In Ōtautahi, Christchurch we've had very tough times as a city and that's on top of the everyday challenges we all face. Multiple earthquakes, dealing with insurance and repairs, floods, wildfires, a terrorist attack and now the pandemic.

So Flourish Kia Puāwai has created an opportunity to talk away our worries on phones along our rivers. “It’s an art installation for our wellbeing”, says Michelle Whitaker, Flourish’s Co-Director. “A fun way to do something meaningful as not everyone has someone to talk to or someone they can safely tell everything to. The river will listen with no judgement,” says Whitaker.

She first got the idea after hearing about a gentleman setting up a telephone box in his back garden after the Japanese tsunami in 2011. He had lost his cousin in the tsunami and missed him terribly. So he would use his phone to talk to his cousin in his grief. Soon people started to approach him to ask if they could use his phone to deal with their grief, loss and feelings through tough times.

Flourish Kia Puāwai hopes that the river phone installations help the working through of tough feelings by connecting with nature and our rivers. Being in and connecting with nature is now well known to improve our wellbeing and mental health. Today is Earth Day. “Earth Day is a perfect time to think about the role of nature and get out and appreciate nature. We can all do with feeling a bit better too,” says Whitaker. “Now with the pandemic rules lessening it is a good time to get back out into nature before the weather gets colder,” she says.

Earth Day and using the phones is a great way to reflect on the last few years. The pandemic has demonstrated that we are capable of coming together to tackle problems on a global scale - we could do that for the Earth too. It has also showed we will go to great lengths to protect vulnerable people in our communities, to do the right thing. We can do that for environmentally vulnerable areas and populations, for the whole planet too.

Flourish Kia Puāwai is behind River of Flowers Earthquake Commemorations so the twelve phones can be found at the regular River of Flowers sites alongside the Avon-Ōtākaro, Heathcote-Ōpāwaho and the Estuary-Ihutai waterways. “Feel free to use our special river phones to share your worries, concerns, grief or whatever you’re dealing with right now”, says Whitaker. Hop on a phone, talk to the river and let your burden lighten as it floats away.

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