A 9-year-old girl is determined to honour her dad's memory on Thursday when families gather to remember those killed in the Pike River Mine disaster.
Thursday marks the 10th anniversary of the Pike River Mine disaster that killed 29 men on the West Coast.
Their deaths left behind 32 children, including a little girl who never got to meet her father.
Rachel Weaver was just 17 weeks pregnant with now 9-year-old Erika when the explosion happened. Erika, born months later, never got to meet her dad Josh Ufer, who was so looking forward to meeting her.
"He was already over the moon," Weaver told Newshub.
Erika still struggles to even talk about her dad who was just 25-years-old when he died but on Thursday she'll make a speech in his honour.
In total 32 children lost their fathers to the Pike River Mine tragedy - many of them too young to know a life with their fathers in it.
Kalani Nieper enjoys looking at old baby photos with his dad Kane. Photos are all he has of his dad today - he was just 19-months-old when the Pike River Mine exploded with his dad, Kane Nieper, inside.
"I do feel sad but I also don't really know how I feel," Kalani said. "I was too young to really remember much."
"I would wonder - how it could've been or how much it would be different, or literally it would just pretty much be the same except my dad would be here."
The children's mothers have had to be fathers too - showing incredible strength amid such tragedy to keep going.
"I left him at home - dropped to the ground, bawled my eyes out basically and then picked myself up again and said, 'right let's do this, pull yourself together and get going', and that's what I've done ever since," Kloe Nieper said.
