TIPS

how it affects your sense of worth and belonging.

“That experience changed our family. It scarred us.

“Grandpa was the head of our household and the glue in our family.

“He was a minister, and he was kind and loving but also stern. He kept everything in our family in order. He and Dad were really close.

“And, as the eldest of my parent’s children, I was also raised by them.

“After my grandparents were deported, Dad really struggled.

“He became an angry man, and my parents ended up separating when I was 10 and then divorcing.

“It took years for me to understand the full impact of that night — and of the dawn raids on Pacific families like ours,” Emeli says.

Eventually her grandparent’s returned to New Zealand.

“After being sent back to Tonga, they went to live in Niue. My grandmother’s father was Niuean, so she and Grandpa gained New Zealand citizenship while they were in Niue.

“Bringing‘A New Dawn’together has been about understanding my family’s story and our place in New Zealand.

“I’ve pulled together the different threads in our lives, and taken a hard look at how it’s affected us. And that hasn’t been an easy process,” Emeli says.