Grandpa's Song . . . Vika & Linda Bull

This song was written for their grandfather, it is sung by Linda although it is Vika's story. . . . It tells of Vika aged five being picked up after school by her visiting grandfather, he had just arrived from Tonga. He was a very proud and strong man and he turned up wearing a shirt, his Tupenu (a wrap or a long skirt ) and sandals on his feet. None of her school friends had ever seen anything like it, men were supposed to wear trousers. She was so angry and embarassed by him that she yelled that she would see him at home. She marched off and he followed, giggling to himself. To this day she says she regrets what she did. She shunned him for being Tongan and for what he was wearing. Today she says that she is "proud of her Tongan heritage and of her Australian heritage, and thanks her parents for teaching her this".