way, technology becomes a vital tool for communication. From the 1pm announcements by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield, to ensuring no one in your household was walking around behind you wearing something inappropriate during work Zoom meetings, technology was key. But it was a steep learning curve for everyone.Zemara Waru-Keelan, is a Ngati Porou Mum, student, musician and weaver living in the Waikato; technology helped her keep learning in many ways during lockdown."I am currently a PhD student, I just got accepted in the first week of lockdown. So in all the craziness that was some positive news," said Zemara, "My subject area is Māori women, healing through the arts."Zemara had been invited to speak at a musical theatre conference in Napier, and she had been carefully preparing a conference presentation, but lockdown coincided with the presentation date and everything was suddenly online. As well as presenting for the conference audience in their homes, Zemara was able to post her presentation to social media."Because if nobody saw it, it would have been a waste of time. So I shared it and I got a huge response," she said.Encouraged, Zemara has decided to turn the first presentation into the beginning of a series on "mental health, wellness and the arts as a tool for healing."As well as her studies, Zemara is raising her two children Kauri and Te Ataakura who are on the autism spectrum. So during lockdown she was teaching as well as learning."My son gets a support worker every day at school, so he has his own teacher. And my daughter, she goes to a special school once a week, and they have all the specialists there to help us with whatever we need, as well as a cute little library full of information," said Zemara.Although some of that contact continued online during lockdown, Zemara and her parents Jacqui and Hemi, also part of her bubble, found ways to keep the kids occupied and happy on their lifestyle block. They also had a niece staying with them who got to help build a new chicken pen along with making "marshmallow putty and painting, and we exploded volcanoes."…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

How did we keep moving when we had to stay put? Find out how those 'government-mandated walks' helped us stay sane and some health workers kept their spirits up with clinic waiting room dance-offs.We Moved: How did we keep moving when we had to stay put? Find out how those 'government-mandated walks' helped us stay sane and some health workers kept their spirits up with clinic waiting room dance-offs.Moving, and not moving, were themes of lockdown. None of us could go far, but some of us took the opportunity to exercise near home and even enjoyed modes of transport neglected for quite some time. As one of our community oral historians Caren Wilton noted on her walks around Carterton, "I see a lot of older people, people who look to be in their 70s and 80s, who I don't think you normally see out on bikes.""It's kind of maybe they had a bike sitting in the garage for the last year. They haven't been on for a while and now they're using them again," said Caren.Jacque, a nurse working through lockdown deliberately walked to and from work."Because I needed that time to sort of get it out of my head," said Jacque, "And when you first walked out of work, you were still in your head and going in one hundred different directions. But by the time you got home, you were a lot calmer.""That whole feeling and vibe you got on the street as you're walking home was healthy."An outdoor adventure park in Christchurch surveyed people on their favourite new ways to get active in lockdown and found cycling was the winner. Jacque enjoyed walking, but also saw that people were "bringing their old bikes out of the shed and fixing them up."A pleasure for many people that may have been under-reported was dancing like no one was watching. Podcast host Emma-Jean admitted to a fair bit of "dancing in the kitchen while cooking dinner, cranking up the music while my husband rolled his eyes."And Wellington Primary Care Practice Assistant Jack Hitchcox proudly danced at the clinic where he works."We've kind of developed a rule where we're not allowed to enter the practice until we've done a nice dance outside the practice door." he said, "It's just kind of a little thing to pick you up and make each other smile, you do a little dance at the door, you earn your entrance into the practice." Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

What effect did this enforced isolation have on how we connected with ourselves, our loved ones and our communities, and what lessons did we take with us when we left our bubbles?What effect did this enforced isolation have on how we connected with ourselves, our loved ones and our communities and what lessons did we take with us when we left our bubbles?Kei Roto i te Miru: Inside the Bubble was designed to encourage DIY connections during lockdown through oral histories using everyday technology. The aim was to ensure physical distancing didn't equate to emotional distancing, particularly for the more vulnerable among us.Meng Foon, Race Relations Commissioner described a situation for Chinese New Zealanders very different to the perception of the 'team of five million' where anxiety and "systemic type racism" meant he heard reports of some parents and schools saying: "Oh be careful with those Asians, you and your family are better staying home."Meng was determined to counter racism with positivity and clear information.Artist Aliyah Winter experienced some unexpected transphobia during her lockdown 'government mandated walks' in her quiet Island Bay suburb. She described some "weird experiences of harassment" as if people were expressing their "compressed emotions". Aliyah felt a tension between presenting herself for the world with a particular kind of a femininity "sort of like body armor going outside," she said, and wanting to relax and not worry about it like everyone else wearing their track pants and no make-up during lockdown.It wasn't all hard all the time though. Aliyah also felt that she had had a rest and a break."It's kind of been nice to have to opt out for a while, get back in touch with my body a little bit, because I haven't really had a regular routine of any physical exercise, so doing a lot of it ," said Aliyah.Zemara Waru-Keelan who we met in a previous episode describing learning and teaching during lockdown, pointed out that not everything was rosy, homeschooling was fraught at times.For her whanau in the Waikato it was also harvest time, which normally involves sharing food with the whanau, but in 2020 they just had to share the Matariki harvest of apples, melons and veggies within their bubble.Zemara's brother Leon is in the band Katchafire, and he and his wife Herani had a different kind of lockdown. They were in Hawai'i when the borders started to close and they rushed home to isolate before being reunited with their whanau…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details