What has whānau taught you?

Sabrina | Tāmaki Makaurau

Sabrina (Brazil) moved to New Zealand a year ago and it is the first time she has been away from her family.

“I feel emotional every time I talk about my family because of how important they are to me. I’m the oldest daughter of four, so my house is always full of people: my father, my mom, my siblings with their partners.

So I get emotional because I miss having them with me every day. The fact that they are not living this life with me here, the things which I’ve achieved—me living by myself, which is the first time, finding a job in my area, meeting new people that became my friends and like me.

So I cry of happiness for knowing that I’ve achieved what they wanted for me and also because I miss them and want them to be here living this with me.

So I have to thank New Zealand for bringing me this feeling, because when I was around them, I unfortunately didn’t feel this way and I didn’t value it that much.”