Rest in eternal peace Sir Mekere

HE is Sir Mekere Morauta, a former prime minister of Papua New Guinea and current Moresby North West MP but to his family, he is a husband, father, uncle, grandfather and a sibling.
The loss of a sibling in adulthood can have many meanings.
It is the loss of a brother or sister who shared a unique co-history with you.
This person was an integral part of your formative past, for better or worse.
Sir Mekere shared common memories, along with critical childhood experiences and family history.
When death takes your brother or sister, it also takes away one of your connections to the past.
That brother or sister knew you in a very special way, unlike those who know you now as an adult.
Family tributes show he loved his family so much that he went out of his way to provide things for them and that is something they will miss.
Sir Mekere was the only child of dad Morauta Hasu and mum Morikoai Elavo.
But his parents brought seven other children up in the family as well, who all regarded each other as brothers and sisters.
Three of them had passed on.
Now with Sir Mekere gone, four remain.
One brother said: “He looked after every one of us.
He bought us a block of land at 15-Mile outside Port Moresby.
“We all live there now”.
“Sir Mekere was a kind man.
“He looked after all of us, our children and grandchildren, paid their school fees and met other obligations. “He even reached out to our aunties and uncles and extended families. He never forgot us.
“He made sure we were taken care off well even while he was overseas.
“We are all people from the village and we did not make it in our education.
“But he thought of us and helped us to where we are now.”
His friend Ross Garnaut shared this during his funeral service in Brisbane and we feel it is fitting to be repeated”
Sir Mekere was born in the village of Kukipi, on the beach where the Lakekamu and Tauri Rivers reach the sea.
Where you travel by canoe or stay at home.
Home near the water.
Place of sago and fish.
Coconuts near the beach.
Pineapples, buai, bananas and some tubers on each pocket handkerchief of sand that lifts its back above the swamp.
A Papuan villager, who never forgot the joys of bare feet on wet boards of canoe and boat, sand between the toes, and live fish straight from the river and the sea; who died listening to the recording of Toaripi hymns sung by his cousin sisters, and of Ivore, the traditional songs unique to Mekere’s Savora Ipi clan of the Toaripi Tribe, sung for him by his two surviving aunts, Moreare and Kauoti Hasu.
Sir Mekere holds a symbolic place in the life of his siblings, Lady Roslyn and James, the people of Gulf, his Moresby North West electorate and Papua New Guinea.
His legacy will live on.
Sariva Lariva Sir Mekere!