My Whakapapa Story

My Whakapapa Story 

Today I will be sharing my Whakapapa. My Family is quite large so I will Have to exclude some more distant family members. My family members will be represented as Maori koru. I’ll Start with my Dad’s side which you can see on the left hand side of my drawing. 

 

Starting with my great grandparents. My great grandma currently lives in the Philippines In my old house. She’s really old as can be expected. She lives in a different country so my family and I can only visit her once a year. My great grandad died a few years before I was born. I didn’t  get to know him and I don’t even know his name. I’ve only visited his grave once because he was buried in the Philippines.

 

Next are my grandparents. My Grandma lives in Australia. I visit her once a year like my great grandma. She lives in Sydney. Her Koru is next to the koru with knives sticking out of it.

My Grandad on my dad’s side died a long time before I was born. He was part of the US Military which is why I drew knives sticking out of his koru. His koru is underneath the second largest koru on the left hand side.

Actually I forgot to tell you something about the picture. All the the koru with a halo

and coloured blue are all family members who have passed away.

Next on the list is my Dad and his brothers and sisters A.K.A my uncles and aunties.

I have two Uncles and one Aunty. They are the four koru that are the same exact size on the left hand side. They all live in the US and they don’t even know I exist. They don’t even know my dad exists. When my Grandpa died the family got separated, so that's why they don’t know we exist. My dad is a great dad.

 

Finally on to My Mom's side. Starting with my great grandparents. They're both dead but I still remember the times when they were still alive. My great grandma died early this year at the age of 99. Actually I still remember when I saw her for the first time.

It was in 2016. I thought she was an old stranger who just lived in the big house which I will talk about later. Next is my great grandpa. He died about 30 years ago. My family and I have visited his grave two or three times. They both lived in the Philippines. Their koru are the tallest on the right hand side of the picture.

Next are my grandparents. They’re both still alive. They live in a big house in the Philippines. My Mum bought it for them in 2013. They are very kind and gentle. Their koru are the two second largest ones on the right hand side of the picture.

Then we have my mum and her brothers and sisters A.K.A my aunties and uncles.

I have two Aunties and four Uncles. Unfortunately one of my uncles died this year.

My Mum is a great mum.

Finally there is my sister and me. Just like our mum and dad we can be quite lazy at times!!

About the picture-

If I counted properly there should be 21 koru in the picture. I'm not the best at drawing but I tried my best. I do feel like I made the koru way too thick.

You may also notice a giant boat in the middle of the picture. I drew the boat because I feel like my family is really associated with boats. One of my uncles works on a cargo Ship. The reason I painted the sky gold is because I feel that it suits my family best. Golden.