Descendants of Manuel Jose have been waiting for two centuries
to learn where they originated from.
Rapaera Tawhai met with them this morning at the airport,
as they were preparing to fly out to Spain
to reconnect with their Spanish origins.
This Maori family are flying out to their ancestors' homeland.
It's to build the bridge for our younger generations.
This trip is to strengthen the ties with Spain.
Koro Dewes told me there are three questions for Maori.
Who are you? Who do you come from?
Where are you from?
We knew of our ancestor, Manuel Jose,
but we didn't know where he was from.
Jose Manuel came to NZ to the Ngati Porou region in the 19th century.
He married five Maori women.
It's said that there are 16,000 of his descendants.
We've met some descendants of Manuel Jose's sister,
so they'll be waiting for us there.
We plan to have a look around and find out more about our homeland.
Last year, their relations from Spain came to NZ.
Now 30 or so family members will be going to Valverde Del Majano
to their ancestor's birthplace.
It's great. I get to meet them face to face and that makes me happy
because I can see my ancestor in them and their parents.
Other than that, they have other plans as well.
I want to see the bull fights as well.
That's what I want to do, even if my legs aren't up to scratch.
I want to see how it's done.
They are also hoping to build a Maori meeting house there
as a home for the descendants of Jose Manuel.
Rapaera Tawhai, Te Karere.
