Rae Dozell: Experienced administrator and camp mum for Whenua Iti students

February 7th, 2011
By David Armstrong

Rae Dozell beside the back yard hut she and her husband built using Motueka River stones.

Rae Dozell's 35 years experience as an administrator in a wide range of jobs is being put to good use at Whenua Iti Outdoors, where she is affectionately known as "camp mother" - ready to hand out plasters and hugs to the students there as they face up to new challenges in life.

Now 51 years old, she wants to continue to work with people, offering a helping hand wherever she can. She is in fact following a firm belief in karma - that what you give comes back. She is guided by her love of people and the stimulation that they provide for her own growth.

Rae was born and raised in Rotorua as part of a family of seven children, which taught her not only "patience and understanding", but also that "the person who yelled the loudest got heard first, so we were - and still are - a very vocal family".

Her father was a great conservationist who was recognised with a Queen's Service Medal (QSM) for his work in the environment. "He raised us to take a great interest in the environment and its protection," Rae says, "which is how I got involved in environmental education at the Rotorua District Council."

She worked there for 10 years, much of it in Parks and Reserves and the Engineering Department where part of her worked involved raising awareness of environmental impacts of projects, including pollution control.

"In Rotorua there were lots of trout-spawning streams and tourism, so Council gave priority to protecting those waterways," she says. "I worked with industries and groups, education work which I thoroughly enjoyed. When you work for a Council and you're coming in with bad news that's going to cost lots of money, you're seen as the baddie.

"But we worked out ways of getting groups of people together - the regulatory authorities and the people affected - so everybody was able to explain what was required and were all working together to get a best solution. It was quite a new thing at the time, and I think it worked really well."

She finds that the same approach works well at the Motueka Community Whanau meetings, which she coordinates. "You get a group of people together and they have a lot more power as an organisation and a lot more communication going. You get people onside."

Rae started her schooling in a Catholic school but part-way through changed to a state high school - mainly for convenience but also "I was probably a little questioning for the nuns. I've always been someone who questions things, and my questions about the Catholic religion and particularly my feminist bent were probably not appreciated."

She has a great love of reading so subjects like English came easy to her, but she was not an academic type. However she has done several polytech courses over her adult years and is still doing papers through the Open Polytechnic. She enjoys reading in depth about aspects of New Zealand history.

Rae left school with UE and after phoning around (starting at 'A' in the phone book) got a job as a secretary/receptionist. She married at 18 and had two children, then another child when she married her current husband Adam 22 years ago. They have two grandchildren.

She's worked in shops, in an accountant's office, and community groups including the Motueka Neighbourhood Centre, 60s Plus. "I love people and helping people, and that sort of administrative and reception role best suits my abilities. I believe everybody deserves a little time spent on them and not being rushed, and that's why I particularly enjoy my job at Whenua Iti with the student contact role."

Finally sick of the amount of crime in Rotorua, Rae and Adam moved to Motueka nine years ago. Adam found a job immediately while Rae began doing several part-time jobs, including gardening (she put an ad in the paper offering her labour), as a way of getting to know the people in her new community and opening up new networks and job opportunities.

The post at Whenua Iti opened up four years ago. It began as full-time but funding cuts by the National Government meant this has changed to 3-4 days a week. She does all the general administrative work and enrolments, including the required reporting to the Tertiary Education Commission, but also fills the role of Student Support.

"Basically I'm known as Camp Mother, and make it known at the start of each course that I'm available for sticking plasters and hugs at any time. I also work with students on CV development, which is part of their course to get them onto further training or employment."

The main goal of Whenua Iti courses is to get students out of their comfort zone, she says, to challenge and stretch themselves to do things they can do but think they can't. Rae herself has been similarly challenged by students, for example to do the abseil tower and tackle her terror of heights.

Rae for the past 18 months has also been a volunteer facilitator for the excellent Strengthening Families service, run by Presbyterian Support, which brings groups of agencies together to help families needing special support. She finds the role is well suited to her interest in talking with people and families. Usually it involves about two to three meetings per family, every few months.

Her other community involvement is with the Community Whanau group, a monthly networking meeting of community agency and group leaders. Rae has attended the meetings for the past six years and for the past year has been the coordinator. Paid for four hours a month, she takes and writes up the minutes and arranges for guest presentations.

"The meetings are going really well now. At times we've had as few as 3 or 4 people a meeting, but over the past year it's grown to be attended usually by at least 15 people." One reason may well be the work that Rae puts in.

Rae will not get into professional counselling work - "I enjoy my home and family life too much" - but her administrative work is driven by her love of people. "I've never been someone who could be isolated. I need the stimulation of other people. I feel I'm constantly learning. And what you give you get back ten-fold. If you do good, good will come around."

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