whakapapa (genealogy)
for Stephanie
She is the giver of life.
She is the keeper of our bloodlines.
She is the whare tangata that nurtures and shelters our babies.
She is the mother of my children.
Through her I am able to share in the love of my sons.
I never had a father yet have yearned my whole life to be one.
I want to be able to rewrite the narrative of what fatherhood looks like in my whänau, to be the father I never had.
And, it is my wife who blessed me with the greatest role of all.
She is whakapapa.
- Phil, 39, Christchurch, New Zealand.