My children are - like many - part of an extended family. When they are with their dad they live with him and his partner - she is of Ngati Maniapoto descent and has extremely close links to her whanau and marae. My kids spend a lot of time with them and my son in particular is working on his te Reo.
For me personally - I did a DNA test. My whole life - 39 yrs - my elderly family members have sworn black and blue that we are of British and Spanish heritage. The Spanish presumably to explain why we tan so well. So it was shocking to get dna results back that claim I am 30% British, 40% Serbian/Balkan/Russian/Germanic and...30% Maori. To me its a beautiful thing - I'm even more connected to this beautiful country then I ever hoped - but for that older generation and the ones before - it was a shameful secret to keep and lie about. I tell my beautiful children everyday to live their truth - having a transgender child has taught us to always be proud of who we are but being able to teach our children more about our background in its own beautiful tongue is a gift.
