Marilyn Ngahuia Vreede

“My 99 year-old, humble, staunch mother-in-law was not of Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi descent. She was Dutch through and through. Yet Te Awa Tupua and our whānau whānui claimed her as one of ours.”

Oma

“We prayed, we sang, we laughed, we cried. I held her hand. She couldn’t respond but she was happy. She had very little knowledge of our language, but Oma related wholeheartedly to the vibration of karakia and waiata. She trusted me and my whānau. She trusted the karakia.”