George

“I came here in 2020, post first lockdown and got a plot here with Mary Croft. We turned the grass over and planted a few beds of carrots and cauliflower in the middle of winter.   We were both quite concerned about where we are we gonna get our food post the COVID crisis. I […]

Deborah

“I’ve been doing genealogy. I’m just an amateur but fanatical. I’m a member of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists and the local Canterbury Society. I’ve been doing other people’s trees for them, just for fun. I just love it. It’s so intriguing and to find these bits of history that I’m connected to is […]

Mary

“I had my daughter when I was a teen. When my daughter was nine months old, my Dad said “it’s time you do something for yourself”. A lady was selling her Baby Shop, so went home to Dad and said “how about this?” We organised it all, I worked nine till three, I made items […]

Yvette

“I wanted to restore something old. I mean, I know that place is not the ritz, but it’s such a cute wee character house. And you know, such a wee tank.I was in it when the earthquakes happened – there was like nothing wrong with it.  Plus, I just don’t like brand new stuff or […]

Nur Farhanah (Hana)

“When I came here, I experienced discrimination. I accepted it at first because I’d already experienced discrimination in Singapore as an indigenous Malay. I thought that it’s okay because I’m a foreigner here in New Zealand. But when I left NZ for two years, I came back older and a bit wiser. I was like, […]

Nicky

“It started with alcohol when I was 14. I guess I had a lot of 14-year-old issues and I was so shy. I was just lost. I met some older guys in town and one day they took me to the pub and I just thought, ‘oh, my God, I’ve come home’, something in me […]

Hannah

“Dancing has been a part of my life since I was little. That is the story of my life – I was a dancer before I could walk. I sung before I could talk, you know? And singing is just every day.  I loved dancing as a little girl, but there wasn’t a lot of […]

Kotte

“I think a lot of my struggles came from my own experiences, which are a direct link to my upbringing. But I refuse to run away from hardship and challenges, mainly when I’ve done nothing wrong. I have this thing where from suffering, I think I create the most beautiful things. So I’m grateful for […]

Duncan W

“I started fishing as a little kid. When I was about six or seven, we moved to a farm. And within about three or four miles of the farm was a lake, and they stocked it with bass, so we were just fishing there every chance we got. Then a friend of mine when I […]

John A

“I created a unique set of circumstances that I landed here in June 2016. As I flew into Christchurch, for the first time, I got this overwhelming sense that I was home. And I’ve never had that. I had a feeling, an energy, I don’t know, that drew me to this place. I had a […]