Emily | Frankton, Waikato

“The person that I am today is because of my mum and my dad, mostly. My mum, she came to New Zealand in the year 2000. She came by herself, and she started her nursing and everything here, and she pretty much brought all the family here.

So, my brothers and my dad, and I was born in New Zealand, in Rotorua. But the person I am today is because of her. I’m on my way to doing my nursing, and following her footsteps. It’s because of her, being strong and independent, because she was always working hard. Being able to motivate myself to come to school, and doing this all for my family and for myself.

I grew up in Rotorua. That’s my home and Fiji is my home, as well, because all my family is there. I went to primary and intermediate there, and then I came to Hamilton Girls’ in Year 10, and this would have been my last year at high school, but I decided to come and start my health pathway into nursing.

In the future, I hope to go into my bachelor of nursing degree, and that’s three years, and then my goals for the future, I hope to become a mental health nurse, and then hopefully go into a psychology degree. 

My family talks in Fijian to me all the time. I can understand, I’m not fluent, but I can understand our dialect and everything. I reckon it’s pretty cool being in New Zealand and meeting other Fijian’s here as well, and when I go back there, because not that much of my family are good in English, so it’s cool, because I can learn more from them, and then they learn more from me.”