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It's all in family for the ACT's new flyer
BY JOHN-PAUL MOLONEY Canberra Times
8/11/2008 9:32:00 AM
It was his first plane trip and it was one Alfi Mafi desperately didn't want to take.
He was a nine-year-old Tongan kid and he was being uprooted from the carefree world he knew and sent away to Australia to live. He didn't even have a suitcase to take.
Mafi cried, screamed and kicked as he was virtually shoved onboard the flight by the family members he loved and trusted.
His terror came from knowing that the only people waiting for him at Sydney airport were strangers. These strangers were his parents.
The new ACT Brumbies wing recruit revealed this week his extraordinary tale of separation and reunion with a family he never knew existed.
In 1997, the couple Mafi grew up believing to be his parents, Angina and Taipe Vaka, sat him down at their home on the island of Tongatapu to announce that they were actually his grandparents.
His real parents, Eluina and Elenoa Mafi, had left him and seven siblings behind in Tonga when he was just one to set up a new life in Sydney.
When the time came, eight years later, that they could afford to reunite their big family, it was the first time Mafi learned the identity of the people in Australia who had always sent him Christmas and birthday presents.
''It was a shock. I didn't want to leave Tonga, but they pretty much forced me to,'' Mafi recalled.
''They put me on a plane and said goodbye to me. I was kicking and screaming.''
It's easy to imagine the trauma that would have been written on young Mafi's face during the four-hour flight over the Pacific.
But proving the power of blood to overcome distance and time, when he reached the arrival gate he felt an immediate connection with the smiling family waiting for him.
''I met them and I just knew they were my parents. I don't know what made me run, but I ran up and jumped on my dad and he piggybacked me the whole way out the door.
''One of the funniest memories I have of the day was stopping at Maccas on the way home. I'd never had a Big Mac. It was one of the best days of my life.''
While family separation and family secrets can often lead to bitterness and resentment, Mafi understands why his parents had left him and his siblings behind.
''They came out here to look for a new life. There was just too many of us.
''When they were able to, it was about reuniting the family and giving us more opportunity.''
Like his parents, who now have 12 children, Mafi has made his own move for opportunity.
While he had been marked for big things during his time at the Waratahs, one large obstacle stood in his way Lote Tuqiri.
Recognising he had little chance of dislodging the veteran Wallaby from his preferred right wing, Mafi accepted an offer to join the Brumbies.
He said Tuqiri had taught him plenty of tricks which he hoped would help him press for a starting position in Canberra next season.
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Originally Posted by travelling_gerry
