One Timebank Request, Years of Connections

7 days ago

2 min read

How a simple request helped weave a community together.

Recently, I was at a gathering of friends to catch up with Pauline, who was visiting her daughter after moving down to Christchurch a few years ago. As I looked around the group, I found myself thinking about the connections between us and how Timebank had played such a huge part in bringing us together.

Where It All Began

Pauline and I first met through Timebank. There she was, mucking in with the weeding at a working bee, despite being over 80! It turned out that I lived just around the corner from her, and our paths often crossed.

Some time later, I went to a festival at Butler Point, thanks to a lift from another Timebanker, and tried some slow, gentle yoga. I decided this was much more within my capabilities than any other type of yoga I'd tried, so I posted a Timebank request asking if anyone would be willing to buddy up with me to practise.

Almost straight away, Pauline got in touch. She told me that a small group of friends met at her place on Wednesday mornings for a Tai Chi/Qi Gong-inspired session. Would I like to join them?

From Exercise Buddies to a New Home

It turned out that the person leading the sessions was Jatinder, whom I'd also previously met through Timebank.

After one of our sessions, over the usual cuppa and nibbles, Jatinder mentioned that he was planning to convert his extension into a self-contained flat. Having experienced the lockdowns we'd just been through, he'd realised that having someone else around, but not underfoot, was a good idea.

I'd recently become aware that I'd need to move on from where I was living before long, so I said I'd be interested in moving in if he went ahead with it!

Over the next couple of years, several people helped with the construction of my new flat, earning Time Credits as they rammed a light-earth mix into the walls.

Meanwhile, a few of us from Timebank were helping Pauline sort through her belongings as she prepared to downsize dramatically and move to Christchurch. Several garage sales later, also greatly assisted by Timebank, Pauline headed off with Tahi and Rua, her two small dogs.

Connections Keep Growing

For a long time, I was the only person in our Wednesday morning group who wasn't part of the Kaitāia Easy Walkers. I heard about many of their exploits and was occasionally invited along to social events that included some of them.

So, when I finally started joining the walking group, I discovered that I already knew quite a few people, including through other Timebank connections.

The walking group turned out to be the main link between everyone at that gathering with Pauline. About half of us there had either been or were still Timebank members.

But for me, all those connections stemmed from Timebank — and from posting a request for an easy yoga buddy over six years ago!