The power of sharing MIRIAMA'S YEAR OF HEARTBREAK & HEALING

The trusted face of broadcasting explains how breaking her own rules led to a powerful TV moment

- Donna Fleming

There are some things all of us would like to put in the “too hard” basket. But Miriama Kamo is not one to shy away from a challenge, even if it means stepping way out of her comfort zone.

One of the toughest things the Sunday presenter has done in her long career in journalism is sharing her personal heartbreak in a story on TVNZ’s current affairs show. Last year she covered the issue of how people coped with losing a loved one during lockdown and the trauma of not being able to farewell them properly because of the restrictions.

She took the brave step of including what she and her whanau went through after her beloved father Raynol Kamo died on the first day of the level-four lockdown in August. Thankfully Auckland-based Miriama, who is one of five children, was able to get to Christchurch two days before her dad died and the borders were closed. However, navigating his tangi at level four was fraught with difficulty. They held on to his body, hoping alert levels would change quickly, but after seven weeks gave up – Raynol had to be buried whether the family could get to Christchurch or not. Gut-wrenching footage that screened as part of her Sunday story shows her sobbing while watching her dad’s tangi online.

Miriama, 48, says it took her a while to decide to put herself in the story, in which she interviewed two bereaved people about the impact of losing loved ones during lockdown.