Horror of losing parents in Muriwai drowning setting in for refugee orphans
Wednesday, 18 July 2018
Food and money will be of most immediate help to the nine orphans of a couple who drowned at a West Auckland beach, those supporting them say.
Mu Thu Pa Ukay and her husband Kay Dah Ukay fell into the sea while fishing from rocks at Muriwai beach on July 16.
They left behind nine children aged from 7 to 29 years old.
The parents migrated to New Zealand in 2008 from a Karen community refugee camp on the Thai-Myanmar border, eventually settling in Henderson, West Auckland.
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The reality of the situation was beginning to sink in for the younger children, Karen community leader and family spokeswoman Cicilia Dwe said.
She said the couple's youngest child was starting to call out for his parents and asking to sleep with them at night as he usually did.
He was also speaking about death as he gradually began to understand what had happened, she said.
The siblings were currently all together and attending appointments with different agencies to set up long-term assistance but donations of food and money in the short-term would be welcomed, Dwe said.
The cost of the two funerals was the most important factor for the family to sort out urgently.
The employer of two of the drowning victims' sons has also set up a Givealittle page to help the family with expenses.
That page had raised more than $16,000 by Wednesday afternoon.
The money raised from the page would go towards funeral costs, possible travel costs if any family members needed to come over, and any other associated costs.
West Auckland residents had also banded together to organise supermarket vouchers and prezzy cards for the family.
Rebecca Rodgers said she wanted to help because hearing of the tragedy had broken her heart. 'I just couldn't imagine those poor children having to now live their life without their parents.'
Two of the children were fishing with their parents when the pair were swept into the sea.
Tha Dah Paw and Jay said their father had just hooked a big fish when he was swept into the surf off slippery rocks.
His wife tried to save him by holding a fishing rod out to him, while Tha Dah Paw held onto her, but the mother also fell into the water.
Lifeguards and emergency services rushed to the beach and desperately tried to save them, but it was too late.