But from the ashes and molten metal of his previous job, Mr Taani rose up, retrained and graduated with a bachelor of teaching (early education) degree at Te Rito Maioha.
The 35-year-old said he worked at Hillside for eight years, and on the day he was told he no longer had a job, all kinds of worrying questions went through his head, like how would he pay the bills, and how would he afford groceries and clothes for his four children.
"It was a bit of a shock."
Once he came to terms with the loss and regained some perspective on his future, he decided to use some of his redundancy payout to retrain as an early childhood teacher.
"To be honest, being an early childhood teacher did not cross my mind when I left school.
"It wasn’t until I started interacting with my kids and other kids that friends and family mentioned I should go for it.
"I kept putting it off and putting it off until I got made redundant from Hillside. That’s when the opportunity came.
"It turns out it [the redundancy] was a blessing in disguise."
Mr Taani said it had been 15 years since he sat in the classroom, and initially he was not confident he could do it.
"It was a bit daunting to start with — especially in the first year.
"But now I feel confident to stand in front of my colleagues and other people, and give a speech. It’s boosted my confidence up."
And after three years of study, he now has a full-time job at St Clair Corner early childhood centre, in Dunedin.‘
"It’s nice to have that feeling of security back, that your kids are going to be looked after, the bills are going to be paid and I can buy groceries with confidence."
He said the bonus was he now had a thirst for knowledge.
"I definitely haven’t hung up my boots, study-wise. But for now, I’ll enjoy what I have before I carry on with my next learning project."
