THE Manega family’s flight home to Papua New Guinea at the end of this month will be a bitter-sweet affair.
The joy will be that Tau, 55, and Serena, 53, will be returning to Port Moresby with their youngest daughter, Rogea, able to enjoy life as a healthy 11-year-old.
She was the reason the family had to uproot and move to Brisbane more than five years ago. She needed life-saving treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Rogea’s illness is in remission, and her good health is the reason the Immigration Department has decided not to renew the family’s visas.
Serena says there will also be joy as she, Tau, Rogea and other daughters, Anna, 16, and Cathy, 14, are reunited with other family members, Robbie, 33, Trudi, 28, Timo, 22, and Hoada, 19.
The downside, apart from leaving behind new friends, is that Tau and Serena know the hardship they have endured in Australia will continue in Port Moresby as they struggle to re-establish their lives there.
And they also know Rogea has to return to Brisbane next April for a check-up with specialists at the Mater Hospital.
