Mele

Eseta was my grandmother. She lived up to 87 years old. She was my mother’s mom. She lived most of her life in Ha'apai, one of the island in Tongan. This is where her whole family is from. Her role as a daughter and a sister was to do the house chores and stay at home. She was only allowed to go to church and the family plantation to help her family.

My grandmother was always healthy as she was always being active looking after her family. She only atttended primary school and not long in high school as she has to go to the main island on a boat daily.

In 2009, great grand mother visited NZ to see her daughter and grand daughters. When she arried she wanted my Nana to marry a man, but my Nana did not want to marry him. Nana went on to marry Tamale and had a happy life. Her and Tamale had 7 children, sadly for her he went to Australia and passed away there. Nana spent the rest of her life looking after her family.

Eseta struggled to look after her family by herself so she went back to Haapai in Tonga. She continued to help her community and family. Eseta passed away while she was staying with her siter. All her chidlren were here in NZ so they didnt say good bye.

I choose my grandmother because I felt she has been through a lot and her story needs to be told. She looked after me when my mom was at work. She always get angry when I dont respect others and she taught me to kind to others and learn my Tongan language.