Photography: Emily Chalk.
Dame Valerie Adams moves effortlessly between worlds. One day, she’s walking the red carpet in a striking Tongan dress at the Halberg Awards in Auckland, on her way to being inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.
The next, she’s presenting medals to some of the world’s fastest and strongest people as the ambassador for the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Poland. Yet the shot-put legend is also just as at comfortable in her gumboots and earmuffs, mowing lawns and trimming hedges in her new gardening business – a job she says she absolutely loves – as well as visiting homes in South Auckland to deliver pyjamas to kids in need, a mission close to her heart thanks to her own childhood, which was shaped by hardship.
This year marks 25 years of Kidz First Hospital and Jammies for June, the annual Middlemore Foundation fundraiser that has become an integral part of Valerie’s life.
“It’s a huge milestone for everybody who’s been involved,” she tells Woman’s Day.
“It’s such a celebration, but at the same time, we can’t forget the sobering reason we’re doing this. Reaching new numbers of kids who want to keep warm is something we strive for – we want to donate 25,000 pairs of PJs to 25,000 kids this year. Let’s just go big or go home!”
A cause close to home
It’s a charity that means a lot to Valerie, 41, who grew up in mould-ridden, cold and damp houses.
“It impacts my community and the kids in my community,” she explains.
“Every year it comes around, I’m like, ‘What’s next? What more can we do?’”
As Valerie helps her own kids, Kimoana, eight, and Tava, seven, change into new winter pyjamas for our photoshoot, she laughs about her daughter hanging on to the Barbie jammies she wore when she was younger, despite the fact they’re far too small for her now.
“She also held on to a dressing gown she got when she was a baby for years. It was literally in shreds when she had to give it up! Now she has a big pink mink blanket she drags around.”
The rising cost of living
It’s adorable, but also a reminder of the burden other parents face just to afford new clothes and stay warm.
“The reality is more families are struggling – it’s horrendous,” says Valerie.
“Families who were doing it tough before are finding it even harder now with the crises the country is facing.”
The double Olympic gold medallist takes her role in supporting her community very seriously and has made it her goal to shine a light on their reality.
“How do we get more people to understand what living on Struggle Street is really like and get them involved in helping these families?” Valerie asks.
“Some comments made by our leaders have hit my core. When they speak about cleaners in South Auckland, they’re speaking about my family members. It’s easy to stand at the pulpit and preach, but they don’t truly know what it’s like for these families. “If they came here to have talanoa – those open conversations – and hear the storytelling, they’d know not everyone is doing the system wrong. People are stretched and working long hours. They’re trying their best to make ends meet for their kids.”
A visit she’ll never forget
Valerie recalls a recent “triggering” visit to a Fijian-Indian family living in a converted garage, doing all they could to make life better for their young children.
“Their seven-year-old son has a complex health situation,” she shares.
“He’s nonverbal, but he makes a lot of beautiful noises and brings light into their home. I arrived and went to knock on the window, but they had the same thin glass we had growing up in a state house. That was triggering. “I knew if I knocked any harder, the window would smash. I could just imagine the cold draft coming straight through the windows – like it did in our house in winter. I hated winter and being cold. Condensation would run down the walls, and everything was so mouldy and gross. It’s hard to believe people still have to live like this.”
Valerie helped to arrange respite care for the mother, who looks after her two boys 24/7.
The former athlete explains, “There’s no hoist to lift the boy up – Mum’s the lifter, the carer and everything else, and she needs a break. They have the bare minimum to survive, but let me tell you, there’s so much happiness, laughter and love in that home.”
Winter pressure on hospitals
Over winter, the emergency department at the Kidz First Children’s Hospital in South Auckland sees up to 120 kids a day and frequently admits up to 1000 children a month – many with entirely preventable conditions.
“The ED at Kidz First is often at capacity before winter even starts. The scary part is thinking about how we help a system that is so under-resourced, not only in our community but throughout our country. It’s such a big deal to keep our kids healthy.”
Through last year’s record-smashing Jammies for June campaign, 28,770 tamariki in South Auckland felt the warmth. And this year, for the first time, the “Jammie Army” is expanding, so kids in Wellington hospitals will also receive donated pyjamas. Valerie hopes it will grow into an all-Aotearoa movement.
“It’s a nationwide problem, so we need more allies behind it,” she says.
“We need empathetic people who are willing to look beyond their oat-milk lattes and donate a pair of kids’ pyjamas. It’s not rocket science.”
Life at home for the family
Valerie’s youngsters are thriving and really happy at school. Kimoana, who has autism spectrum disorder, loves drawing and ballet classes, while Tava, who lives with type 1 diabetes, is pouring his energy into skateboarding and football.
In the last school holidays, Valerie took them to their homeland of Tonga to watch the 99th Tonga Annual Inter-Collegiate Athletics Sports Competition.
“It’s the most amazing spectacle,” says Valerie, who was there in her role as head of the Oceania Athletes’ Commission.
“It’s like the Olympics but on a smaller scale. There are people everywhere, in bright colours, singing.”
Life on the world stage
The visit came hot on the heels of a visit to Torun, Poland, a country she loves and where she won her fourth world indoor shot- put title in 2014. This time, Valerie was working as an ambassador to the World Athletics Indoor Championships – which saw her present a gold medal to her fellow Kiwi shot-put legend Tom Walsh – and chairing the Athletes’ Commission at the World Athletics Council Meeting.
While the trip wasn’t without its hurdles, with flights diverted to avoid the conflict in Iran and her luggage mislaid along the way, the chaos is something a worldly Valerie now takes in her stride. But as much as she enjoys travelling, Valerie is happiest at home – especially behind a lawnmower. She started her small family business last year, mowing, weeding and trimming hedges, mostly through word of mouth, in East and South Auckland.
“I honestly get such a kick out of it,” she grins.
“If I have a spare day, I’ll go out and cut other people’s lawns! The other day, I was pruning hedges at a funeral home. I just love the look of freshly cut lawns.”
A hall of fame moment
While some clients are surprised to find an Olympic legend tidying their backyard, Valerie feels most comfortable out of the limelight – although she decided to embrace the glamour when she was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame at the annual Halberg Awards earlier this year.
“It was beautiful – the icing on the cake of my career,” smiles Valerie, who addressed the audience in the Tongan language and wore a traditional puletaha outfit sewn by her Aunty Palu in her Mt Wellington garage.
“It’s awesome to still be part of sport, which has played such a big role in my life, and to stay involved in Tonga and the Pacific, where my roots are from, is really important to me. I’m always looking at ways to give back.”
To make a donation to the Middlemore Foundation’s Jammies for June campaign, visit jammiesforjune.org.nz.
