Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu – Moving on from Gloriavale

Roimata Tarawa and Leah Menage, with Anna Brankin – Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu – 31/03/2017

“There’s a saying I love,” says Leah Menage. “‘Life is for living, so get a straw and suck it dry.’ To me that means seize every opportunity that you can and never give up.”

This message is particularly poignant for Leah, who grew up believing that she was not entitled to many of the opportunities that most of us take for granted – simple things like holding a driver’s licence, opening a bank account, and choosing who to marry. She spent her childhood in the community that we now know as Gloriavale Christian Community. “I never knew how restrictive it was, because it was just my life. I didn’t know anything else until I left,” says Leah. “A woman’s role was to get married and have children. I never thought about studying or having a career because it just wasn’t an option there.”

Read more here: https://ngaitahu.iwi.nz/our_stories/tk73-moving-on-from-gloriavale/