Esther Bramwell lives in a tiny home with her parents and two younger sisters.

As she is getting older and has auditory processing needs, Esther has been asking for her own space and claims she is old enough and clever enough to build it herself!

Although Esther struggles with learning, she is strong and has an innate understanding of what is required when she has helped her family with building projects. Esther is happy and mentally stimulated when she works on a physical and practical project. It switches on her brain and enables her to function at her best.

Esther regularly talks about how she would love to be a builder when she is older. Although it may not be possible for Esther to work on a standard building site, Esther’s parents have suggested working on projects such as tiny homes, ‘she sheds’, cabins and mini caravans to fulfill her dreams of building. In particular, Esther has dreams of building healthy, non-toxic spaces for people who are vulnerable to toxic overload (often affecting those with Autistic Spectrum Disorder and Global Development Delay).

Esther has been creating plans to make her very own healthy, non-toxic space with the help of her father who is a qualified carpenter and joiner. This would give her a space she could escape to, and where she could sing and dance to her heart's content!

Esther has successfully applied to Fund for Good to embark on her very own tiny space project. This will help Esther to gain a sense of autonomy, confidence, achievement, vision and hope as she goes from concept to completion. She has already made a start - check out some awesome photos below.



 

So far Esther has:

Pulled together a proper plan with her sister in-law who is an architect

Has a trailer onsite that is being prepped for its new life

Timber has been sourced and delivered (some reclaimed from the original Littleton Harbour and some is pallet wood from Germany)

We think Esther is incredible! Taking on this project is paving the way for a future in building and highlighting to others in the community the value of recycling, respect for the environment and producing low-toxic living environments. It will also make people in the community more aware of young people like Esther and highlight how valuable and skillful they are, when they are in an environment that is appropriate for their needs.

A big congratulations to Esther, one of our successful Fund for Good recipients. Fund for Good is an innovation programme helping to fund special helping to fund special projects and dreams of Manawanui customers which can’t be funded elsewhere. We are so pleased to be able to Esther get started on this brilliant project and can’t wait to update you all with her progress!

Ka pai Esther