The True Face of Kindness is a collection of personal narratives and first-hand accounts from everyday New Zealanders — teachers, nurses, therapists, business owners, artists and retirees — about how the pandemic years affected their lives. It moves beyond statistics to provide a vivid portrait of what it meant to lose a career, a home, a friendship, or a place in a community. But it is also a book about what people found when they had lost almost everything else.
Why It Was Compiled
Many of the people in this book had never told their story publicly before. Some had tried and found that no one wanted to listen. The book was assembled because these experiences — difficult, sometimes painful, but also full of unexpected grace — deserve to be part of the record. It offers a space for people to be heard and understood, and an opportunity for readers to encounter lives that may be very different from their own.
What Period It Covers
The chronicles span the pandemic years in New Zealand, from the onset of the lockdowns in early 2020, through the mandate period, and into reflections recorded as late as 2024.
Who Will Find It Valuable
Anyone curious about how ordinary New Zealanders experienced the pandemic — not through headlines, but through the texture of daily life. Future historians seeking first-hand accounts of this period's social consequences. Those who lived through similar experiences and want to know they were not alone. And anyone who believes that understanding begins with listening, especially to stories we haven't heard before.