'NEIGHBOURHOOD' THEME Captions by Kate Parkinson. Edited by Virginia Philp. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2016 RELAXED PIANO MUSIC Mt Albert Rd cuts through one of Auckland's oldest suburbs. There's still a few stately homes from the colonial era on the volcano that gives the area its name. RELAXED MUSIC CONTINUES I'm Anglo-Indian, which means I have an Indian mother and a British father. They met in Fiji and then came here in the '60s. We must have seemed really exotic to everyone else, but to me, we were just a normal family. These days, Mt Albert is a far more colourful and diverse community. In this episode of Neighbourhood, we're gonna meet some of the new residents who call Mt Albert Rd home. An Italian woman dishes up her favourite family fare. I tell my daughter the exact recipes, because what I found with my grandma was, like, 'Oh, a bit of this, a bit of that,' and` but, you know, when you do it, you know, but when you are learning, it's, like, very hard. We'll hear a story of World War II bravery, preserved by the local Carmelite nuns. It was made by a Dutch prisoner in the Japanese camp on the Burma railway track. He used his mess plate to fashion it into this monstrance. I think he used a nail and a stone to fashion it. A young man from Papua New Guinea turns his life experience into song. What reflects a lot out of my music, the Papua New Guinean side, is the melody, because in PNG, everyone is playing guitars, everyone is singing, and to me, that's why I got a good, strong sense of things that will catch people and hooks and different things. And we'll discover some of the challenges still faced by migrants to NZ. There was a period when I wouldn't even walk down Queen Street; I would take back roads, cos I didn't like being stared at. Um, it was really difficult. I'm Colin Mathura-Jeffree, and this is my neighbourhood! 'NEIGHBOURHOOD' THEME PENSIVE ELECTRONICA MUSIC I've always been proud of my heritage. So when people used to call me a 'curry muncher', I'd always agree. In an ideal world, racism would be a thing of the past, but, you know, sadly, it's not. A couple of years ago, I was at an event, and the weirdest thing happened ` someone approached me and said, you know, at the head table, 'It's an incredible honour for you to be here,' and I was, like, 'Why is that?' and they said, 'Well, your people are over there,' and she gestured towards the Indian waiters. I` Naturally, I was horrified, and I stood up, and I just said, 'I'm out of here.' And I left, and ` where else to go ` I went home to Mum, and Mum said, 'You know, Colin, you should have taken the waiters with you and paid their wages. 'It's offensive on so many levels.' It breaks my heart that there are still people in multicultural NZ that stereotype people on the basis of race and culture. SLOW ELECTRONICA MUSIC My family were very proud to be Nigerian, and I'm really glad they were, but at the time, when I was growing up, I was quite embarrassed, because you know, my name is very Nigerian, and I used to get teased a lot about my name. During the weekends, at Sundays and things ` because our church was quite close to my school ` I'd always be worried that somebody from school would see us, and my` my family always dressed up in their Sunday best, which is their Nigerian outfits, and we'd al` they'd always get stared at, and I was like, 'Oh, I don't wanna be seen with them.' And I was actually quite resentful of my parents for not giving me an English name. My name is Chinwe Akomah, and I was born in London, England. RELAXED ACOUSTIC GUITAR MUSIC I realised that I was OK` or I was happy being Nigerian and happy being a black woman when I was in my early 20s. And it's probably when I started seeing other people with Nigerian backgrounds embracing their own identity, their own roots, but also they're, you know, being from the UK, you know, they just mixed it up; it was a dual heritage, and it was` I saw some really` I met some really incredible, um, women my age, who were just really proud of their heritage, really proud to be of mixed heritage and mixed culture. But unfortunately, that's just a process I had to go through to be happy in my own skin. My parents moved from Nigeria to the UK for the same reasons I moved from the UK to NZ ` they wanted a better standard of living and a better way of life, and the UK offered that to them. My mum, my dad, my aunties ` yeah, they were really proud, um, to be Nigerian, but they were equally proud to be British and happy to be in the UK and, you know, didn` just didn't have a bad word to say about the UK or Nigeria. My mum is wearing a traditional Nigerian outfit in this photo. It was quite` It's quite a cool outfit, and yet, at the time, I'd be like, 'What is that?' But I really quite like it, quite like it now. Guess this is where I get my love of jewellery from. I moved to NZ because I wanted a work-life balance; I wanted to see a different side of the world; I wanted to make it on my own; I wanted to see if I could make it on my own. So, coming to Auckland, I` I guess I don't know what I expected, but I guess not seeing so many people like me was quite difficult to adjust to, and I thought, 'Oh, well, I'm in the heart of the city. I'm in one of` the biggest city in NZ, 'so surely I'll see people of all different races, and I'll see other black people,' and I didn't, and that was really difficult. I would see, like, one a week, when before I would see hundreds a day, you know. There was a period when I wouldn't even walk down Queen Street; I would take back roads, cos I didn't like being stared at. Um, it was really difficult. There's this big issue about social isolation and just being overwhelmed and unsupported and not knowing where to go for what and not even knowing where to start to` to find information. And what should you be looking for? So, I work at Auckland Regional Migrant Services, and we are based on Mt Albert Rd, in Three Kings. I thought, 'Well, what if we just had events for social connection?' So people can make friends and not feel socially isolated and not feel alone, and they can meet other migrants, who go through the same thing. So I decided to team up with the, um, West Auckland Newcomers Network, which do similar things. So today at ARMS, we are having a social event, celebrating the holidays. It's a festive potluck lunch, where we invite all our ethnic communities to come by and have a shared lunch and celebrate Kiwi Christmas. Here in NZ, it's Christmas, but for others, it could be Diwali or Chinese New Year or Hanukkah or something like that, so it's a chance for everybody to share in festivities but also bring their own culture to this, um, event as well. INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS When we first came to NZ, me and my wife, there wasn't such an organisation, so, as a result, um, that's how we came about to set up Newcomers Network in West Auckland. We like to meet people from other countries. We` We were in another event two months ago, and we` we met people from other country, people who` who have, uh, the same dreams and the same experience as us, and we thought was good to know those people. So, this sort of event makes me really happy. When I see people talking and connecting, it makes me really` it makes me feel like I'm actually doing something worthwhile, and it makes me feel really warm. It's a priceless feeling. GENTLE PIANO MUSIC Mt Albert Grammar School is one of the largest multicultural schools in NZ. In my day, not so much. At this school, we had a talk on cultural diversity when I was about 14 or 15 years old, and my friends announced, you know, in such a celebratory way that they thought, 'Colin's great because he's just like a white person.' And that statement just horrified me, because I'm not a white person, and I'm really happy in my own skin, to be ethnic and to be exotic. These days the school ` and, in fact, the entire neighbourhood ` is way better at helping young people celebrate difference and allowing each unique voice to be heard. COSMIC ELECTRONICA MUSIC Comparing it to here, PNG was more of a struggle sort of thing. That's what I really feel, and it's just` But` But it was always happy. I remember PNG being happy. That though we didn't have, I don't know, the infrastructure, the money like the other people, or, like, the riches, and the people were quite poor, I` I remember it being very happy, though, and very family` family-orientated. My name is Brent Joseph Sause, also known as Trigarow, and I was born in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. People's perception on PNG, I would have to say, is negative, somewhat negative, um, not as in, like, bad place or whatever, but just dangerous, I guess. But then there's also, like, the adventure side, which is, like, an unchartered territory. There's a lot of people who go try backpack and hiking and whatnot. I came to NZ in the year 2000, for sure, and it was because my dad was studying at Victoria University. He was getting his PhD. I would have to say I got involved in music when I was in NZ, because I was in the church choir, and I think` really in my formative years, like, every morning when I used to wake up, now that I think back, like, my mum used to use music as our alarm clock. So every morning we'd wake up, it was a different song. And then I really got into music, or rapping and making beats and whatnot, when I was 11 years old, and` when I was back in PNG, so, yeah. So, in 2010, I was` I was about to do my year 11, which was grade 10 in PNG, and, over here, that's when NCEA starts. They sent me here, so I ended up at Mt Albert Grammar, so I was at the boarding house. 'Blue and Yellow', well, basically, it's a video` it's on school pride, right. Um, me and two of my mates ` V.I.C and Daley, like I said ` we made this song, the video, and it's basically just celebrating being from Mt Albert and going to that school, but more so, just being part of this community, I guess, yeah. Yeah, it was on, like, 37,000 before I made it private, so it was doing quite good, and that was with no radio play, with no` no funding, no advertising. Just organic plays of people genuinely interested in what it was, so, yeah. I was` I'm pretty proud of that. In this room, what you see is really the bare essentials that I started out with, and I really believe it's not the gear, but it's the ear, and having` having equipment that's not as good as everyone else makes you work a little harder and makes you a little bit better. Like, it trains you a different way. DRUMBEAT ELECTRONICA MUSIC It was really good being signed, and I` especially because of where I came from and because it was` it was a real struggle. I never had no` no networking system or no family system where I could` yeah, 'Listen to my song,' and 'Please email him,' or, you know` I really had to do stuff from the ground up and really make things work, and, um, yeah, so it was really` it felt right, and I was really happy, because all my life, that was my aim. RAPS: # I dream bright lights and blue skies. Patience told me it will come in due times. # It's what he heard from the grapevine. On the end of that line, it was life, # cos he saw the light at the end of our tunnel's looking bright, uh. # So when I came here, when I got signed up, it was a bit of a relief because it-it worked ` all this belief and all what we're doing, it's working, so (STAMMERS) it was encouraging, put it that way. It was very encouraging when I got signed because it showed me that it is possible. It's possible. Yeah. # It come in stages. Everything is phases. # Guess that's why you have to start somewhere to end up at greatness, to go places. # Take the first step, like the baby bird leaving its nest. # With no regrets, put your best foot forward and don't look back. # And always set a new goal to help measure up where you at. # I think that what reflects a lot out of my music, the Papua New Guinean side, is the melody, because in PNG, everyone is playing guitars, everyone is singing, and to me, that's why I got a good, strong sense of my melodic` you know, creating melodies and things that will catch people and hooks and different things. # Happiness don't come soon, be like the rose that grew through concrete. # Be like the rose that's ready to bloom. Be like the rose that grew from concrete. # I see myself, definitely, as a role model to PNG kids, and not only just PNG, but just kids around here in general, and it feels good. # See like the game, where we just numbers on board, trying to tally up these points, # cos in the end, we trying to score. # Though we all have different goals, we all knockin' on that door, # trying to get the best from every situation, while we talk. # I don't think there's, like, many other people like him, who have the drive and, like, the actual passion, um, the belief and the courage to, like, you know, go places, but I believe in his music, and I believe in him. # Remember that you blessed, that you livin' in a house. # Roof protect you from the clouds, you have food to feed your mouth. # Got water to drink, when other people, they in drought, uh. # I just wanna be the biggest, the best well-rounded NZ rap artist that has ever done it. Period. That's where I see myself in my trajectory. That's what I feel in my heart, so` That's how it` Yeah, that's where I wanna be in future. # Be like the rose that grew from concrete. # Happiness gonna come soon. # Uh. # TRIGAROW'S 'ROSE' FADES OUT GENTLE PIANO MUSIC Alberton House is one of the treasures of the neighbourhood. The British family that built it lived in India and came here in the 1860s. It's very Anglo-Indian like me, with its sweeping verandas and magnificent turrets. GENTLE PIANO MUSIC CONTINUES My family have always loved this place. In fact, my mum bequeathed some of her saris to Alberton, and they use it when they have high tea or tiffin. Very British Raj. I grew up eating really exotic food and took it for granted everyone else did. So imagine my horror going to my friend's house, and they offered me curried sausages. I went home and told my mum and we both had a laugh about it. But food is the best way to share culture, and that's where the best conversations happen. THUMPING ELECTRONICA MUSIC I came to NZ for my studies. Uh, at the time, I was doing a PhD, and the PhD was funded by Plant & Food, through the Italian University of Bologna, I think one of the oldest universities in the world. And in the mean time, my husband found a job, so we said, 'Oh, we like here. Oh, let's stay.' And 10 years later, yeah, we're still here. (CHUCKLES) I work at Plant & Food Research, which is in Mt Albert, on Mt Albert Rd. I'm a plant scientist and specialise in, um, plant molecular physiology. Um, I work in a carbohydrate team. Uh, we look at the sugars and starch content in kiwifruit. What I love about my job is that it's sort of creative, but at the same time, you have to put a lot of thinking in it and, uh, create projects and try to understand, um, why things work in a certain way. That really fascinates me. GENTLE PIANO MUSIC I come from Italy, and my home town is called Cervia, which is in the northern part of Italy, in a region called Romania. Since I was little, I really liked watching my mum or my grandma, uh, cooking. I really was interested in cooking and learning. I just watch and learn by watching, and then start trying, and that's pretty much what happened with my daughter. She watches, and then she asks, 'Oh, can I try?' and then I let her do little bits. I'm gonna make crescioni, which is, um, a Piadina bread, uh, filled, um, with whatever you want, really. Probably I'm gonna have some, um, herbs in it, spinach and silverbeet, some cheese and also some tomato and mozzarella cheese. Yeah, this bread was always something special you were getting, um, when we were going out, because there are little kiosk in Italy where you can buy them from. They are just by the side of the road, so you stop by, and you say, 'I want one crescioni,' and they just prepare it on the spot, or` It's sort of our way of fast food. I tell my daughter the exact recipes, because what I found with my grandma was like, 'Oh, a bit of this, a bit of that,' and` but, you know, when you do it, you know, but when you're learning, it's, like, very hard to find this, so I was, like` I think I was a scientist probably back then, trying to understand what was the exact amount to have, whatever Grandma was making. GENTLE ELECTRONICA MUSIC For the filling, we can have herbs, such as spinach and silverbeet, with cheese, or tomato and mozzarella, and I don't know, whatever your imagination takes to, yeah. Can be creative. GENTLE ELECTRONICA MUSIC CONTINUES PAN SIZZLES Just sitting down with a few mates here, and` actually all Kiwi mates and no Italians, and, uh` Also because, as I said, I mean, I like to share the meal with Kiwis, because they need to also culturally improve in terms of understanding what good Italian food is. Hi, guys. How are you? Massi. How are you, mate? All good? Yeah, good to see ya. Who have you seen, Sara? Who is that? Hello, sweetheart. (SMOOCHES) There is Zoe. You have been waiting for a long time. Yeah. < Yum. That looks so good. < Mummy. Yummy yummy. < Yummy yummy, all right. What do you call those? I don't know. It depends from what region you are. From my place, they are called cassone. From Simiona's place, they are called crescioni. So they got two different names (CHUCKLES) according to where you live, and we are only 30km far apart from each other. Yes. INDISTINCT CHATTER, CUTLERY CHINKS Buon appetito. Oh, buon appetito. Buon appetito! Thank you so much. Cheers! Cheers. GLASSES CLINK I think it's great here for` for the kids to grow up in this environment, and, yeah, I don't really see myself living in a little apartment in a big city, because that's probably where I would end up. I mean, here we are in a quite big city, but still we got a garden, we got our house. You don't feel so tight and constrained. PENSIVE ELECTRONICA MUSIC My grandmother, Catherine Singh, did amazing things for the underprivileged in Fiji. So much so she got offered two OBEs from the Queen, but she turned them both down, because she believes you do charity because you're good and not to garner fame. So it's in her honour and for my other grandmother, Eileen, who suffered from Alzheimer's, that I became NZ's first champion for dementia. Some people lead such selfless lives that their stories continue to inspire others long after they've passed. GENTLE AWAKENING MUSIC The difference between, uh, Carmelites and the other religious, other religious are called to active work, when` like the corporal works, so teaching, nursing, all those wonderful vocations, and we're called to a life of prayer. It's not just daydreaming. We've got plenty to do, and we have to work to earn our living. We do that by making altar breads for the diocese. But our lives are meant to be prayer ` live prayer all the time ` and how we do that is if we're really trying to do what God wants to do, um, whatever in life, whether you're cooking or sweeping or` or, uh, digging or whatever, it's` it's living with God and taking to him all the aspirations, the prayers, the longings, the pains and the heartaches of the people. I'm Sister Francis, and I live in the Carmelite Monastery here on Mt Albert Rd. (PLAYS ORGAN) ALL SING HYMN I entered in` first on the 1st of July 1962, two weeks after my 21st birthday. ALL CONTINUE SINGING Generally, wake about 5 o'clock in the morning. We come down to the prayer at 10 to 6. 7.30 mass. After that we have a small part of the divine office called terce. That's the third hour. Uh, then we have breakfast break. I've just seen a monarch butterfly. Distraction, but isn't it gorgeous? (CHUCKLES) I'm sorry for that. I love history. It gives depth and value to everything in life. There's so much we've been built on by generation upon generation. It's... Well, I was gonna say 'awesome', but awesome's rather a corny word now. But it's kind of... you get 'wow' moments. A monstrance is the sacred vessel in which we place the consecrated host, and it is` so it is seen and placed on the altar for people to see and worship with quiet prayer. This is where we keep the little monstrance, and it was made by a Dutch prisoner in the Japanese camp, on the Burma railway track, and it was gifted to us from Father Gerard Bourke, who was a NZ priest. He was taken prisoner in Singapore, and he was ex` lived through that Burma trail. Father Gerard was sad that he never knew the Dutch prisoner's name. He used his mess plate to fashion it into this monstrance. I think he used a nail and a stone to fashion it. It's a very humble but much love went into it. So that was his mess plate. Before he was taken prisoner, he found the remains of a shot-down plane, Japanese plane. So that was the base. Um, another prisoner gave his old watch case, and we call that a lunette. It's where the sacred host` where the consecrated host is placed inside there. And it's put in here. This is very fragile. We use it maybe three or four times a year. And before we place the body of Christ on there, we place that corporal on there. And that's where it is. So a host is put in there, and it's placed on the altar in our chapel, when we have time of prayer. To me, it's the work of love. I mean, that dying man, he was, um` he'd spent his last energy in putting that together as a work of love. He knew he would never see it put into use, but he gave it to Father Gerard when he was dying, and he asked Father Gerard to use it. Whenever he told stories of the war, it was always to bring out the, um, heroicity of the men. It was very touching. I would be crying when I heard his stories. (CHUCKLES) No, they were very very touching, um, beautiful stories. READS: 'It had occurred to Father that the monstrance, made with materials both Allied and Japanese, 'stood as a symbol of peace.' When we were gifted this monstrance, Father Gerard Bourke had previously agreed to it being in, um, (SIGHS) the Australian War Memorial museum, and it would have just been on the shelf. He felt, then, it would be far better that it be used. That's why` And he just asked if we could at least use it several times a year. Because it is so fragile, we don't use it often, but we use it on special occasions. ELECTRONICA MUSIC My modelling career's taken me all over the world, and I know it's due to my ethnic look. People always ask me where I come from, because they think it's some place exotic, and I always say Mt Albert. I just love it. It's so culturally diverse. I mean, I grew up here, and I know everyone. It's so intimate, and yet, it's just so insanely cultural. It's my home. Captions by Kate Parkinson. Edited by Virginia Philp. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2016