Stories
Jacqui Spence
“I told myself … my parents didn’t care enough about me to stay alive.”
Jacqui Spence’s father died when she was a baby, then her mother died when she was fourteen. Having grown into adulthood with close support from family and friends, she now uses her deep powers of empathy to support others.
Lendl Oosthuizen
“Mum hugged me and said, ‘Your dad has gone to heaven’.”
Lendl Oosthuizen’s family moved from Zimbabwe to New Zealand in 2003. Settling in Hawke’s Bay, a year and a half later everything changed again for the sixteen-year-old when her father was killed in a car crash.
Kat Schwarzkopf
“If my Papa had lived, I probably would have learned to fly an aeroplane!”
Kat Schwarz’s father died suddenly when he fell through a roof. Kat thinks of her Papa, and his love for aviation, whenever she sees a small plane in flight.