The Kindness of Strangers by Robyn Boswell


​It’s a trip I’ve done hundreds of times over the years. This particular time I’d spent a cold winter’s weekend with my friends in Auckland and was heading home to Whangarei, about two and half hours away. Not very far up the road, my car, which was a little old but had always been totally reliable, suddenly began to lose power. I only just managed to pull over onto a wide area on the side of the road as it completely ground to a halt. I tried to restart it; the motor just stubbornly and noisily turned over and over but refused to fire and I started to panic a little. Mobile phones were still a dream which would be realised in the future, so I was stuck with no means of communication. Since it was a Sunday afternoon and it’s a busy road, cars were streaming past, so I lifted the bonnet and stood alongside it, a lone woman, trying to look helpless, feeling sure someone would stop to help me.
 
I know the area well. The only house anywhere within sight had a huge sign on the gate - “Beware, dogs bite”. I’d always thought they must have been on their third or fourth generation of dogs since the sign had been there so long, but there was no way I wanted to test its veracity. I was also very reluctant to leave my car in such an obvious place. Apart from the fact it was full of my belongings, it was old enough to look abandoned. I could imagine coming back to find it stripped of my gear, its wheels and other useful parts.
 
More and more cars streamed past, yet none stopped as I felt more hopeless and unsure of what to do. Eventually a zappy little red sports car pulled up alongside. The young man who levered himself out of the tiny interior was an Adonis in tight white jeans. He looked the part of the sexy prince riding to the rescue of the desperate princess. I could imagine his portrait splashed across the gaudy cover of a romantic novel. He opened his mouth to speak and his smooth French accent completed the picture. The illusion was shattered when I quickly discovered that his mechanical knowledge was even less than my paltry comprehension of what’s under the bonnet of a car. He was a nice guy, though and did his best to be useful. He was on his way past the little village of Puhoi a few kilometres inland and said he’d call in at the local garage on the way past to see if they were still open at that time on a Sunday. Naively, I thought that that meant he would drive the three or four minutes back to let me know. As time went on, it became obvious that he must have found them closed and gone on his way. I was in a further quandary; if I left to try to find help, maybe he would return.
 
Evening was almost upon me and a slight, cold drizzle began. No one would miss me until work the next morning, because I lived alone. I was facing the unpleasant and scary prospect of a freezing night sitting in my car on the side of the road.
 
Suddenly two cars pulled up together alongside, making me a little uneasy. A man hopped out of one, followed by a veritable tribe of children. It was a family – with eight children, they needed two cars! The man quickly fiddled around in the engine of my car and soon had the engine running whilst his wife stood and chatted to me. However, he discovered that it was a problem with the starter motor and he couldn’t fix it properly without the tools he had at home. He was very reluctant for me to head out on the road again without the proper repairs. These complete strangers, without even consulting each other, invited me to follow them home so he could effect the necessary repairs.
 
We travelled in convoy, me in the middle, way up into the hills along a road that got narrower and narrower until it was little more than a dirt track with grass growing in the middle. I had never even realised that such rugged hills existed that close to the road that I had driven so many times. Perched high on one of the steep hillsides was a jumble of shipping containers. There was no sign of any houses and I soon realised this was the home we were heading for. There was obviously very little money but a great deal of love in this family.
 
The children tumbled out of the cars and within a couple of minutes they and their mother had swept me inside, whilst their Dad started work on the repairs to my car. There was an amazingly large living area, with the walls festooned with colourful woven floor rugs to keep the warmth in. Within a few minutes some of the kids had lit a roaring fire, whilst others helped their Mum to serve a meal of thick homemade soup, with lashings of fresh bread and butter. I felt as though I had known them for years and was just included as part of the family as we laughed and chatted our way through a very hearty, warming meal. The love they had for each other was palpable.
 
Their Dad had managed to repair the starter and my car was seemingly back to normal. I offered to pay for the work he had done, which would have cost me a considerable amount at a garage, but he wouldn’t hear of it. They were worried about me having to drive so far at that time on a cold, wet night with a car that might not be reliable and strongly urged me to stay the night, offering me a warm bed. I very reluctantly had to refuse as I needed to get to work the next day. They tried to change my mind, then when they realised I just couldn’t do it, they sat down and worked out how long it would take me to get to each of the three little towns with a phone box that I would need to drive through on the way home and insisted that I phone them from each place. If they didn’t hear from me within a reasonable time they would get in their car and come searching for me. They were prepared to drive for an hour or more should that be necessary. Their generosity was incredible. Luckily I made it home, stopping every so often to phone them, with no more drama.
 
Now every time I pass that stretch of road, I remember a wonderful family who were willing to share the little that they had with a distressed stranger. I will never forget how they made me feel like a long-lost friend, welcomed me into their home without any misgivings, got my car up and running and helped me get safely home.

He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata! He tangata! He tangata!
What is the most important thing in the world? It is people! It is people! It is people!