• New Year Honours: Napier woman rises above tragedy to dedicate life to helping others

New Year Honours: Napier woman rises above tragedy to dedicate life to helping others

Rising above a lifetime of tragedy, and tirelessly putting others above herself has seen a Napier woman awarded a Queen’s Service Medal (QSM) for services to youth and people with intellectual disabilities.

The retired nuclear medicine technologist has been volunteering all her life but began assisting IHC (now IDEA Services), in the early 1980s. during which time she served as IHC Napier President (1991-93) and as a member of the national committee. 

But despite her years of sacrifice, Carol says she never expected, nor needed to receive any recognition. 

“I was absolutely blown away and quite humbled,” Charman said. “You do these things because you want to and because you want to make a better life for everyone else. You don’t ever expect to get any recognition.

“Anything that I’ve achieved, I’ve had support all along the way. It’s never just one person, there’s always lots of backup and support for everything that I’ve done.”

Charman’s path into IHC began when her two daughters; Theresa and Vivienne were born with intellectual disabilities.

Back in the 1970s, she says there was not the support available like there is today. Her daughters lived with her until they went to Levin's Kimberley Centre when they were six and four-years-old. 

She soon realised the controversial facility was "horrible" and spent many a day "crying" after visiting her daughters before IHC became operational and she moved them.

"They spent four years there and then I got rung up by IHC to see whether I would like them to be back in the community and I said that’s a silly question because I hated them down there." 

Charman, who was living in Palmerston North at the time, says the difference was night and day. “IHC was and still is individually based. The staffing and everything was designed around the individual, so whatever Theresa or Vivienne required to make their life better and as normal as possible was put in place,” she said.

She was on the committee in Palmerston North for a long time before moving to Napier in 1990. She also played an active role in policy and service development on the national committee, including assisting people leaving Kimberly Hospital after it was deinstitutionalised in 1986. The centre was officially closed in 2006. 

She was also a founding member of Parent to Parent New Zealand counselling and support service and volunteered at Awatapu special school.

But it was not until her second husband, a keen Rotarian, was killed that she became actively involved with Rotary Clubs. In 2004 she became the first woman President of Napier West Club.

From there, she went on to become the Assistant Governor for Napier from 2006 to 2009.

She organised the Rotary Youth Programme of Enrichment (RYPEN) for young people from her region from 1998 to 2011. She was involved with the Napier Rotary Pathways fundraising project, which raised $6 million towards the creation of new pedestrian and cycle pathways. She is currently co-Treasurer of Greenmeadows Club.

Charman says she is most proud of her work auditing organisations supplying services and homes for the intellectually disabled, and RYPEN - both of which arose from difficult circumstances. 

"I think both of those situations developed from a circumstance in my life that probably changed me. I mean I have no idea what I would be like, I don’t know what sort of person I would have been without those situations. I would have probably done volunteer work of some sort because I've always liked helping out but maybe it wouldn’t have been IHC," she said.

“I’ve had a very interesting life, a very challenging life at times, but you know that’s life isn’t it. Some people go through life with very little and others have their odd tragedy but it all makes us who we are”.

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