My Maori great grandmother brought up my father after his mother died when he was a baby.
This was in spite of her already having 17 children of her own - my grandfather- the oldest.
I remember attending tangis as a child.
I feel privileged to be part of a family that has regular family reunions. But I know nothing of the language and living in Australia has made it easy to ignore. On return to NZ i amazed at the prevalence of the language and how it has become/ is becoming integrated into mainstream communication.
I would like to feel that I have at least made some sort of effort to acquaint myself with the language and if possible learn some of its rudiments.
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