The True Face ofKindness
Stories from the covid crazy years
Thirty personal stories, by a wide range of New Zealanders, mostly from the West Coast, about life during the covid era.
Read a Sample Order the Book
Stories from the covid crazy years
Thirty personal stories, by a wide range of New Zealanders, mostly from the West Coast, about life during the covid era.
Read a Sample Order the Book
Sweet are the uses of adversity,William Shakespeare, As You Like It
which, like the toad,
ugly and venomous,
wears yet a precious jewel in his head.
There is something healing about telling our stories, about being heard and understood. It is an opportunity to look back and to look within, to find the jewel in the ugly head of adversity, and honour it in each other.
— Christopher GojThe True Face of Kindness is a collection of personal narratives by everyday New Zealanders — teachers, nurses, therapists, business owners, parents — about how the pandemic changed their lives, their relationships and their sense of belonging. These are not political arguments. They are honest accounts of what it felt like to live through an extraordinary time, told by the people who lived it.
The book matters because these experiences — the losses, the fractures, but also the unexpected friendships and new beginnings — are part of New Zealand's story, and they deserve to be remembered. Running through every chapter is a thread of unexpected resilience: people who lost a great deal and still found something worth holding on to.