Moeapulu Frances Tagaloa was repeatedly abused from the age of five to seven by a popular Catholic brother who taught at a school, which neighboured the primary school she attended in Auckland, New Zealand. - REUTERS
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00:00I didn't remember my abuse until I was an adult and started getting flashbacks and that was very
00:09traumatic, experiencing that trauma, so I had to work through that. It took a while, get counselling
00:15and all sorts. He was a popular and well-known teacher but he was also a pedophile. Unfortunately
00:23there were other little girls that he also abused. So 20 years later the commission comes around
00:30and then I decide, well this is what I need. I need to tell my story, I need them to know
00:35what my story was. So that's how I got involved. I had to tell them about the abuse,
00:42especially my two sons and that was one of the hardest things I've ever done.
00:47Having to tell them what happened to me, it was hard for them. I saw in them the hurt
01:01and some of the pain that I had felt a little bit too and just not being able to
01:11understand how this could ever happen. And also being boys, feeling like they couldn't
01:19have protected their mum as well. So that was the hardest thing, was to tell them.
01:26But they were so supportive and I'm so thankful when my sons will be here today
01:31walking with me in the Hikoi and in Parliament.