Hawaikii

For a young Māori girl it’s the first day at school, first day without the security of her parents. Raised with Māori culture as her basis she is about to enter a foreign environment with little or understanding of their culture nor they of hers.    The anxiety of surviving or being accepted in this foreign world is so high that she suffers withdrawal.   For someone so young she is aware of adult things such as poverty and stress. She understands her family’s lack of material wealth and the economic limitations they live within.   Her father is a hard working man who provides as best as he can for his family but money is always tight. Employed as a railway worker he and his family live in a railway cottage in a railway community.  He has been raised in the old ways of Māori culture and raises his children accordingly.    This family is not wealthy but they have something more valuable than money, they have love for each other and a love for their culture and its stories.