Giving Voice to Final Stories: A Volunteer’s Journey with Hospice Work

At UniScribe, we are constantly amazed by the meaningful ways our users put our platform to work. Recently, one of our community members from New Zealand shared with us how she uses UniScribe in her volunteer work with Hospice, helping terminally ill individuals record and preserve their life stories for their loved ones.

She prefers to keep a minimal online presence, so we will simply call her Christine. Here, in her own words, is the story she shared with us.

Christine’s Story

My voluntary work — where UniScribe will be invaluable — is the work I do for Hospice: recording the words and stories terminally ill people wish to leave behind as a legacy for their loved ones. We chat, we cry, and we laugh together over several weeks and months — and I spend many hours recording and transcribing their words (often crying all over again), before editing and putting the text together with photos and sometimes with things like magazine or newspaper cuttings about themselves, to create a bound booklet.

It’s not the easiest of tasks, and not something readily undertaken by many people — but to me it’s important that everyone has a chance to tell their stories. Whether we realise it or not, we have all lived interesting lives and we all have a story to tell. As I approach my 78th year, there is still much I learn about life from the people who allow me the privilege of sharing a little of their lives.

Recording stories is my most time-consuming voluntary work — but I also do ticket scanning and ushering for our local performing arts and events centre; facilitate a Te Reo (Maori language) class here in our retirement village (that’s a bit time consuming as well); prepare the monthly calendar of events in our village; am the village contact person for the NZ Retirement Villages Residents Association, which can be quite entertaining at times as residents sort of have a love-hate relationship with the village owners 😊 but our manager is very nice; and from time to time get involved in organising one-off events for other charity groups.

In addition, I have a house, garden, and husband to keep an eye on — plus children and fabulous moko (grandchildren) who live too far away to see as often as I would like — but we text and video call, something I could not do when I was young and needed my Mum’s advice.

Life has not always been straightforward nor easy, but I am grateful for the life I have lived, the people who stood by me when my world was going all wrong, and my loving family and friends. In that, I am much luckier than many.

Closing Thoughts

Christine shared with us that while UniScribe is not a magic wand, it has become a valuable tool in helping her focus on what truly matters: listening deeply and preserving stories that deserve to be remembered.

Her work is a beautiful reminder that everyone has a story worth telling, and that technology, when thoughtfully used, can play a small role in honoring those voices. We are deeply inspired by her dedication and hope her story encourages others to reflect on the legacies they can help create.