Sjors Brouwer: budget advisor, kayaking guide and fearless do-it-yourselfer

August 20th, 2010
By David Armstrong

When Sjors and his wife Catherine decided to move to Motueka they reversed the usual local demographic trend. Instead of moving away from Mot to seek broader opportunities, they moved from busy European cities to a place where "anybody can do anything they choose".

Sjors (best pronounced like 'shorse') was born and lived his early life in Amersfoort, a pretty, old town in Holland about the size of Dunedin. Medieval with centuries-old canals, it was a stark contrast to the fresh air and spaces of Motueka, where he and Catherine settled nearly six years ago and are raising two children.

Sjors has worked in a many and varied paid and volunteer roles over his 41 years, but he says his current position as a budget advisor at the Family Service Centre is one he is settling into and wants to continue for many years to come.

After a pretty average childhood and schooling, he first discovered he had a knack for organising activities and getting things done when, with the help of his final schoolyear friends, he put together an interschool competition involving a range of sports, quizzes, musical events, chess and other competitive activities.

"That gave me confidence and started shaping my life," he says. "My school was an academic factory, and then suddenly I stepped out of that by organising something different."

At university he studied civil engineering (stuff to do with water), business management and developing countries. This took him overseas, once to Kenya for three months and three times to work at American summer camps - twice as a sailing instructor for better off kids and the third time as a carer/counsellor for youngsters with special needs. And there, aged 26, he met Catherine who was from England.

By this stage Sjors was already showing his affinity for trying new challenges and moving about. "Holidays don't work for me. It has to be a working holiday. It can't be just doing nothing," he says. "Holland is a very Calvanistic country, with a culture combining a bit of guilt and pressure to work. You must do 'useful stuff'."

Back in Holland, unemployment was rife so for about 18 months he did small temporary jobs like driving trucks and other agency work. Finally he got a job recruiting and training counsellors for US summer camps, on commission for three years. "I liked the adventure of it, doing something different, stepping away from what you know."

He then moved to England to join Catherine, and much of his work for a while was in volunteer-type jobs such as computer parts recycling and repair, computer tuition in adult education (like SeniorNet here), and some youth work. It was here that he picked up some computer expertise.

"There were no big decisions in those days," he says breezily. "Just like for the American summer camp jobs, as soon as I start enquiring about something, it just happens. And while it's happening, I'm feeling, 'Yes, this is feeling all right'. You just do it." No big scary decisions; just do it and see where it takes you.

This was his attitude when he and Catherine decided to emmigrate to New Zealand six years ago. As a lighter aside, he chose here because he'd never had a birthday in summer. But there was much more to it than that. "With Catherine working as a nurse and me as a youth worker, there was no way we would be able to afford the sort of house we wanted to raise a family in - with space and a more natural lifestyle away from big cities - while we were in England or Holland."

Catherine's career as an intensive care nurse limited the number of places they could settle here, and finally Nelson won the day. Right job, right time. Currently, Catherine is now working as a practice nurse at Greenwood Health in Motueka.

"It seems natural now, things fell into place," Sjors says, repeating his philosophy which so clearly works for him. "If you open yourself up to things and do the right thing, good things happen."

For a while Sjors continued his work patterns - about 12 jobs in three years, including truck driving, computer recycling, social work, supply teaching and even babysitting. In Motueka he ran a computer course at the marae for a year, was a tutor at ATET, and has been a kayak guide for Wilsons Abel Tasman for three years - a job he still loves.

Three years ago, with one child already and another at least a twinkle in the eye, they built their current home close to the Motueka Quay, on a small plot back off the road where they are developing some "natural" practices using odds and ends. Currently the goat grazing the section is settling into its own house, which you can see in the photo above.

Another important comparison with Holland and England: there you tend to use specialists for all trades jobs, but here DIY is truly in our DNA. "In New Zealand, everybody can do everything. If you tell yourself that you can do it, you can do it." He points to items around his living area - the hand-made dining table from leftover wood, the bookshelves - and outside, the garden fencing and fittings.

Last year he began work at the Motueka Family Service Centre as budget advice coordinator. He also conducts cooking courses at the Centre for those wanting to do basic cooking for themselves on limited resources.

"It's in my nature to want to teach. It started out when I was a sailing and kayaking instructor. I'm not particularly sporty, it's the instructing part that I'm most into, most passionate about."

He does have an affinity though for budget advice and money management, and he wants to continue that involvement "well into the future". That will mean a record for Sjors - staying in one job for more than his current top of three years.

There are other things he'd love to do, but family responsibilities and the enjoyment of developing the garden mean they can wait. Family, house, budget advice and kayaking - that should do for a while.

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