Jas | Gonville, Whanganui-Manawatū

“I’m always grateful to anything anybody does to help me. I guess in recent times, I recently, just this year, lost my husband, and I’ve been really, really grateful for the support of friends and family but most particularly of his hapū, his extended family at Kaiwhaiki.

Really grateful for the support they gave me. I suppose most importantly, it was a weird outcome, but at a time in your life when you’re so distressed and you’re in such pain, good things can come out of it, and the support and the outpouring of love that I received, it’s hard to explain, but it’s a learning experience, for sure.

I’m not a very interesting person. I was born here in Whanganui. My dad was a railway worker, so we did travel a bit with his job. So we moved around a few different towns over the years, but came back here. I met my husband in Wellington, but interestingly, he was also from here, so we came back here to raise our family. At the moment, I work at the library up the hill there, Whanganui District Library, and I’m the Māori Information Librarian up here. So, that’s me.”