Student Beats Homelessness, Now Pursuing Her Dreams at Uni

A young woman who grew up sleeping in a car with five family members is now thriving at university, showing that even the toughest childhoods don't have to determine your future.

Juliann Purea-Desai spent her early years moving between 13 different homes across Auckland, New Zealand, sometimes living in emergency housing or cramped into relatives' spare rooms. For several years, her family of six called a car home.

"They would mask it and tell us that it was just camping," Purea-Desai said. The family relied on baby wipes to stay clean and visited her grandmother's house for occasional showers.

When money ran out, the siblings ate "sops," a meal of bread, sugar, milk and hot water. New clothes came once a year at best, usually $500 worth from The Warehouse thanks to charity support.

Despite the instability, Purea-Desai stayed focused on school with one clear goal: graduate, get a job, and help her mom and grandmother pay their bills. Her father has been in and out of prison since she was young, leaving the women in her family to keep everything together.

At 13, she connected with Pillars, an organization supporting children with incarcerated parents. That relationship eventually led her to First Foundation, which awarded her a scholarship to pursue higher education.

Now she's a first-year performing arts student at Unitec. Her father's experiences inspired her passion for theatre therapy and storytelling as tools for healing.

Why This Inspires

Purea-Desai's journey matters beyond her personal triumph. One in seven New Zealand children, about 169,000 kids, currently live in material hardship according to Stats NZ data from June 2025.

"We are failing a huge number of children, and they're not just falling through cracks, they're ravines," said Liz Greive, founder of Share My Super, a program encouraging older New Zealanders to donate their pensions to fight child poverty.

Purea-Desai now uses her story to advocate for others still struggling. "I have a passion for helping my community grow, and a passion for theatre and arts, and how it's able to connect people," she said.

Looking back on how far she's traveled from those car camping nights, she said: "I'm really happy and proud of myself."

Her path from homelessness to higher education proves that with the right support, young people facing poverty can rewrite their stories.