“One evening my wife and I had a knock at the door. It was two young adults from our community who were in a relationship. They both had bright futures ahead of them and, unforeseen to them, the girl had fallen pregnant. Both felt they couldn’t turn to their parents. They felt it was too late and they knew what they were going to do. It was almost like they wanted to lean on us. We had to put our faith aside. Although we didn’t believe in abortion they needed our support and that was more important at that time. It’s nice that young people come to us and can be open and not feel judged. We did encourage them to talk to their parents but they had already made up their mind to have an abortion.
The first day after they had gone through with the abortion, they came over devastated. They just realised that a life was no more. The decision they made was out of fear and they couldn’t go back. We don’t judge, critique or criticize our young people because they need us to support them and listen. That’s what is important to us. We allowed this young couple to mourn and continue to support them now.
Young people, especially many of our Pasifika and Maori kids, don’t know who to turn to when life becomes difficult. With the suicide rate at its highest and social media contributing to bullying, relationship difficulties, abuse and depression, it’s even more important that we make time to talk to and listen to our kids.”
