I Have in My Arms Both Ways : Migrant Women Talk about their Lives

I have in my arms both ways. I can see my Tokelau way, its good. I can see the papalagi way, its good. I dont want to put one down, and lift the other one up, or put the other one down and lift that one up. I can carry them both. Valeti Finau, Tonga

Immigrant women bring to New Zealand rich experiences of lives spent in other cultures. But their stories are rarely told. In this book ten women, who have come to New Zealand through three decades from the 1960s, speak in depth about growing up in their first countries, and their lives in New Zealand.

They talk about childhood, marriage, discrimination, language, their aspirations for their children, and the role of women in their first culture and in New Zealand. They also, often poignantly, point to what they cannot speak about.

The ten women come from India, the Philippines, Tonga, Tokelau Islands, Chile, Iran, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Vietnam and Laos.

With portraits by Gil Hanly.

Featured in the 23 November 2016 New Zealand newsletter.
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