So often one hears negative comments about University of Otago students. My experience of some students in the Woodhaugh area was far from negative.
I am from a small village in the North Island visiting a family friend.
On the night of September 26, I awoke to find the kitchen section of the house where I was staying filled with acrid black smoke.
I tried to find my cellphone and the land line and realised both were in the smoke-filled part of the house.
I ran out on to the street to wave down a car.
A young woman stopped and rang for the fire brigade. Her kindness was amazing: she placed a blanket around me and held me to keep warm; another young woman offered a cup of tea.
The young men in house next to where I was staying invited me in out of the cold.
The fire was a terrifying experience, but the effect was minimised through the sincere kindness of people I did not know and may never meet again.
Often young people are judged negatively by the reckless action of a minority and that is not fair to those who demonstrate a great sense of community, care and compassion for those like myself, who experience a traumatic incident.
I would like to express my gratitude to the firemen, ambulance attendants and police and most of all to those young people, whose kindness and compassionate caring will stay with me for the rest of my days.
Eleanor Gully
Ohau
In recognition of the importance of readers' contributions to the letters page, the newspaper each week selects a Letter of the Week, with a book prize courtesy of Dunedin's Longacre Press. This week's winner, Eleanor Gully, of Ohau, receives a copy of Neville Peat's High Country Lark, Longacre Press, $44.99.
