Mary-Ann - Cook | Offshore Workers

At the moment, I am the cook for these boys. I cater for our Samoans, and we have a Fijian with us as well. They are our visa workers. We are the temporary accommodation for them. I love working and I love challenges. And I push my grandchildren too, to tell them “You know, you can do things if you really set your mind to it. You can do it.”

ANZCO has opened those doors for all walks of life. All ages. My two girls are part of the ANZCO family. I had two boys come through the ANZCO family as well. I started as a slaughter person, and then I ended up down in the cutting room, and that's where my next journey began.

I did that till about 2020 and thought, oh, you know, it's time for me to move on and go and do something else. So, I went away. Only lasted two months. Just got on the phone. I said, “I need to come home. Do you have a job?” And he said, “Yes, we do”.

I love cooking and I love feeding people and I love the simplicity of the way the boys eat. And I'm learning. I'm Māori, they’re Samoan. Totally different, different taste buds. But you can't starve them because their job's hard. ANZCO, it's a physical job, it's not for the faint-hearted. But if you like that sort of work, it's there for the taking.