Letter from brother✨

Today, my family and I received a letter from my older brother, Mateaki, who went on a three week course down in Palmerston North. The letter was very sentimental, I really miss my brother very much. A paragraph that he wrote stated that he missed us all dearly and that he was enjoying the trip though it was quite cold. It's been about a week and two days since he left, one more week and five more days. It was sweet of my brother to write it from a long distance, which left most of us in tears.

I also miss my brother very much and hope he'll come back strong and healthy. The course that he went on is to challenge him physically in various situations. I heard that it is a very tough course, and I wish him all the best!.

(Throw back photo with Mateaki)

Summer Learning Journey-Day 9-Week 2

Day 9 – Meet my Family

Today you are going to visit a local family. The size and the composition of families vary a great deal from country to country. In places like Japan, Canada, Australia, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Germany, families are typically quite small. Most parents have 1 to 2 children and once children grow up and get married they usually live separately from their parents. This is not the case in the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Malaysia or in Chile. In these countries, the families are often larger and members of the extended family live together for most of their lives. Scroll down to ‘meet’ a typical family from Canada.

Canadian Family

This is my family - the Williamsons. We’re a pretty typical Canadian family. When I was younger we lived in a small town (Almonte) in the province of Ontario, Canada. Approximately 5000 people live in Almonte. It is located 30 kilometres from Ottawa, the capital city of Canada.

My family is currently made up of five people. My dad, Ron, is on the left-hand side of the picture. He is married to my mom, Leslie (she’s the one in the blue dress). My parents have been married for 35 years! Together they had two children, Leigh (the one in the wedding dress) and me, Rachel. I’m the one in the black dress. In this picture my sister, Leigh, has just gotten married to her fiancée, Andrew (he’s the one in the grey suit!). This picture was taken in July 2012.

Activity 1

Now that you have met my family it is time to think about your own family. On your blog tell us about your family. How many people are in your family? Do you have any brothers or sisters? What are their names?

I have several members in my family, literally. All together there are 15 people in my family including my parents. If you haven't figured it out already, there are 13 children in my family which is including myself. I have 8 brothers, the youngest being 2 and the oldests being 16. I have 4 sisters, the youngest being 6 and the oldest girl being 19. In my family there are 2 sets of twins (Viliami and Kuea. Sione and Mateaki). All of my siblings name are Tongan, we are all named after a relative of our parents. For example, I was name after my Dad’s mum. My dad’s name is Sione Vikilani, who my older brother is named after. My mum’s name is Nolini.

Brothers

Saia- 2 years old

Manu- 4 years old

Soane- 8 years old

Viliami and Kuea- 9 years old

Siosifa- 14 years old

Sione and Mateaki- 16 years old

Girls

Mele Palu- 6 years old

Telesia- 11 years old

Luisa (Me)- 12 years old

Maryanne(Meleane)- 17 years old

Lucinda- 19 years old

This photo was taken last year, after church.

Meet my family :). See if you can match the faces to their names. Good luck.

Activity 2

Some families are very large and some are very small. Some of the smallest families are found in China where parents are allowed, by law, to have only one child. This is quite different from countries like America (U.S.A.) where some families have as many as 19 or 20 children. It is rare but it does happen!

In America, there is actually a family with 19 children who have their own television show called ’19 Kids and Counting.’ All 19 children have the same two parents (Jim Bob and Michelle) and every single one of the children has a name starting with the letter ‘J.’ The oldest children is a boy named Josh and the youngest is a girl named Josie. Amazing!

If you’d like to see a small clip from the show, follow this link: 19 Kids and Counting

Imagine that you were one of the Duggar children and you had 18 brothers and sisters. What do you think it would be like to have so many sisters and brothers living with you in one house? On your blog please tell us what you would like and what you wouldn’t like about living in such a large family.

It is really great to have a big family, coming from a girl who lives with 12 kids. But there are also cons to living with such a big number of people.

Good reasons-

1. Your siblings got you back no matter what
2. Sooner or later, your siblings would be able to drive. Which means movies every week ;)
3. Cleaning becomes much faster with more hands
4. As the older kids getting jobs, there is more money to support the family
5. It’s more fun with lots more siblings

Bad reasons

1. Sometimes the attention could fall upon the youngest or the oldest
2. More mess in the house
3. More money spent on getting food, clothes, shoes for the children
4. Anything good you receive could end up being turned over to someone or taken by your siblings
5. The food runs out quickly. You buy 4 loaves of bread, 3 gone in one day.

Bonus Activity

Choose a family member and conduct a short interview. In the interview ask them five questions about themselves:

1. What is your name?

Lucinda

2. Where were you born?

Tonga

3. How many siblings do you have?

12

4. What is your favourite thing about living in New Zealand?

“Uhm..Health care, like we get to go to the doctors for free and I think that's pretty cool. I like wealth fare for people who are struggling, people are taking care of people other than other countries”- Her own words

5. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? Why?

Spain. Because of the culture, the food and their churches.