Captions by Shrutika Gunanayagam. Edited by Alana Drayton. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2016 POIGNANT MUSIC POIGNANT MUSIC CONTINUES My home is Green Bay, south-west of Auckland on the Manukau Harbour between the vibrant village of Titirangi and the busy hub of Blockhouse Bay. Green Bay is home to around 4000 people. It's traditionally an older, Pakeha demographic, but these days, it's getting a lot more diverse. Around 30% of the residents here were born overseas. After English, the most common language spoken is Hindi. I grew up in Zimbabwe, went to university in Dunedin and later lived in Wellington for many years. Now that I'm up in Auckland, I've chosen Green Bay to put down roots because I love the community feel. Some of the locals offer some great insights into what makes it so unique. In this episode of Neighbourhood, we'll set the table for a traditional Persian new year. I believe in the old, old days, the things they had on the table, it was very good symbols for their life to start the new year. A Chinese man helps his elders communicate at a crucial time in life. (SPEAKS MANDARIN) Order. 'If they don't know English very well, they may have many hurdles in their life.' It's hard to communicate with the government agencies, with the hospitals, with neighbours, and it's hard for them to get familiar with the life here. A woman with Japanese heritage born in Peru serves up some treats for the Green Bay locals,... Usually, on Fridays when we wanted to go out for dinner, it's nothing really around, so that's why my husband, Marc, create Green Bay Street Food. ...and a Malaysian Indian man shares the way travel has brought his creativity into focus. One of my lecturers told me was, 'If you're here in this degree to find a job after this, (CHUCKLES) 'you're in the wrong degree.' I'm Robyn Paterson, and this is my neighbourhood. LIGHT ELECTRONIC MUSIC MELLOW ELECTRIC GUITAR RIFF At my first school in Zimbabwe, I ended up being the only white kid, and inevitably, I got teased. I used to love swimming, but I started avoiding it, because in the changing rooms, some of the other kids would point and laugh at my skin, and I was desperate to keep it covered up. I remember being at an interschool swim meet, in the pool about to start a race, when I got told to get out and leave because I wasn't welcome. It was deeply humiliating. I didn't understand why, because I was only a kid and too young to grasp the post-independence politics that were escalating at the time. As a Pakeha, most people don't expect me to have experienced anything like that, but I'll always be grateful for it, because it's given me an empathy for people who find themselves in a minority situation. There can't be many things more distressing than feeling isolated in a country that you consider home. BIRDS CHIRP MAN AND CHILD CONVERSE IN MANDARIN My name is Haipeng Sun. That's my Chinese name, and I also have an English name ` Eddie. It's easy for the Europeans to say my name. CHILD LAUGHS My wife is Jin Li. My daughter is Jiayi. JIN LI: Ooh. > BOTH LAUGH I think it's quite wise for us to come to NZ, yeah, cos this is really a better place for us and for our daughter. Back in China, the biggest problem would be the education. The education expenses would be very expensive, yeah, but in NZ the burden is very very little. Yeah, also, the education here is quite good, because not much burden on her, and she could learn quickly and grow up very healthfully. I was born in a coastal city, Quingdao, in China. I came to NZ in 2001 as an international student. Uh, when I arrived, I had a very good command of English, cos I had learnt English back in China for many years. The biggest challenge for new migrants to NZ is the language. Yeah, they need to grasp the language well before they can settle down here. I help the new migrants with their language ability, because I understand the new migrants; if they don't know English very well, they may have much hardship in their life. That's what I see from my wife and from myself. So, yeah, I'm very happy to be a volunteer English. Hi. (SPEAKS MANDARIN) STUDENTS: Hi. (SPEAKS MANDARIN) I'm teaching the villagers in this retirement village ` six of them. They are all elderly people and retired. Fast food. (SPEAKS MANDARIN) They are Chinese. They speak very very little English. They have been here quite long, but in their life, they didn't have much chance to speak English. Yeah, some of them have been there almost 10 years, but their life is very limited. They rely very much on their children to help them. (SPEAKS MANDARIN) Order. STUDENTS: Order. > Order. STUDENTS: Order. > Order. < Yes. < Mary? Au-der. < Order. Order. < Good. Good. < Yun? Order. < Yeah, that's right. Order. < Yeah. < Jack? Order. < Good. If they don't know English very well, they may have many hurdles in their life. It's hard to communicate with the government agencies, with the hospitals, with neighbours. It's hard for them to... get familiar with the life here. Sometimes they don't understand the letters from their landlords, from Housing NZ, so when` when we started this class, they could bring some letter for me to translate for them. So I also teach them this, this, this, this. So if they know a bit English, it's easier in their life. (SPEAKS MANDARIN) Place an order. WOMAN: Place an order. > (SPEAKS MANDARIN) (SPEAKS MANDARIN) Place. Place... an order. (SPEAKS MANDARIN) Place... an order. Yeah, I can see the differences in their life, and especially when they say something with their neighbours, they could know more new friends. Yeah, I can see the big difference in their lives. I'm very happy to, uh, class. To come to... ...to English class. Ummm, I thanks for, uh, NZ, uh, (SPEAKS MANDARIN). < Mm-hm. Government. (SPEAKS MANDARIN) < Government. Gov` Government. Government. < NZ government. STUDENTS: Government. Government. I enjoy teaching them very much, cos first of all, I can have some local teaching experience, and then they are really nice people. And, also, the teaching has given me a very, uh, rewarding feeling that I'm part of their life and I'm also helping somebody. BIRDS CHIRP DISTANTLY REFLECTIVE ACOUSTIC GUITAR MUSIC When we got off the plane from Zimbabwe, I remember I was wearing a pink dress, (CHUCKLES) and my little brother was dressed in a shirt and tie. We must've looked like a family that had stepped (CHUCKLES) straight outta the 1950s. NZ was so different from anything I'd ever seen before. The closest reference point I had for it was books I'd read about England. I remember being convinced that I was gonna run into The Famous Five at any moment. I've always loved travel, and I've been lucky, because filmmaking has taken me to some pretty interesting places, and I've been able to experience the tastes of many different cultures. REFLECTIVE PIANO MUSIC Here in NZ, many people, when they look at me, they think that I'm Chinese, Korean or Filipino, but then when they hear me talking in Spanish, they` they look, like, surprised. My name is Cecilia. I was born in Peru ` in Lima, Peru. I grew up speaking Spanish, cos I'm the third generation of Japanese in Peru, so I'm completely Peruvian in a way. My parents used to own a restaurant in Lima, Peru. Uh, they used to sell, um, Peruvian dishes. Peruvian food, they have a lot of influence of Mediterranean as well as Spanish. Uh, we have, as well, Moroccan, um, influence. To get the ingredients to make Peruvian dish is kinda hard, because we use spices that` they are not here in NZ; especially in Peru, just in Peru, but I find out replacement for the spices, like cumin. We use cumin. Like, it's very similar to one of our spices in Peru. GENTLE PIANO MUSIC I have two children. Usually, on Fridays when we wanted to go out for dinner, it's nothing really around, so that's why my husband, Marc, come with the idea of create Green Bay Street Food. Hi, guys. Hi. Smells great. Sweetheart. We have our own food truck, called Mama Tahina. How was school? Good. Good? We sell Mediterranean street food in our food truck, but, uh, three weeks ago, uh, we introduced one Peruvian dish, which is Pan con Chicharron. It's a sandwich with pork. So, we are making here, and we put some cumin. After that, I put in the Karma Cola. Secret, uh, someone from Peru told me this gives nice flavour and colour. My mum taught me to cook. She always was in the restaurant, and I was always there with her. Uh, what I like about this, uh, dish, is, um, because bring` brings me back, um, Peru ` the flavour of the cumin, the onions, bread. My husband, Marc, was in Japan teaching English. I met him there. I was, like, 20 years old when I went to Japan. I had my older sister living there, and he told me always that he wanted to come here, so that's why we came here with backpacks to try, and, yeah, we like it. GENTLE, IDYLLIC MUSIC Green Bay Street Food has been running since the end of January. We have a good response with the community. They say that they like it because they can meet all the neighbours. They can bring the kids, so the kids play while the parents are eating and listen to good music. In Lima, especially, you can be around 11 o'clock and people still eating food, you know, dance in the street, listen to music. Mama Tahina, it kinda plays, uh, a bit of respect to the Mediterranean mamas that I've seen on my travels, um, cooking by the roadside, cooking some of the best food around, and, uh, Tahina is our` is our sauce; it's a sesame seed paste ` tahini, people know it as, and, uh, so we though Mama Tahina would work really well with a Mediterranean, motherly, uh, food truck. How's it going? Can I get the, um, uh` the kid's triple and the vegan salad with halloumi? We have a very good feedbacks about, um, our Mediterranean food. CHATTER One Peruvian Burger. OK, so, we braise the pork for nearly one and half hour, and now, um, I slice the pork and now shallow fry them. I remember eating that Pan con Chicarron as a child. Even if you go to Lima, to Peru, you will see that dish everywhere. We put some aioli first and then the pork. Now we put the sweet potatoes, and the last one is the salsa criolla, which is red onions with coriander and lemon juice. It's one` one Peruvian Burger. OK. Right, yup. And the next one is coming soon. All right. Oh, it's been an amazing six months of, uh` of trading, and I never would've dreamed it'd be like this. It's been fantastic. NZ's my home now. I've been living here for nearly` it will be 10 years now. So, yeah, we have our house, two kids, our dog. (CHUCKLES SOFTLY) We are very happy here, especially in Green Bay. BIRDS CHIRP POIGNANT PIANO MUSIC I realised I was gay, came out and hit the media in the same week. I don't recommend that. (CHUCKLES) When we first met, my wife, Paula, had just written a book about two teenage girls falling in love. It was being highly praised and hotly debated at the same time. Meanwhile, my dad was building notoriety of his own as a Presbyterian minister staunchly against homosexuality within the church. So both Paula and my father were very publicly on opposite sides of the fence, and there was no middle ground for me when we met. FOOTSTEPS APPROACH > Ooh, can I be red? No. Why? ALL CHUCKLE You can be green. (SIGHS) OK. (CHUCKLES) All though it took my dad a while to come round, he always recognised that what he felt was discriminatory. Back in the day, his sister had been rejected by the church for her interracial marriage, and he did see the parallel. He went on to become a supporter of gay and lesbian ministers. Sometimes it just takes a little time or distance to get perspective on what's important in life. CAMERA WHIRRS REFLECTIVE PIANO MUSIC I came to NZ in 2008. I came here to study automotive engineering. When I started that, I had bought a camera. I thought, 'Why not, you know, document my experiences here? 'I'm coming here on my own.' And while I was at Unitec, I was, uh, attending all-day events that was hosted by the student association. They approached me after a couple of months saying, 'Do you want to work for us, 'just shooting our events, covering our events?' I basically decided to enrol myself into Bachelor of Design and Visual Arts, Photography and Media Arts at Unitec. I didn't tell my parents (CHUCKLES) until I was confirmed. The value systems here are different. Malaysia, it's quite commercial. In the city that I live in, it's all about what job you have, what car you're driving, what you earn. One of the main things one of my lecturers told me was, 'If you're here in this degree to find a job after this, (CHUCKLES) you're in the wrong degree,' and I was laughing inside. I was like... because I just told my parents that there are heaps of jobs, but I knew that this sort of industry, it's all about... the connections you make with other people; that's how you progress. POIGNANT PIANO MUSIC My preferred subject matter is landscape, wildlife. BIRD CALLS I'm at Green Bay Beach, by Karaka Park. There's a few things of interest at the place. One is definitely the light ` how the light looks, how it's falling on the scene ` and also the environment the landscape's located in, like, you know, seascape, anything that catches the eye. Basically, I'm doing my interpretation of what the place is. You know people say, like, 'Oh, that place has been photographed many times,' but, well, I haven't gone there, and I haven't done it, so I'm gonna give it a go anyway. If something comes from it, that's good; if something doesn't, that all right either. As long as I'm shooting something, that's` I'm happy. CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS, BIRD SQUAWKS It's quite peaceful. It's strange to see that you can just live in a suburb here and then you've got... well, coast (CHUCKLES) and a beach. That's not, uh` Wherever I used to live before, you had to drive a few hours (CHUCKLES) to get to a beach. So that's one thing I like about NZ, that the water is not (CHUCKLES) very far away from things. The untouched landscape, I mean, it does hold strong significance for me. Landscapes change over a great period of time, but it's still nice to see how things` the way they were before the impact of people. What I love about photography now is I like the documentary aspect, cos in today's day and age, we don't know how long things are gonna be around for. One of the things that I'm doing that's an ongoing project, it's a social documentary of the rate of urban development in Malaysia and what's happening there. The exhibition I have now is at the Whau Arts Space. It's all shot on black-and-white film. This is a landscape image of a suburb in Kuala Lumpur, and this is my school, right about there, and when I was in school ` and this was in 1999, when I finished high school ` there was only about three of these condominiums surrounding that school. Where I'm actually standing and taking this image from is from another condominium, on about the 20th floor, and where I'm standing used to be rainforest. You used to be able to` There used to be a couple of trails; you could go walking; you could go mountain biking. Um, yeah, and it's` it's just surreal to see that` how much it's changed and how many buildings have popped up. It's just getting people to think, you know ` do you guys really want this? You know, and I'm also trying to get people to think here, you know, juxtapose it with what's happening here. POIGNANT PIANO MUSIC CONTINUES I took this image about 350-odd kilometres away from Kuala Lumpur City, and it's... on a mangrove, uh, inlet about 14km from the coast. This is, basically, a typical, you could say, DIY fishing bach, but 5km away from this spot is a town that has golf course, shopping mall, cinema complex. It's just a strong contrast of what a little bit of distance away from what is considered developed area is. The reason why they're side by side is that... I feel that people... they are forgetting what it was like before, and they're moving just that` too fast towards the future. GENTLE MUSIC Yes, I think NZ has been a good place to be an artist, to be a photographer. There's a strong art community here. You see heaps of galleries. There's support from council and government, especially in school; they teach photography there. Uh, I enjoy it here ` um, great people; I enjoy the culture here, the art scene. This is where I wanna be. (ROBYN) TV: When we were 8 years old, the most powerful man in the country came to our town. Mercy and I practised our curtsies for days. Comrade Robert Mugabe was our hero. I still` TV MUTES, REMOTE CLATTERS As a filmmaker, my first feature project was Finding Mercy, which follows my journey to find a school friend who I grew up closely with in Zimbabwe. As little girls, we were chosen to greet Mugabe in a stage-managed moment that showcased a united country. We didn't know anything then about the atrocities that were already taking place. You know, people hear a lot in the media about white farmers being displaced, but the Zimbabwe situation is so much more complicated, and in fact, the vast majority of people suffering under Mugabe are not white. It's hard for me to describe how it felt going back to Zimbabwe to film the doco. Sometimes you really can't go home. REFLECTIVE ACOUSTIC GUITAR MUSIC My name is Saeed, and, uh, I'm from Iran, from Tehran ` capital city in Iran ` and, uh, I arrived in NZ 1995. I think` I believe over 20 years now. When I arrived here, I used to do the making watches, and, yeah, I was there for two years. After that, I decided to do something else. I went to do some study ` IT ` but unfortunately, I couldn't get the job in that field. So at the moment, I'm driving taxi. REFLECTIVE MUSIC CONTINUES I remember one day I was calling my sister back home in Tehran, and she said, uh, 'I find someone; maybe she can match your life.' My sister met her first back in Iran, and then, uh, we had a conversation on the internet together, and then, uh, I went back home. I went back home and got married. I just brought my wife here. GENTLE MUSIC When I came here, I just came with my backpack, and now I've got my family; I've got my house; I've got my business, yeah, living here happily. Yeah. GENTLE, IDYLLIC MUSIC CHILDREN LAUGH (SMOOCHES SOFTLY) CHILDREN CONTINUE LAUGHING (SMOOCHES SOFTLY) Gonna paint an egg, and I'm gonna put blue and green, then pink, and I'm gonna put this in` this colour in the middle of the egg. So you're gonna make us a rainbow egg, then. Oh nice. Oh wow. > GENTLE, IDYLLIC MUSIC CONTINUES After five months and coming here after five months, I'm pregnancy. Um, doctor said to me, 'You have two children.' I'm very excited, because my mother haven't any twins, only me. (CHUCKLES) I'm very happy. I usually call them Persian Kiwi, but as we live in a Kiwi land, you know, they will just grow up like Kiwis. So we try to just, uh, talk to them about believing we are from Persia, from Iran, teach them the heritage, the culture and tradition. One of them is keeping haft-sinn for the Norooz on New Year. GENTLE MUSIC We're just setting the table for the new year. New Year actually start in Iran with the first of spring every year. In Western calendar, it's 21st of March. It usually goes for, like, uh, 13 days. This kind of tablecloth is something you can find in most of the houses in Iran, because they're handmade. They are very precious. So on the table, it's called haft-sinn. 'Haft' is 'seven', which is seven things started with S's, and we usually got a grass called sabzeh, which is a symbol of rebirth. Garlic, called sir, which represent, uh, health. Vinegar, called serkeh. Apple ` we call it sib, and coin ` we call it sekkeh, which is, uh, representing of wealth, and, uh, of course, our holy book, Koran and printed eggs to complete the decoration. GENTLE ACOUSTIC GUITAR MUSIC I believe in the old, old days, the things they had on the table, it was very good symbols for their life to start the new year. When I was little, my dad and me made the table for New Year. Yes, I'm very happy. Um, it's wonderful. Yeah. WHISPERS: And pretty cool. And pretty cool. SAEED: This is important to me because of my culture, my heritage, where I am from. This is, actually, in our blood, you know. We've been born like this; we've been taught like this, grew up like this. I like my kids to be growing the same way. I'm hoping they can pass it on to their kids as well, because this is` has to be` stay on forever. REFLECTIVE MUSIC Hiya. (CHUCKLES) Hi. I love the friendly, old-fashioned feel of Green Bay. The little video store does a great trade in old classics. The hardware store run by a local Muslim couple has everything that anyone could ever need. Everybody knows Charlie, the cat that sleeps in the bookstore, and gets their coffee from Gary, the coffee guy. It has a real village feel about it, but I do worry that our society is starting to crave more security, to give in to more fear, to shut down to diversity. That's a huge concern for me, given what I've experienced. I think it's really important that we keep talking to each other, keep our doors open, keep our fences low. I like Green Bay the way it is. LIGHT ELECTRONIC MUSIC Captions by Shrutika Gunanayagam. Edited by Alana Drayton. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2016 STATIC, FEEDBACK