Native+people+in+the+English+speaking+world



My secret
 My name is Hau, I’m a Maori and I’m very proud of it. I’m 19 years old, and I have a private problem.

First some facts: Maori means normal or ordinary. We live on New Zealand, but our forefathers are really from Polynesia. They came in tree periods, one in 950, one in 1150 and the most known in 1350. We believe in our forefathers, and we think they can help us trough black magic. The Christianity came in 1813. In 1845 there was a war between the Maoris and the Englishmen. The Englishmen won the war and they took over the north and south island, so in 1890 there were only 40 000 Maoris left on New Zealand. This was because of illness, weapons, alcohol and other things the Englishmen brought with them to New Zealand. Today there are around 400 000 Maoris. Many of them are speaking English instead of their mother tongue, Maori. It’s normal that a Maori can be married to a white person, so almost every Maori is related to an Englishman. In a Maori tribe the average age isn’t high. When you’re 40 years old and up, you’re old. Those who are older than that are viewed as the wisest, cleverest and strongest of the Maoris.

As I told you my name is Hau, and that means wish. It was my mom who chose the name. She always says she wishes the best for me and prays for me that I’ll have a good future. I think that is the main reason she chose it. I’m 19 years old and I have dark, long brown hair. I have brown eyes, I’m thin and high. I’ve got a tattoo on my chin, it’s very nice. Every woman gets a tattoo on their chin when they’re 13 years old. I’m usually a happy person, but if someone pisses me of, then I can get really grumpy. In my spare time I like to be outside and walk in the mountains or just be with my friends. We are not so rich, so we don’t have many clothes. But the clothes we wear are cream-colored skirts, called kilt, and the tops we use are multicoloured, usually black, white, brown and red. I have a dress that I like very much, its light blue with flowers in different colours. My mom says I can’t use it when it’s a normal weekday, but when someone gets married or someone gets born, it’s not a question what I want to wear. In the tribe I does ordinary ladies stuff like cooking, wash clothes, watch the children and animals. I’m often with my mother and aunts in the kitchen; I have to learn how to cook the traditional recipes. I know some of them, like the one with the banana and cornflakes. It’s very good! Every day I get up 6 o’clock, get dressed, help the other kids get dressed and then we make breakfast to the rest of the tribe. We wake the rest of the tribe when the breakfast is ready, about 7 o’clock. In the kitchen my mom always wants to talk about me and the boy I’m going to marry. And to be honest, I don’t want to marry him, and this is my problem. He is a good boy, a great warrior and takes good care of everyone, but I’m in love with someone else. And I haven’t told my parents that, because it’s a white boy! An Englishman! And that isn’t allowed in our tribe. We are very old fashion, so I don’t think anyone in the tribe wouldn’t accept it. And here, in our tribe, you have to marry someone that your family wants you to marry, that **//they//** pick out for you. And it cannot be a white man! My parents have already found someone they want me to marry, but I don’t want to, but I’m not sure what I can do. Either I tell them the truth and maybe I get thrown out of the tribe, or I can do what they say and everyone gets happy, except me. The family is very important, because when you get old, sick or hurt in a war or something, it’s your family who helps you. My nearest family consists of my mother, my father and my younger sister, but I also have a lot of aunts, uncles and cousins. My family means a lot to me, we take good care of each other and help each others with everything. There’s just one person that I have talked to about this, and that’s my younger sister. We are very bonded, and we tell each other everything. She is 14 years old, and she says she don’t know so much about love, so she doesn’t know what I should do. We do much of the work together, so that’s why we can talk about it and no one else can hear about it. We talk about it when we are in the mountain to check on the sheep’s or when we are down with the river to wash some clothes. It’s very fun to have someone to talk to and just know that you have someone near you if anything would happen. Like in this case, I need to get some advice, and even though they’re not so good, it’s better than no advice. I don’t know what to do yet, because I haven’t decided. But I’m going to think about it and then I’ll see. I hope I make the right decision.

In the future I want to have a happy family, a husband and some kids that I love with all my heart. I hope we are richer then my tribe is now, because then we can have some more clothes, tool and the kids will have a better childhood. I’m not saying that I had a bad childhood; I only wish the best for my future kids. This is what I dream of.

Source: http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maorier .