Anthony Tina

Building relationships.

COVID hit, mum and I in our bubble would go and collect seaweed along the, and then we'd build garden beds.

So again, nurture those relationships.

Nurture relationships.

If you've got no family, maybe pop down and check in and play chess with your neighbour or, yeah.

Um, whatever that is, whatever connection looks like for me, um, again, I was lucky enough to have family.

Now for those like myself, who thought that they didn't have whānau or family, how wrong I was.

Cause my whānau down in Rotorua, amazing.

My father got very sick in 2022.

My dad and I had built our relationship intermittently over time when I'd come back and visit.

But he got cancer, myeloma, bone marrow cancer in 2022, 23.

And...

And I watched this man evolve and open up in ways where the violent man became vulnerable.

The violent man started to ask for forgiveness and wanted to repent for a lot of these things.

He'd speak to all people.

the wahine in our family and our and my siblings his children and say look i was wrong you know i really was wrong as death was coming nearer it seemed to refine him into a beautiful version of himself as a remarkable journey to watch how did you feel when he when he asked you for forgiveness

I'd actually forgiven him before he'd asked me.

Because I saw him.

His actions were showing kindness, softness.

His living action, the way he'd gently play with his muckles, the kind way he would treat his wife.