1 www.able.co.nz Captions by Amenda Quang. Edited by Tracey Dawson. Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2017 (RELAXED, FUNKY MUSIC) Hawera is Taranaki heartland. An hour from the big smoke of New Plymouth, dairy still rules here. It was your classic rural town growing up ` not very colourful, very conservative, and felt very sheltered from the big wide world. But as dairy goes high-tech, it's bringing a much more colourful and diverse range of people to our small town. I'm a fashion designer living in New York now, but whenever I come home for the holidays, it's always interesting to see how my small rural town is now a global village. (LIVELY MUSIC) In this episode of Neighbourhood, we'll meet a local woman who's teaching her community what it means to be Muslim. Some of the common questions... ISIS gets mentioned a lot because if they` well, I guess they can't see the difference, cos they haven't been taught the difference. A Filipino couple explains how their internet romance led them to distant shores. When I met VJ, I think I was like, shocked, because we have 10 years gap, and I said, 'Whoa, am I going to marry this man?' (BLOWS HORN) A Hawera man demonstrates how the Swiss horn and farming can go hand in hand. The cows, they're always curious about it, and then you turn up` you know. (LAUGHS) Of course, I not always play to the cows. (CHUCKLES) And we'll discover how the dairy industry here was built on Chinese ingenuity. It's a fungus that grows on the trees. And it was used by many farmers who were clearing their land, picking it off and selling it back to Chew Chong, who transported it to China. I'm Sean Kelly, and this is my neighbourhood. (LIVELY MUSIC) (SERIOUS MUSIC) I lived on a farm growing up, and in high school, there was definitely a fierce competition between the town kids and the country kids. I was also never out at high school, but it was never really a problem for me. I really kept busy with schoolwork and playing sports. In fact, there were no open or out gay kids at high school, and it was a topic that was avoided within the community. That was until I came out to my parents at half-time in an All Blacks game. Today, I really hope that the discussion can be more open even in the deepest of the dairy community, and we can learn to see that those who seem different aren't really that different at all. My name is Alia Malik, and I was born in Redhill in England, which is south of London. I'm Muslim. I wear my faith, so you can quite easily spot me walking on the street. It was quite random how we got to Hawera. I didn't know such a place existed. Rameez got an opportunity in a nearby town, which isn't too far from here. When he had come down, he wanted to pray in the mosque, because that was an important part ` we wanted a mosque to be nearby so we could still regularly do our prayers, and that's kind of how we discovered Hawera. When I was younger, I felt` I knew I was different to everyone else, and I knew that I had certain rules in place that they did not. For example, I knew that I was never gonna drink, I was not gonna take drugs or do anything like that. I know our` my background is different. The stories that I talk about, with regard to family, and that they talk about ` vastly different. So I think that really helped with disconnecting in the sense of 'you do things your way 'and I'll do things my way.' But things like just going out shopping, we can connect together. But other things, like if you're going to go out to a party and get plastered, that's up to you. I'm` I'm gonna go home. I had decided to wear hijab when I became a teenager. I was very driven to find out more and to understand more about my faith, because what my parents had told me wasn't enough. I understood what I had to do but not so much of the why. It was my duty to then go and dig, to go and find out 'where can I find out more?' It made me fearless in the sense of going wherever, ending up wherever, because I knew there was a course, and it was a certain scholar, and I was gonna get there. Somehow, I didn't know how, didn't know anyone, I was gonna get there. After I decided to wear hijab ` so take on wearing the headscarf permanently ` um, things changed. People who I didn't know so well almost didn't quite know what to do. And it was like,'I'm still me. I'm still the same person. 'My values haven't changed. I've just decided that I'm going to be visibly Muslim, 'and I'm going to show you that, yes, I am trying to be a devout Muslim now.' (LIGHT MUSIC) I teach at Hawera Intermediate. So today I'm teaching the kids a little bit about myself and where I've come from, um, really, my roots. Yeah, so that's my hands and feet at the end. 'They don't necessarily understand why I wear hijab 'or why I wear longer things rather than shorter things, and that kind of stuff.' So, we're gonna look at where I've originally come from. So not why I've got a British accent but basically, why I'm brown. This doesn't show you any countries, just your continents. How many continents do we have? Aw, um... So, yeah, the kids are really curious because it's something different, so they're always asking questions about hijab and when I'm going up and down when I'm praying, you know, what it's about and what I'm doing. But they all understand that it's important, so they're very careful with how they ask. Some of the common questions... ISIS gets mentioned a lot because they` well, I guess they can't see the difference, cos they haven't been taught the difference. I've learnt that the women wear these headscarves to keep themselves covered and keep themselves to theirselves. It was pretty interesting cos I didn't realise that the darker paint on the hands and stuff, the better the wedding. And it would suck staying like that for the hours, not being able to do anything. Yeah, it's nice to learn about other cultures because you know how to act around them and what to say and how to respect their culture. As I spend lots of time with the kids, we get to talk about lots of things. Um, but you don't get to spend as much time with teachers, cos they have their own classes and their own jobs. So I try and give those opportunities for teachers to find out more about my faith, cos let's face it, generally, what you hear aren't necessarily good messages. So we've done a few things of inviting them over when we've had occasions. OK, so I've just got a bag full of scarves for you guys. Just, um, when you put it on, try and have one side of it shorter, cos then you have enough to wrap around. Otherwise, if it's right in the middle, it's hard to get enough to wrap around. So here, give it a go. Yes, so if you want to like, do it again or tuck it in, it doesn't really matter. As long as it's on, and you feel comfortable, of course. Alia's, uh` When she brings people to this centre here, she's, um, trying to teach them about Islam and what we really do here. Alia has a lot of understanding about Islam. She, um` She studied overseas as well, you know? And she can really, um, tell people about the deep understanding about Islam and what it really stands for. Why are Fridays different? It's our equivalent of a holy day, so if you go to Arab Emirates or Saudi or any of the Muslim countries, generally, they have Friday and Saturday off, and then the working week starts Sunday. MAN: He was a man of noble practice, an example for all commu` community, and a man who was sent as a mercy to the entire universe. Many people don't get the chance to go to a mosque. What it's made me realise is that we should really do an official open day, because it was so well received, and they've just` they were so touched and so happy to be a part of it. They got to sit in the sermon, and they got to listen to things about our prophet. Uh, may peace and blessings of God be upon him. And they got to experience what I experience, and they got to understand, I guess, a bit more about me and how I do things. You know, we still have things in common. We belong to the same place. We share the same mountain. All that kind of stuff, it's` Look for ways to bond and to unite each other, not look for these differences, which is what we do too often. Lots of crazy things happening in this world. We need to be looking to unite, not to stay apart. (GENTLE MUSIC) It's always such a contrast, coming from winter in New York to the family farm in the height of summer. But this is where my career as a fashion designer really begun. This is my first sewing machine, that my mum brought me when I was 15. I used to watch Project Runway on TV, and then to go to America, compete and win the show, was a pretty big deal. Even as a fashion designer, I feel the kiwi mentality of the number-eight wire is still applicable to my everyday design. Using whatever materials I have around is really a pioneering tradition that goes back generations. When I was in the third form at school, the geography teacher happened to be mentioning Taranaki's industries and dairying, and said, 'Brian, you grandfather Chew Chong so and so and so and so.' And I didn't know that he had that involvement. I knew I had a grandfather and I knew I had a Chinese background, but, um, I asked my father and he told me, and I then became really interested from then on. My name's Brian Chong, and I'm the grandson of Chew Chong. Chew Chong was born in Hoy Ping which is now know as Kaiping, in China. He was born in 1828. Well, he arrived in` in New Zealand in um, 1867 or '66, I'm not sure. He heard about fungus in Taranaki because Taranaki had a climate that grew forest, and it lead to the formation of fungus, and he heard about this fungus and thought, 'Gee whiz, I'm going to go up there.' This is a piece of Auricularia polytricha, other words` otherwise know as wood ear. It's a fungus that grows on the trees, and it was used by many farmers who were clearing their land, picking it off and selling it back to Chew Chong, who transported it to China. And he was able to eventually pay money to the farmers for the collections of fungus, which helped them greatly. They were short of money. So here it is, this little fungus. He became respected because his business deals were very honest and generous. Probably too generous for his own being. He was able to pay them cash instead of bartering, for a start, because he was exporting it and getting money back in the` That money was very valuable to farmers. Absolutely. That was their first time they had some sort of money economy that they could buy fencing materials and the things they were needing to develop the farm, so` So he developed quite a good, strong bond with the farmers. Now, that, sort of, developed into the dairy, until they actually decided to, uh, abandon him in their own co-operative, which is now Fonterra. Well, they couldn't believe that, you know, by felling the bush, this` what was a waste material to them, they could turn it into hard cash. Certainly one of the` I think his main legacy is the export of dairy product. But even that didn't come easily. Now, the fact that he had to research a way of getting the butter to the market in a good condition, I mean, that's just` We take it for granted today, with wrapping plastics and, you know, vacuum packing and all this sort of thing. It just wasn't available, obviously, at that time. So right to the point of going out and growing cabbages so he could get the big leaves to wrap the butter in to put it into barrels, to put in on sailing ships to get to England, as it was. Chew Chong was instrumental in developing the initial stages of the dairy industry and giving a lot of confidence to farmers. That was one of the big things, I think, that he did. And you'll find in 1996 he was included as a posthumous entrance in the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame. That was given to the` to the` Museum. ...museum, yeah. They're the best place to look after these things. So it's 116 years old at the moment. Yeah. Well, this is a illuminated address, which is an unusual item to` to know about it these days, but apparently the businessmen and farmers and things of Taranaki thought so highly of Chew Chong that they thought they'd recognise his retirement and the work he'd done with his things, which would` he'd hopefully keep forever and... Things like descedants, like us, recognise it, and other people can appreciate what he did do. The amazing thing is he was so respected at a time where Asians were just shunned from society, and he was so respected in business, personality, character, um, the way he gave. But this is an entrepreneurial businessman that had the odds against him, and he succeeded. I often think wouldn't Chew Chong like to see what has happened to the dairy industry now. He just wouldn't believe it. And a lot of people don't believe that it started with him. He gave a lot of people` farmers the money to buy cows. He lent them money on a handshake, as he did, and trusted them ` and a lot of them didn't pay. Despite that, he was still honest, and he held no grudge against these people, which is quite amazing. (LAID-BACK MUSIC) I remember when my family got this deck put on the house, me and my sister would choreograph dance routines and numbers to our favourite '90s groups. Yes, this brings back memories. I remember every day after school we'd be out here dancing, performing. Me and Larissa would obviously have to be the back-up dancers for you. Yes, I used to be so mean to you guys, make Joseph go and be on music, needed, ah, only the best dancers out the front here. S Club 7, Spice Girls. All our favourites. I guess our dance routines are one way I decided to explore a different side of my creativity, which has certainly helped in my career. And it's just as well it was only the cows that could see us. We got the mountain in the background. That's probably what all the Swiss, sort of, get drawn to. And beautiful farmland. You know, flat, rich volcanic soil here. And you can milk cows here. (PLAYS ALPHORN) (COWS MOO) And alphorn should be played outside. A lot of people tell me, you know, when I play the horn, they been to Switzerland and, you know, it's just brought them back to the exact spot where they heard it. The cows, they're always curious about it when you turn up, you know. (CHUCKLES) Of course, I not always play to the cows. But if` I tried it once before, and they all come and, you know, sniff around, and when you try to blow, they all take off, so... (CHUCKLES SOFTLY) (ACOUSTIC GUITAR MUSIC) Started sharemilking in 1984. Just a small farm, 32 hectares with 80 cows. And, you know, there was no money in it, but I sort of got my, um` yeah my first foot in the door. When I came to New Zealand, I learnt my English in the children's Golden Books. That's how I learnt my English. And then two years later, I moved to a bigger job, 130 cows, and that's where I met my wife, Marlies. You know, she was a tourist from Switzerland. And so we got married in 1988. In the meantime, we had three children. And, yeah, life was good, excellent, and never looked back, yeah. (RELAXED MUSIC) I met him on his farm, yeah. We were sharemilking. We were sharemilking at the time. Yeah, that's what Othmar looked like when we` when I first met him, with the moustache and fairer hair than... than now. (BOTH CHUCKLE) That's Dad, Mum. And then Joe, Lucia, my sister. Then there's me, there's Marcus and there's Robert, then Gregor, yup. So this is quite a big family, yeah` Six of them. Six of 'em, yeah, yeah. I'm the only one who's left Switzerland. The other ones are still in the same area where they were born. They all came to visit me over the years, so, you know, they all know where we live. Yeah, my a` alphorn I play at the moment used to be my brother's. He sadly passed away a couple of years ago. Five of them were playing up in the mountains with their alphorn on a Sunday afternoon. The plan was to play on the other side of the mountain, you know, in the evening. So they walked across, and he sadly, you know, slipped and fell to his death. So I went home to his funeral. And um, his wife said, you know, she can't face the alphorn any more, so, um, I was` you know, I bought it off her and, you know, we're sort of having it here now. It makes it very special and, yeah, brings me home to the family and all that. But, ah, yeah, nah, it's also bringing joy to other people, you know, all over the world with it. This alphorn goes back to the 1500s. They used it for commutating between the villages or between the mountain tops in Switzerland. And they used to had` have Morse codes. (COIN RATTLES) (PLAYS ALPHORN) Since 2005, I've been the president of the Swiss club here and enjoy meeting people and organising people. (MUSIC CONTINUES) I like the alphorn. It's got a beautiful tone, yes. I love belonging to the Swiss club. We have wonderful musical evenings. I'm a musician myself, and I love playing accordion with them ` when I'm asked to. (LAUGHS) Yes. Ah, today, we're just having a practice session with all my friends here, musical friends. And, uh, yeah, just having a bit of a jam together here. (LIVELY SWISS MUSIC PLAYS) I think it's just a` very much a strong traditional thing. And as a child, probably, I heard all that Swiss music going. It's just a natural thing. My mother was Swiss, and I've joined the Swiss club. I've been in it, oh, more than 50 years. Keeping up the tradition. I enjoy that very much. Part of the Swiss club is probably, you know, helped me to communicate with likeminded people, I suppose, or, you know, share the tradition of Switzerland. (MUSIC CONTINUES) Somebody told me once you dream in English, you'll be here, you know. You'll be a Kiwi, yeah. I feel home here. Everything we need is here. New York is all about dining out, which is why it's great to come home and be a bit more hands-on. And family barbeque is pretty much my favourite meal of all. (GLASSES CLINK, PEOPLE CHAT) Growing up on the farm meant we always had the best meat and freshest produce. Hawera is blessed with so much natural abundance. Between the mountain and the sea, we're really spoilt for choice. Around here, if you're not farming, you're on the water, and everyone has a recipe for their favourite catch of the day. (RELAXED MUSIC) South Taranaki is a place where you really want to live. The fresh fish from the ocean is just nearby. Um, you can have your country living. It's a very simply simple place. It's... I could say that you can call this home. I'm not far from the Philippines, here, so that's why we chose to have it` to live in Hawera. (CHUCKLES) VJ used to do spear-fishing back in the Philippines when we were the` uh, when he was there. Um, he used to go diving and get a little bit of crabs, like` and also a small fish. But when he came here in New Zealand, he was so impressed with the fish that we catch, because it's huge and it's yummy. It's way different here. OK, I'll tell you the story about how me and VJ met. I was 26 and VJ was 36 years old when we met each other. Through internet, you can get fooled by anyone, but with VJ um, we started chatting, and we just realised that we both came from the same city and our family knew each other already. Because we're` When you're Christian, you have these lots of conferences from the Philippines, so families know each other already. Yeah, VJ lives here in New Zealand. I think he's about two years when he found me. (CHUCKLES) So, yeah, it was a very amazing moment for both of us. Like, knowing each other on the phone, online chatting every night, exchanging messages, it's` it's quite different when you see each other. Though the feeling is a bit weird, but we get there at the end, yeah. (UPBEAT MUSIC) I'm making a sweet and sour fish. It's called escabeche in Filipino. The funny thing is because, um, I went to Hong Kong quite early in my age, I don't know how to cook Filipino dishes a lot. (LAUGHS) It's just after, when I married VJ, that we share the kitchen together, and he trained me and teach me how to do the Filipino cooking. And one of the best Filipino cooking that he teach me is the, um, escabeche. When I met VJ, I think I was like, shocked, because we have 10 years gap, and um, I said, 'Whoa, am I going to marry this man?' Because he's quiet, and I'm a very bubbly person. But, well, finding out` When we get used to knowing each other in that five days, I was like, 'Yeah, I think so. He's cool.' (LAUGHS) Good, good. (PAN SIZZLES) It's, uh, very crispy, eh. Yes, snapper` Snapper is number one for me. So, when he arrived in New Zealand and he got his own boat, that's the time that we really did stop going out, because he just loves fish. He doesn't want to stop eating fish every day. As long as we have fish in the freezer, we'll always have fish. Yeah, all the time, we eat the fish. Yeah, and it's good for your health. (LAUGHS) (PAN SIZZLES) So, we call it a banana sauce or banana ketchup, and it's nice for frying and dipping sauce as well. All purpose, all purpose. It's an all-purpose. OK, give me. I'll try to taste it. Mm, it's yummy! It tastes like mixture of the sweetness and the sourness` Good salad, eh? ...of the sweet chilli sauce and the banana ketchup. I'm hungry. (LAUGHS) (UPLIFTING MUSIC) It really smells like home. Yeah. And every time VJ cooks the dish, I always sneak out and get it and eat them all. (LAUGHS) Yeah. (LAUGHS) Yeah. Hey! Hi there. (LAUGHS) Good evening. Hi. Anna and her family is going to come for dinner tonight. And it will be lovely. We're going to have a full table. OK, guys, thank you so much for coming today, and your` We really appreciate your presence, and, um, I hope you really love the food. Yeah, my mum came here to New Zealand just` not just to visit us but also to look after Charlotte, because being a working parent, it's really hard, so it's pretty much a family reunion. Mum, how did you find the food tonight, all right? No, it's OK. It's good. Yummy! (LAUGHS) Very yummy. Delicious, yes. Am I a good cook? Am I learning still, eh? Yes, my wife is, ah, learning, so now is better, a little bit. (LAUGHTER) Yes, New Zealand is our home. Next year is going to be our citizenship day, so it will be an amazing moment for us. New York is one of the most diverse cities on Earth. With nearly eight and a half million people, you know that whatever culture, gender, sexuality or religion, you can find a community here that will embrace you for who you are. Hawera seems a million miles away from The Big Apple, but in its own way, it is becoming a little more diverse and accepting by the day. Living in the hustle and bustle of New York City, sometimes it's easy to forget that we have something very unique and special right here at home. Captions by Amenda Quang. Edited by Tracey Dawson. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2017