MANY people may consider family achievements as the simple things – getting through tough times and sending the children off to school.
But the people of Hyde Park, also known as Circuit Area, bring a whole new meaning to family bonds. Hyde Park rests in what most may consider the centre of chaos amidst an airport and a racetrack, yet it is still one of the most serene places on earth. The village has propelled itself to the beautiful, peaceful existence it is known for today. The villagers say at the beginning the community was nothing like it is today – a captivating suburban neighbourhood whose homes blend into the pleasant greenery it is surrounded by.

Sonya Davemon is just one of the community’s oldest inhabitants. Sonya and her family moved to Hyde Park when she was still a young mother to two small children. Without their father in the picture, it was a courageous decision for Sonya to raise her children amidst the challenges the budding village presented. She remembers the early years and the seemingly constant strain the family was under. Sonya recalls the work and worry it took throughout the years to get her where she is today.

As she stated, “I had a really rough upbringing. As the family grew and everybody got bigger, the family scattered. Everybody started pulling and tugging. We all used to live in one little house together. It was rough. And then I had my two babies, one-year-old and two-year-old- children, so it was rough for me, and I was the only one; my children’s father was not in the picture.”

One of the biggest challenges was the schooling aspect. It took many long hours of walking for Sonya’s two children to get to school in the neighbouring Hauruni. She remembers the difficulties the family endured in changing for the better. As she shared, “My children used to walk the trail to get to school.

I bought two BMX bikes for them to ride straight out of the road and up the highway to go to school.” Sonya explained that many people questioned the family’s choice to move to the then-thick forest, but at the time, Sonya said the family did not have a choice. “We did not get back our house, so we ended up in the Palms living. So my aunt lived here, doing her farming and so on. And she said, ‘No, no, no, come up here and live.’ So we used to cram into her little house, and then we started branching off.”

Sonya also remembers the little wins the family achieved and how, little by little, things changed. She worked tirelessly to send her two children to school, wanting to give them an education and a better chance in life. Although there were challenges, Sonya and her family made it their mission to come out on top. As she stated, “It was really rough. And then I had to wait until my children grew up a little more, and then I joined the prison service, and I worked there for several years with them.” The prison service may not have been the first choice, but Sonya saw it as a chance to help her family after her children finished high school. “My time in the prison service was okay. We had no problems because it was an opportunity for me to help my family,” she said.

She spent almost a decade in the prison service, and during those years, she moved through the various aspects of the profession. And in a job characterised by its violent offenders, Sonya said she met some nice people, many of them inmates. As she said, “The prison service was nice, for me, it was okay.

At first, I worked as a custodian for a period of time, like a year, and then I eventually went up to monitor them. We have this big monitor where we can see every area of the prison, so that was my job up there. I had to monitor and see what was going on and make a report. The inmates were nice to me and always respectful. I never talked to them in a bad or harsh way, and to me, they were nice. I did that for nine years.”

In the more than 30 years Sonya had called the community home, she has seen her children grow into brave, beautiful, and successful adults with their own families. She is proud of the family’s progress and is adamant that it will continue. As she stated, “I feel good about the progress the family made because everybody tried to go on their own, the best way they can, to make their own family and build their own place and family.”