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 […]

Heather

“Post-earthquakes I had a disconnect in my teaching, especially with the way we were  expected to teach writing under the national standards. Teaching suddenly became uncomfortable for me, and I had loved it. I’ve always been a hobby writer so I took a time out to do a Masters in Creative Writing and wrote a […]

Rachel

“I went ice skating one night with a friend of mine, I was studying at the time. And we went ice skating and I met this guy. First thing Jason said to me was ‘What size is your shoe?’ We’ve been married for 16 years, we have three children who are now teenagers. We’re now […]

Charles

“I moved to Christchurch in 1993. I was 14 years old, came over with pretty much the whole family. My father’s brother moved to New Zealand a long time ago, like, 50, 60 years ago. I’ve got two older brothers, they went straight into the workforce but I was lucky enough to get educated in […]