While in love with this country...

Sitting on her balcony she wondered; what could be better than this?
To her, this was the life she signed up for. She moved to one of the most beautiful countries of the world together with her husband and son. In her country of birth she would never see a view like this and certainly not have a house like this.
Slowly but surely they were building a life for themselves; with the business slowly growing – she kept her fingers crossed it would grow faster soon – and their son growing into a cool kiwi bloke, nothing could really hold them back. Of course they had set backs, like anybody else, but in general they were doing fine. This country did not seize to amaze her with the beautiful landscapes, most extraordinary wildlife and amazing people. The sense of community and helpfulness she encountered was wonderful. Most of the people she met were real and welcomed her into their lives and families. How terrific people are when not polluted by living on top of each other, having to fight for every little thing in their lives and being ruled by the ‘importance’ of money….

She was very aware of the luck in her life, how easily she could be in a much less prosperous life.

Once and again, stories would surface…poverty, crime... it was a different life out here… To her it was almost like the country decided it needed a counterweight for all the beautiful things around… lots of people really struggled. Not to get ahead…no, just to pay the bills… She read about people not being able to buy shoes for their kids, or buy them food for lunch….. Kids that had to live on beans on toast and were lucky if they could have breakfast…one meal a day was all their parents could afford.
Where she came from this did not exist… in all honesty, compared to this, even the poor were rich. She wondered if she could ever REALLY understand the scale of things and if she could ever really understand why… Almost naturally and very cynically she wondered; why don’t they work? Are there no jobs? Why do they not create work? But she realised it could not be that easy… It would not be logical to think all those parents would rather live this way than be able to buy their kids all they deserve…
Where is the government, she wondered?
And what could she do? Try to be a better person and share the knowledge?….knowledge is power, she thought…share your wealth whenever you can and it will be passed on…she firmly believed in that. It was time to get more involved and become a better citizen…

As she was sure to learn more from this country than she could ever ‘teach’…she sat there and enjoyed her view.

NEW ZEALAND – the most amazing country she has ever seen.