Moving to New Zealand (from South Africa)...
My family from both my mum’s and dad’s side are from South Africa, where my mum grew up in Johannesburg, and my dad and aunt (his sister) grew up in Rustenburg, which is just slightly north-west of Johannesburg. My mum and dad came to New Zealand in May, 2003 by aeroplane, where they had actually stayed with my Aunty for a few weeks who had moved to New Zealand in November, 1999, also by aeroplane via Malaysia (as you can see, this would have been a long journey for my family members to come to New Zealand from South Africa). Although my aunty was the first family member from my dad’s side to move to New Zealand, my mum was the first family member from her family to move to New Zealand.
My family members childhoods…
As a child, my mum lived in an apartment with her mother, Connie Wiener, on a fairly busy road. My mum’s parents divorced when she was young, but she lived with her mum. Her dad passed away when she was 26. As a child, my mum loved to read, draw, and do arts and crafts.
My mum says that she would have loved to be a professional piano player or play in an orchestra. She was informed about world news through the television, radio, or newspaper, and lived in a time where racism was high in South Africa. Through all of that though, her mum taught her to be a kind person, which my mum has taught me to become, I am so grateful for these values from mum’s side of my family. An early memory she has is attending creche (kindy) and hating it! She didn’t like the food and was terrified of one of the teachers!
My dad and aunty grew up on a farm, where they were constantly surrounded by wild animals. Their home had no air-conditioning in summer so they used to go swimming in the local public pool or farm dam. They lived in a small coal mining community made up of around 2000 people, and my dad didn’t have many toys when he was young, and so would learn about electronics by dismantling old radios and building something new from the parts. Back when the internet wasn’t around, my dad and aunty used to read large Encloypedias from cover to cover.
My dad’s hobbies included stamp collecting, reading science books, building stuff (such as lego), and computer programming. My aunty’s hobbies included writing, reading, and art. My family wasn’t extremely wealthy and so art supplies were expensive.
My aunty once went blind at the age of 5 for 2 weeks because a cobra spat in her eye, but she has very special memories of gardening with her ouma (grandma). My aunty and dad’s father also passed away when my dad was around the age of 4, but my dad has a special memory of driving on the road in his ute to look at a road his dad’s construction company had resurfaced.
When my mum was young she attended a Methodist Sunday school, and her primary and high school were Christian based. Her family was a mixture of Catholic, Methodist and Baptist, and she was Christened a Methodist although they attended a Catholic church at times. My dad does not practise a religion, but he was brought up as a protestant when he was younger. His wife is Buddhist and he is very fascinated about culture and religion as of today. My aunty also practised this same religion when she was younger, and attended a Dutch reformed church when she was a child (she said that it wasn’t the best experience!) My aunty currently does not practise a religion but believes that true religion is about love, kindness, and respect for all people and creatures.
Grandparents…
My great grandparents on my mum’s side were Dutch-speaking and lived mainly in Holland, then Zimbabwe (which was Rhodesia), before finally settling in South Africa. My mum had a very close and loving relationship with them and still misses them to this day. My great grandparents both died in their 80s and had been happily married for 50 years. My mum’s great grandmother had been gassed in a Nazi concentration camp in World War 2. On my dad and aunty’s father’s side, their grandparents (my great grandparents) lived on a farm also, and my dad enjoyed going hunting there. They were also rich tabasco farmers and were said to be very kind people. My dad and aunty’s grandparents on their mother’s side were poor, but very kind, loving and caring people. My dad said that he got a well-balanced
view that money does not make you a better person, your kindness towards others do. My aunty enjoyed their freshly baked cookies they always had! Their grandparents both served in World War II and my dad has their medals with him. Their granddad was serving in Italy alongside the ANZACS when the Germans blew up the bridge they were marching across and he survived but broke his back, and he was shipped back from Italy to South Africa via ship which must have been horrible. My dad and aunty’s mother (my Ouma who visits New Zealand from South Africa every year) studied all her life to give her children a better life and to earn more money for them. She is amazing and a wonderful role model towards my aunty and dad. She loves her grandchildren and travel. She is very and strong and clever.