When Rebekah Malthus lost her 14 month old baby just three days before Christmas 2012, she wasn’t sure how to cope with the loss – it turns out it was by helping others.
In the wave of her son MacAuley’s death to a freak accident, Rebekah and her partner Adam Hicks had a group of Nelson crafts people and parents come forward wanting to make a tribute to baby Mac.
Rebekah decided to make it for everyone who had lost a child in Nelson.
Two and a half years on, the result is Project Butterfly.
The project has built a path in Fairfield Park where parents who have lost a child can design a butterfly mosaic memorial to their child and have it put in the path. Rebekah has also organised art therapy workshops to help families, sent people on respite weekends, organised food runs and started online chat groups so parents have a place to talk to each other.
“In a nut shell, Project Butterfly aims to support families through the death of a child. Families often stop going to counselling sessions as they can’t afford it and there is no memorial in town to all the children who have been lost.”
Rebekah has been nominated in the community spirit section of the Pride of New Zealand awards for her work with Project Butterfly.
She says she was humbled by the nomination.
“I do this for my son, I don’t do it for myself and every hour that I’ve put in is because I don’t get to spend it with him. It’s what any parent would do, really.”
She says while the path is a powerful and “beautiful” memorial, the best thing to come out of the project is connecting with other parents who have lost a child. “I think it stops you feeling like such a freak. There’s nothing out there that introduces you to other parents or is there to catch you. This pathway can’t solve your grief but it can give you things to focus on and things to help you remember your child.”
She says there has been interest from other towns around the country to have a similar project started and she hopes that will happen in time.
Nominations for the Pride of New Zealand awards are now closed, the awards recognise everyday Kiwis who do extraordinary things.
