Charles Lomu

But I viewed my grandfather as my father.

And so for a lot of my cousins in that, even though they knew how close our relationship was, you know, I felt like they couldn't really understand where I was coming from.

So I kept it to myself and I started acting out in a lot of the habits that I picked up.

So a lot of drinking.

And then slowly a lot of the, just the recreational drugs that came with it and just a lot of rebelling against my parents.

I ended up hanging around a circle of friends

that I would catch up with and we started getting involved in petty crime and just to make money to support our habit.

And it just ended up eventuating to the point where we got in trouble with the law, with the police.

And then when the pressure from the police kept mounting up and I kept getting in trouble with the police, then my father felt that he couldn't control it anymore and ended up sending me away overseas to New Zealand to live with family.

How did things change once you got to New Zealand?

It was a bit tough because before I boarded the plane, my father said to me, when you get to New Zealand and people ask you whose son you are, you make sure you don't mention me in your mother's name.

And so I boarded the plane with those last words from my father.

Very.

It was very hurtful.

But I boarded the plane and I thought,

I'm just happy to get out of Australia right now.

So I got to New Zealand, living with family.

And then the change of atmosphere.

I didn't know hardly anybody except for my cousins that I was living with.

It was refreshing for me.