UPBEAT, RISING ELECTRONIC MUSIC Captions by Madison Batten. Edited by Glenna Casalme. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2016 UPBEAT MUSIC In the '70s, Mt Roskill was known as the Bible Belt of Auckland. More churches per person than any other suburb, modest bungalows and solid ex-state houses ` the conservative face of white, working class NZ. But the latest census confirms that Roskill is probably now the most diverse suburb in the country. More than 60 different languages are spoken here, and 60% of the population was born in what is loosely described as Asia. That huge and rapid demographic shift brought challenges ` unemployment, youth gangs and social isolation. But it also helped shape a neighbourhood that is beautiful, colourful and accepting. I've lived in Roskill South since I was 14 and love it here. Let's explore some of the stories that give Roskill South its own distinct character. We'll trace a long journey from Eritrea to NZ,... That journey's a journey of survival. It's not a journey for the sake of a journey. Being out there in the danger is what makes you different. ...a group of school kids find some common ground,... We are holding this three-day workshop to celebrate Matariki and Ramadan, because Matariki is Maori New Year, and Ramadan is the month of fasting and very holy for Muslims. ...a Roskill South local takes a positive stand,... I've chosen that if I can share my life, someone with a similar situation can just wake up and say, 'I'm not the only one.' And there is that strength that I want people maybe to draw from the whole ordeal. ...and a costume designer accepts a challenge. I'm using this as a way to further myself and further my` my craft and` and, sort of, get clearer about what it is that I can do and what's within my capabilities. I'm David Park, and this is my neighbourhood. 'NEIGHBOURHOOD' THEME UPLIFTING MUSIC I call myself a Kowi ` a Korean Kiwi. I came to NZ when I was 2 years old, from Korea. We were extremely poor when I was little. It was especially hard for my parents. No money, no English language skills, no friends. They worked as cleaners and dishwashers to make ends meet, and they're probably the hardest working people I know. And they've definitely given me one hell of a work ethic. Your parents can really set you on a path for life, although some journeys are much harder than others. AIRY MUSIC Since I came to NZ, people would ask me, 'Where did you come from?' And I'll tell them, 'From Eritrea.' And they say, 'Where is Eritrea?' And then I have to go and explain for them, 'Eritrea is by the sea coast, a neighbouring country to Ethiopia.' And when I go back, um, to Eritrea as well, they will ask me, um, 'Where did you come from?' And I'll say, 'From NZ.' Most of them, they will say, 'Where is NZ?' Eritrea and Ethiopia have been in a battle for so long ` about 30 odd years ` um, before we got our independence. And this has caused a lot of bloodshed, um, has caused us to be victims, even to migrate or to be a refugee, or even to come to NZ. My dad left because he was one of the youths that really had the feeling of independence, the feeling of struggle. Um, and he was no different from the other youths of that age as well, where they were influenced with full love, um, for their country, for their independence. Um, that's why he went, um, and joined the struggle for independence. I was very very young ` about 3 or 4 years old when he left. It was almost six or seven years before we knew that he was OK. So we have to leave our house, um, at night and hidden. Um, we have to make sure where we are going is, obviously, a secret, until we reach into that space. And during this journey, we have had a lot of obstacles, which is, um` there were oppositions as well. There were a few enemies that could, um` And then a few civilians that really want to get you into trouble. So you have to cross this by night, and it was really a dangerous sort of crossing to a safe area where we could meet my father. Even if we have to walk an extra 10 hours per day, we were prepared to do that ` as children, as a child, because I want to see my dad. I want to see him physically. I want to come closer to him. Reunited is, um, a dream come true because, um, that was my day and night's, um, prayer, you know? And I would say my prayers have been answered ` all the family's prayers. Finding your, um, father alive, um, being reunited with him, has got a huge, huge, um, well-being. Our well-being has really been fulfilled. SOFT, HIGH-PITCHED RATTLING UPLIFTING MUSIC It has been more or less, like, four and a half or five years since I have last seen my parents. My parents have arrived early March, and that has been really a great pleasure. Um, at the moment, until they make their choice, they are living with us, um, as a family. That journey is a journey of survival. It's not a journey for the sake of a journey. Being out there in the danger is what makes you different, and going through this journey also can make you, 'There is life out there.' That hope, resilience, that courage as well, is what I could take within me, um, in my life. ETHNIC MUSIC PLAYS At the moment we are in Mt Roskill, at International Cultural Festival, where it's held every year. Today there is a lot of programmes. You can see our community stall is here. And, um, a lot of activities, food stalls, cultural performances and sharing cultures among each other, and you can visit and see. It's a day out for the community, a day out for, um, family. NZ is a very beautiful country. Very very good country. Good people. I find NZ as` as my country. I think it's` I love it. Today, uh, what makes me so proud is standing out here as a NZer Kiwi, at the same time, um, representing where I am originally from, which is Eritrea and making that connection and reaching NZ society. And people who come from all parts of the world being one, um, is a huge success. MID-TEMPO ELECTRONIC MUSIC The teachers at Mt Roskill Primary reckon that 85% of their students go home to a place at night where a language other than English is spoken. The mix of cultures is the most beautiful thing about Roskill South, but it can lead to flashpoints of violence, most tragically, when a Tongan and Somali gang clashed about 15 years ago. A Tongan boy was killed. Despite what the press said at the time, it wasn't gang war. But it got people scared. And when people are scared, it's hard to see behind the headlines. TRANQUIL MUSIC When we came to, uh, NZ in 1988, this was our first official welcome photo from, uh, Gisborne Herald. Myself and my lovely daughter, Rohini, when she was 3 and a half. My gorgeous son, Knowledge, and myself and my ex-husband. Um, we were in our home, and it was like we were still really having the love of our life for Gisborne. And that was the best time of our lives. Our second year, we decided I was gonna have a baby, a number three baby. And I was pregnant. And I went to the doctor, like everybody else. And at the doctor for a check-up, I was six months pregnant when they took blood, and I went home. Two weeks later, I got a phone call from my doctor, and he said I'm positive. And I said, 'Oh, thank you so much, Doctor. I'm positive. Thank you,' and I put my phone down. I didn't even ask him anything. So, my husband came. I said, 'Honey, I'm positive. 'The doctor called. He said, 'You're positive.' And he didn't look happy. Because I was happy I'm pregnant. So he went straight on his phone and picked up the phone and called the doctor. And he just went yellow. I don't know what colour people go. He just changed. And he sat down. He said bye and put the phone down. I heard him saying 'No, no, no, no' to the doctor. That's all that he said. And he sat down. He said, 'Sophie, sit down.' And I sat down. He said, 'Uh, have you heard of AIDS?' I said no. And they said, 'You know, your situation is really serious. 'Uh, you are gonna die within the next eight months, or, if you are lucky, you will stay for five years. 'And your situation is really complicated because you are pregnant. 'For you to see your children grow for another eight months or five more years, 'we have to get rid of those babies. Because if you carry the pregnancy to nine months, you'll die faster.' So, that took a big toll on me, so I still grieve today. I prayed so much that the doctors were lying and this disease doesn't exist. And if it does, it's not gonna kill me. I prayed. Every day, I said, 'No. If there's gonna be a miracle, that miracle is gonna happen to me,' because I couldn't just accept it. And somehow I was so sick I thought, 'If I'm going to come back to life, what do I want to come back to life for? 'I'm not gonna live like somebody else.' The only answer is that if I was able to come back, if I get a second chance, I have to come and challenge that. I don't want to live like that person under the mask. UPLIFTING PIANO MUSIC Now... (LAUGHS) Well, life is completely different, um, now that my mum has, you know, um, published a book, and she's public about her HIV status. All the community work that she does... Life now is public. (LAUGHS) Never in a million years did I realise that it would be so engaging because it was just my mum's story. I've chosen that if I can share my life, someone with a similar situation can just wake up and say, 'I'm not the only one.' And there is that strength that I want people maybe to draw from the whole ordeal ` that it's not the end of the world, you know? It can go really bad, but things get better. CALMING MUSIC ANIMATED CHATTER It wasn't just tough because there was no medicine. People didn't touch. Even the medical people didn't touch you that you normally go to when you're sick. You've opened up the pathways, cos people can see that you're just a normal person, a healthy normal person that's living their life. And that being positive is just, you know, part of` part of us in our lives. My hopes is HIV being spoken of as any disease. The worst thing about HIV is it comes through what we enjoy the most ` sex. Or what makes us humans. So we can't hide it. And we have to talk about it. What I offer as Sophie ` I offer my story, what I've learned, what HIV has taught me, what I've experienced, what life is all about to me. I caught a bus every day from Roskill South to Auckland Grammar, a secondary school that was very affluent and very Pakeha. The colour of my skin, my culture and the fact that I wasn't as well-off as my classmates made it hard. I developed a complex about everything ` from the food that I ate to the clothes that I wore. And at the end of the day, I'd come back to my friends in Roskill South ` Maoris, Pacific Islanders, Africans, Asians. We'd have a few beers, do some freestyle rapping and cause a little mischief across the neighbourhood. It was a stark contrast, but it did help me develop a strong sense of who I was, which went deeper than the clothes that I wore. LIGHT-HEARTED MUSIC I get lots of catcalls from cars. I get called 'faggot' a lot. The other week I had some guy throw stones at me. A lot of it is just kind of, like, straight men being dicks, really. And a lot of it kind of, like, stems from insecurity, I think, so I'm not really fazed by it. Because I'm a` I can just go, 'I'm a better person than that.' I describe myself as gender fluid or non-binary. The view on society is that there are a binary of two genders. So we have male and we have female. And under the trans umbrella, there are, sort of, various sort of` So you have, like, trans men, trans women and then, sort of, like, non-binary, gender-fluid, gender-queer. I like to feel that I can sort of shift between or be in the middle or be none of the two-gender binary. I went to university down in Wellington at Toi Whakaari, the national drama school, and I did the Bachelor of Design for Stage and Screen. I'm super interested by people, and by people ` what they wear and how they dress. And so how they work that into a situation, in a context where it works for film and theatre is interesting. So, this is a very very small selection of the work which I did at the end of university. So, I did, uh` which I've entitled it 'Performing Selfhood'. Um, and it's around the performance of self in everyday life and the performance of gender and how that works in, sort of, every day. So, what I would do is each time I wore an outfit, I would take a photo of it, and, um` and then break that outfit down in terms of what I was wearing, how my hair was, whether I was wearing make-up or accessories. I like to say I turned narcissism into a form of artwork. (LAUGHS) This is an investigation around the performance of gender through costume, fashion and performance. Yeah, I think that's essentially what it sums down. It's like it's me, in a way, figuring out what it means to perform a thing. Yeah. FUNKY MUSIC So, I'm currently working with Mika Haka at the Mika Haka Foundation as a costume designer, assistant, runner, sort of` I'm doing lots of little things, but my main focus is, sort of, costume design. I set the foundation up so that I could enable, basically, emerging talent or emerging leaders to be able to have some career footpaths that were quite sustainable as well. So, for example, most people will be with me at least six months. Some of them have been with me for 12 years. Jasper's designing some costumes for a new series I'm producing called Queens of Panguru. I'm taking three queens who are from Panguru ` a young gay, transgender and a drag queen ` back to their home village, where their local kaumatua are going to be very impressed ` or not. I mean, it will be a challenge for Jasper because I'm a design freak. He knows that. I'm, like, down to colour and code and` It'll be helpful cos he has a lot of guidance. Like, there's style guides for him to look at. I haven't just said, 'Make these queens great, darling,' cos that's not` that's not` I haven't, have I? No. No. No. (LAUGHS) I have said, 'Make these queens great,' but not, you know, like, 'Do it. Do it.' INDISTINCT CHATTER Today is the big day. It's the Aroha Mardi Gras. We're currently on K Road, which has been closed down. And so, um, I've been working with Mika and with the cast of Queens of Panguru, and we're just, sort of, getting ready to get onstage literally in about five minutes. So we're all a go at the moment. Here we go. # Let us take you to the outside. # Outside. # Where everything is black and gold. # Gold. # Where Queens of Panguru get on it. # Out of control. (SINGS IN MAORI) Yeah, it was pretty crazy, um, but good. Learning how to deal under pressure situations is always great. Um, but no, it went well. Everybody looked good. I'm happy. And come and join us. Come and join us! Jasper's` He's going great. I mean, it's a challenge cos I` I'm` He knows I'm a bit of a fashion 'whore' is the word we use, myself. I'm really, like, full on. So even down to colour ` colour, size and shapes, I'm always full on. It's not like I say, 'Here', but what he has started to do, fascinatingly is, um, put things together that I would never have put together. Here's one of the things he's put together that I would never have put together. It's called Maihi. You see, now, that was` That was actually the toilet roll holder that he turned into a whole dress, and the top was actually my bird cage. It's just the things he's done is just` Bird cage and the feather duster. The bird cage and the feather duster, you know? So, I'm a half-toilet bird. That's right. # Give it your own. Don't follow no soul! We out. We're out. APPLAUSE I'm using this as a way to further myself and further my` my craft and, sort of, get clearer about what it is that I can do and what's within my capabilities. And by Mika challenging me to get this done, it's really sort of pushing where I can and cannot go. So I'm gonna, sort of, be able to rock up to the next job or the next bit of work with Mika and be like, 'This is what I can` what I can do.' So, yeah. RELAXING MUSIC Mt Roskill library really reflects the diversity of the community that surrounds it. They have books here in English, Chinese, Maori, Arabic, Tamil and Somali. It's a terrific resource, cos all these communities know the value of education for their children. I recently graduated as a lawyer. One of the things that I'm most passionate about now is raising money to fund an after-school care programme for impoverished kids. Children need a supportive environment to learn in ` not just so they can pass exams but so they can learn about other people as well. PEACEFUL MUSIC I became interested in calligraphy when I was as young as, um, 8 to 9 years old. I saw my father reading from his Quran, and, uh, the writing which it had in it was really beautiful. And it, uh, completely mesmerised me. And, yeah, since then I was attracted towards calligraphy, Islamic calligraphy. TRANQUIL, DREAMY MUSIC Calligraphy is a beautiful art, uh, which dates back to 16th century. It's a beautiful way of writing, uh, Arabic and, um, basically, writing verses from the Quran ` uh, phrases that praise Allah the Almighty. And, um, it's writing in a very beautiful and artistic form. My name is Mizna Afzali. I grew up in India. Hyderabad. The city's name is Hyderabad. It used to be eat, drink, calligraphy, sleep, cos I wanted to give my 100% to calligraphy. So, I started calligraphy when I finished my studies. I am already a Masters in Business Administration, so after that I started calligraphy, and I used to give six to seven hours to calligraphy each day. Calligraphy gives me a lot of peace. It's a form of, um,... calmness that comes to me. And, uh, calligraphy made me a patient, uh, person, and, um... Yes, it's something which gives me serenity, and I will never stop doing it. CALM MUSIC As a child, the aspects of Islam that I enjoyed the most were Ramadan ` fasting during Ramadan. Cos it's not mandatory for, uh, children to fast, but when you see all your family fasting and, uh, waking up early for, uh, Suhur... Learning Arabic was also the fun part, because it was a new language, and it was very competitive between children, because the faster you learn Arabic, the quicker you can start reading Quran. So that gave a competitive spirit between, uh, siblings. UPLIFTING MUSIC I absolutely love to share my art form with people here in NZ. The school holiday programme that I am into right now is for kids. it's organised by the UMMA Trust, and it will be held at, uh, the Wesley Community Centre. Basically, it's going to be a fun day. Siraj. Abdul Aziz. Abdul Aziz. Ahmed. Ahmed. And what's my name? (CHUCKLES) My name is Mizna. And I plan to do a workshop wherein children can try using the pens ` the calligraphy pens. Because the Arabic calligraphy pen is not like the conventional calligraphy pens that you have; it has an oblique tip. Do you see the nib? Hold it like that and make a dot. Oh. Hold it. See? It does not... We are holding this three-day workshop to, uh, celebrate Matariki and Ramadan, because Matariki is coming soon, and even Ramadan. And Matariki is Maori New Year, and Ramadan is the month of fasting and very holy for Muslims. The difference between Ramadan and Matariki is that in Ramadan, people fast from... from, like, sunrise to sunset. In Matariki, people have a feast, as well as the Muslim people have a feast. They might bring their families, and so do we bring our families. And, yeah. The best thing about this programme is that kids will start to, um, explore their Islamic faith, the` the art behind it, calligraphy, because it's not taught in school. And also, sometimes Maori patterns are taught, but it's never consistent, so it's good for them to learn outside of school. Yeah, I'm new to NZ, so for me, it's a big opportunity. I can meet new people, learn from different cultures, and, yes, Maori is new to me, but I learned a lot about Matariki. And it's all about making, um, new friends and, uh, knowing the community here and, uh, sharing what I have learned from my culture. UPLIFTING MUSIC I'm extremely proud of the fact that my neighbourhood is the most diverse community in NZ. I think Roskill South really represents the change that NZ society is going through as a whole at the moment. We're really ahead of the game here. I think we really need to embrace change and learn to live alongside each other. And that's what's gonna shape the identity of NZ in the years to come. Captions by Madison Batten. Edited by Glenna Casalme. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2016