CAMBRIDGE NEWS | 1
THURSDAY JUNE 4, 2020
Got a news tip? Ph 022 317 9499
It’s a Real Newspaper
JUNE 4, 2020
Together again
They were separated by Covid-19 for two months – but this Cambridge family is now settling into their new home town. Moving to Cambridge from Denmark earlier this year was a dream come true for New Zealand-born Kelly Pacheco, but the dream rapidly turned into a nightmare when her husband and oldest daughter were prevented from joining her. Vladimir Pacheco and 13-year-old Nina were kicked off their flight in Copenhagen on March 23 as New Zealand shut its borders to foreigners because of the Covid-19 pandemic. They had already had a long day with a threehour train journey from their home in Aarhus on Denmark’s Jutland Peninsular where Vladimir is an associate professor at the city’s university. So, when they rang Kelly and 10-year-old Gabriela in Cambridge to tell them they were not only stranded in Copenhagen but unlikely to be allowed in New Zealand for months, Nina could only sob in despair while Kelly and Gabriela were devastated. But the story got worse and only finished on Queen’s Birthday Sunday when the family were finally reunited in Auckland. “Everything was going too perfectly, we should have known,” says Kelly of the months leading up to the reunion. The couple met and married in Australia. Vladimir’s family were refugees from El Salvador who settled in Brisbane; Kelly’s family had emigrated to Australia when she was a teenager. He has Australian citizenship. After Vladimir learned English, it set him on an academic path which continues today. The couple met through a mutual friend while he was at university doing his PhD and she was working as a mental health clinician. They married, had two children, worked in Australia and Fiji and then in 2014 moved to Denmark. Kelly is a specialist eating disorders clinician and had her own private psychotherapy practice in Aarhus. Vladimir does research in political studies and social policy and has authored many papers on
micro finance, economics and sustainable development. Last year they decided it was time to move back to the southern hemisphere. Kelly quickly secured a job with Waikato DHB as an eating disorders specialist while Aarhus University said they were happy for Vladimir to move to New Zealand provided he would return to Denmark twice a year to lecture and
continue his research. Kelly started her job in January and brought Gabriela over with her so she could start at Cambridge Primary School. Her mother Jennifer McDowell came over from Australia, planning to leave once Vladimir and Nina arrived on March 28. As Covid-19 worsened, Vladimir rebooked the flight for March 23 but in retrospect, it
Vladimir and Kelly in Cambridge with children Gabriela, (left) and Nina.
For all your clock, watch & barometer repairs
Genuine
Black Forest Cuckoo Clock
47 Alpha Street, Cambridge 3434 P: 07 823 1945 F: 07 823 1946 e: sales@cambridgerealestate.co.nz
• Residential
Special price of
• Rural
normally $875
• Lifestyle
$750
One only available. P 07 823 1136 | M 021 889 033 Roger and Barbara Jennings Workshop: 179 Te Miro Rd, RD4, Cambridge W theclockworkshop.co.nz | E podgejay@gmail.com
• Rentals WWW.CAMBRIDGEREALESTATE.CO.NZ
would have been better to have been five days earlier. They would have got into the country before the border shut down. In Copenhagen, after a night’s rest with friends, Vladimir decided that rather than go back to the house in Aarhus which he had prepared to rent out, he and Nina would travel as far and as close to New Zealand as they could. Continued on page 2