1 (THEME MUSIC) Captions by Starsha Samarasinghe. Edited by Antony Vlug. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2017 (RELAXED MUSIC) (WAVES LAP) The town of Orewa lies on the Hibiscus Coast, north of Auckland, blessed with 3 K's of glorious, sandy beach. It's a small neighbourhood where people always greet you with warm smiles. Lots of older people live here, and it's also a thoroughfare for travellers coming from all over the world, passing through especially over summer. My father grew up not far from here on the north shore of Auckland. My mother came from Barbados. My ancestors on my mother's side are of African descent, brought to the Caribbean into Barbados as part of the Atlantic slave trade. It's a mixed inheritance that makes me grateful to be a part of a community where diversity is accepted. (REFLECTIVE MUSIC) In this episode of Neighbourhood, we'll explore an ancient Turkish craft,... This liquid is very special. Very gentle, I am sprinkle my colour on the water. ...we'll discover why Romanian street games are kicking it out of the park in Orewa,... (CHILDREN CHEER) 25 years later, the game that I invented in Romania is now Hungerball. ...a woman from Mexico puts her stamp on some traditional treats,... Er, my tortilla press very, very special. My sister give me the one. Er, she` I ask her by telephone, and she say, 'Why you want pressed tortilla? You can buy them.' I said, 'No, you can't. You can't in New Zealand.' ...and we'll meet a man who believes that God's love extends to all comers. With festivals like this and church events that happen which say, 'Actually, no, we are totally inclusive,' what we're seeing is` is a lot of people from the gay communities coming back into the sporting and church worlds. I'm Amber Maya, and this is my neighbourhood. (UPLIFTING MUSIC) (LIVELY UKULELE MUSIC) In Barbados, we love a lime, a spontaneous get-together that can happen at any time, any place with whoever happens to be around. Regardless of age or gender, everyone's welcome. You'll get generations of people spending hours in conversation. I remember nightly limes at home with all my mum's friends laughing loudly or debating current events, drinking rum and coke, sitting around a table outside. I'll never forget helping my mum in the kitchen make massive pots of food. It always felt like we made enough to feed the 5000. No one ever went away hungry. (SOMBRE MUSIC) I born north from Mexico. Er, my hometown is in the middle of the desert. How are you? I'm good, ta, and yourself? Good. I'm looking for avocados, and you've got the right ones here. Beautiful. My childhood, er, is a little bit sad, you know? I come from very close family when I` my childhood start. Then my parents separate. My mother left home when I was 7, and I grew up with my dad. And I was in love with my dad; I was a daddy's girl. But when time go by, I start to miss her. I start to miss, er, her food. Just the way she cooked was amazing. You know, her flavours... Come back from the school, and the smell, you know ` come home. (RELAXING MUSIC) I'm making some tortillas ` corn tortillas. This Maseca Corn Masa, and it's basically from maize, gluten-free. And it's what we eat in Mexico. We` It's very traditional. Oh, this looks perfect. It's nice and` It's like a play dough ` same consistent. And I want to make little balls. You can do all the balls at same time, but I like to do one by one. Er, my tortilla press very, very special. My sister give me the one. Er, she` I ask her by telephone, she say, 'Why you want pressed tortilla? You can buy them.' I say, 'No you can't. You can't in New Zealand.' So, she says, 'Oh, don't worry, sister. I will send you one.' I was a lawyer in Mexico City. I worked very hard. But I think it was very good to do that ` to study. And now I ch` I choose to spend my time with my kids. To be at home, to pass to them my food, I feel it's beautiful. I want to give them what I didn't have as much when I was a child. Come back from school and it smell` it's food. It smells like Mummy here. What I'm looking for is, uh` In Mexico, well, to feel proud about your cooking, if you want` when you make tortillas, if the tortilla rise, that means you've done a good job. Now I call my mum sometimes and ask for recipes. But in Mexico, we don't` we no measure things. We just` My mother ` 'Oh, just put tomato, coriander, chillies, uh, put a little bit of salt and pepper.' I said, 'OK, Mama, but which one will go first? Second?' She say, 'I don't know. Just put all together. 'Just try and try until you get the right flavour that you want.' I say, 'Oh, OK.' (LAUGHS) So it is hard to get recipes from her. I come to New Zealand when I was 26. I always want to go and study another language. Er, I met my husband, er, through a friend. And, yeah, we married three months after. It was a little crazy. But I knew the moment I saw him that he was the one. He born in Orewa. He's one of the old families in Orewa, the Eaves. Mmm, delicious. I'm happy with that. Yeah. (KNOCKING ON DOOR) Hello! Hi, Maria. How are you? I got some friends. International Group, we're called. We've been catching up for, maybe, 10 years, yeah. We have something in common. They` We always see people living here, and it's nice because we made a family together, you know? Which is each other. OK, girls, grab a plate. I always say, 'My home is your home. 'And you don't have to make an arrangement to come to my house; just come along.' You know? And I think that's very Mexican. Oh, the tortillas were excellent. Nice and fresh. I especially liked the spicy salsa. Oh, Maria's a wonderful host. She's, um` She's very warm and friendly, and, um, she's a great ambassador for Mexico, that beautiful South American culture, and, yeah, she's a lovely, special lady. Yeah, I got very special friends. And I like to, er, cook for people. I think I'm actually lucky I have a Mexican mum, because it's such nice Mexican dishes, yeah. That's my` my pay ` (LAUGHS) when they say, 'That's delicious.' 'Yes!' (LAUGHS) So it's nice. (SOFT ELECTRONIC MUSIC) I had a beautiful and incredible childhood growing up in Barbados. My mum showed me what it meant to be a black woman and to defy the odds stacked against you. I think of her as being the definition of the independent woman ` strong, successful, self-made and unapologetic. She was also very kind, intelligent and generous. She was always the life of the party ` lived life to the fullest. She showed me what it looked like to become comfortable in your own skin. And her battle with cancer showed me how powerful she was in an entirely new way. I think that sometimes strength and light can come out of very dark places. (REFLECTIVE MUSIC) Yeah, Orewa's, sort of, been my town where I go to church. Um, I've been going to church there since we moved here. And also, uh, high school and my first job and all of that sort of stuff was all in Orewa. Yeah, growing up, um, went to Sunday school with Mum and Dad. I remember being taken off to church and getting involved with all the little kid, uh, shows and dressing up as a` a shepherd at Christmastime and then as a teenager, getting involved with the youth, um, and being a youth and experiencing dinners and small groups and worship for myself. Yeah, I guess I noticed that I'm` I might have been gay probably when I was about 15 or 16. Um, and just knew that the sort of feelings or the conversations that my friends` well, my guy friends were having about girls, I was, sort of, feeling the same way but for guys. And, um, but as a Christian, I` you know, they taught it at Sunday school, they taught it at church that that was, you know, a sin. But also when I met with, you know, counsellors or pastors, I would bring it` bring it up and say that I was having these attractions, and they would spend time praying for me or offering me, kind of, advice on how to get out of that` that sin, I suppose. You know, you` I'm 100% Christian, and I` then there was this internal emotion or attraction that I was having that` I couldn't shake it. You know, why did`? Why was I like this? You know, was I a bad person that I couldn't be free from this? And, yeah, I think it` it sort of, you know, in my later teens, it came out, I think, in a form of depression. I got the opportunity, or the suggestion, to go to London and work on the Olympic Games there. And` And at the same time I thought, 'Oh, this'll be great. They'll have a course or a counsellor or a pastor or a healing group that will be able to help me change or be free. You know, the` I'm doing all of this in secret, not really talking to anyone about it ` my family and all that sort of stuff. So, the pastor that I met with in London, he said the most important thing for me to do was to be honest to my family and to be honest to myself. And I think, that was probably the biggest aha moment, because I had been lying to myself. I'd been keeping this sexuality hidden. It had been hidden from Mum and Dad and my family and all these people who, you know` who love you, sort of, unconditionally, really. Yeah, I remember I was in London and I, um, you know, really felt like that I just had this great time with the pastor and I sort of felt like I had to give you guys a call, give you a Skype and kind of let you know what was going on. Yeah, I` I think the main thing there was that once you'd made the decision to come out, you know, many things, sort of, fell into place, really. Yeah. You know? And there was a` as you say, an honesty. And then going forward, I think, you know, there's been lots of things that have gelled for you, or seems to have gelled. And I remember, Mum, you saying that you felt like you had to grieve. Growing up in a Christian family, that's not what I wanted for you. Yeah, and you` So... You wanted grandchildren. You said that. I wanted grandchildren, yeah, to carry on the name. So it was` it was something I had to process... Yeah. ...and take time to process it, yeah. Have you`? Do you feel like you're through that? Getting through it. Yeah. (BOTH LAUGH) (UPLIFTING MUSIC) In 2015 there was an international multisport competition coming here called the Outgames. I had arrived back, um, from the UK and had come out in the UK as a` as a gay man. So this was my first time of getting involved in the community. So that` it was quite a significant thing for me in terms of that. Proud to Play is a New Zealand trust that wants to promote inclusion in sports and get rid of homophobia so that everybody feels comfortable to play and, um` free from, yeah, any kind of persecution or, kind of, bullying. So, these are the LGBT teams ` like, all the Falcons teams and, um, the two JX teams. And how many`? Everyone else is very` is all the supportive teams. With festivals like this and church events that happen which say, 'Actually, no, we are totally inclusive,' what we're seeing is` is a lot of people from the gay communities coming back into the sporting and church worlds. (WHISTLE BLOWS) I suppose my personal mission now is reconciling that LGBTQ area and the Christianity community. Um, both, I think, have got problems with each other. Um, I think Christianity, historically, has really dealt with the LGBTQ community quite badly. And, you know, Jesus accepted everyone, including the LGBT community. What I would love to see is the bridge between the LGBTQ community and the Christian community, um, really formed, um, so that Christians knew there aren't a bunch of weirdos out there and that LGBT community realise that not all Christians hate them and that they're welcome to come into a church; you know, if you've got a spirituality as a gay person or anyone in the LGBT community, um, that it's totally OK to be a Christian at the same time. (PLAYS GUITAR) # You wait for me... # on the other side. # Will you wait for me... # through all the nights? # The music I make isn't overtly Barbadian or Caribbean, but, that being said, I can't deny the influence that that music has had on me and thus what I create. I grew up immersed in the personas and the rhythms of reggae, soca, dancehall and calypso ` the main music styles we have in the Caribbean. Music and art have always been vital parts of my soul. We have a few pieces of art here from Caribbean and Bajan artists. And I love them not just because they're redolent of where I'm from and my home, but they remind me of my mum, because they were hers, and she always created a beautiful art-filled home. (UPLIFTING MUSIC) Marbling is traditional ` Turkish traditional ` art. The oldest and the most important art, um, came from the 13th century and, uh, in Turkestan, and spread off to China, India and Anatolia. Now I'm doing my marbling in Estuary Arts Centre in Orewa. Estuary Arts Centre, for me, is my second home, and I'm teaching my art there. When I try to marbling arts, I want to focus my art because it makes me happy and I feel, um, meditative, and, um, I feel good when I am doing the marbling art. This liquid is very special. And, uh, inside of this ` uh, water, and, uh, carrageenan ` seaweed. And, uh, very gentle, I am sprinkle my colour on the water. They are not sinking because I'm using oxgall. It helps the colours, uh, doesn't sinking ` sit on the water. After, if I think finished, I put my acid-free paper on the colour. And, uh, I'm sure any bubble is not coming, I am touching my colour. There ` one finished. This is` I can use this paper for background. This very simple one. (UPLIFTING MUSIC) I was working in, uh, Director of Culture, city of Uskudar Municipality. Over the 23 years, I was doing the national and international programme there, and I was doing the seminars, symposium, concert, education programme, and, uh, for me it is wonderful to teach. It's something for kids and the adults. And, uh, one days, I saw the master of the marbling art is doing his art. It was really beautiful. It was really amazing for me. I said to myself, 'Why I don't start it?' And I came here, and my language problem is, um, very hard. New country, new education, new f`foods, new lifestyle. Everything is very different. Estuary Arts Centre, the other volunteers and the other artists, they always try to help me. I'm s` I feel I'm so lucky. One of, um, the pottery artists, Roy Burgoyne, he combined the marbling art with his pottery. It was great. Belgin came along and started, um, doing her wonderful artwork here. Um, and I just happened to see in Studio 1 what was happening. And I'd not` I'd not seen the process before, and so I looked in on it and I asked, 'Have you ever seen this done on clay?' And we thought, 'Well, let's` let's try it and see how it came out.' Belgin started giving me lessons every week on how to achieve this, um, and as the lessons progressed, I just started getting more ideas in my head on shape and form. And I'm just really happy to have learnt this technique. So many people have asked me about the technique and, um, how they can achieve it. But I told them I'd have to kill them, because... (LAUGHS) ...it's our secret. Yeah. (BOTH LAUGH) Definitely secret, yeah. I'm so happy. When I see this art, I feel good, I feel really` feel better. Yeah. Yeah, it's wonderful technique, yes. No, it's great. Very happy with it. (REFLECTIVE MUSIC) Before my marriage, I haven't any idea about New Zealand. And` But New Zealand is well known to movies and the Xena and the Ring of the King. And, uh, because very far away from my country, nobody coming here, I think. My husband is from Turkey, uh, like me. But he came, mm, a long years ago ` 2000 ` to New Zealand. I think fell love here. And the first question when I talk to him ` 'Please prepare yourself. We live in New Zealand.' I said, 'Why?' 'Because,' he said, 'New Zealand my country. I love to live there.' Orewa is very, very different place. I like to live in Orewa ` near the beach; I am walking there; I am doing my activities there. I'm so happy in Orewa. I hope in the future, um, my art will well known here. And I want to invite a lot of master of marbling artists here and we will make big, um, festival, like. This is my target, my... purpose in the future. (REFLECTIVE MUSIC) The population in Barbados is predominantly black, but as a colonised nation with a history of slavery, there are obvious implications with regard to how you might be perceived if you're white or if you're black but lighter-skinned. Because of this, being mixed race, I've always been aware of my otherness. There have been times in my life when I have become very aware of the fact that perhaps I didn't fit in either group. I wasn't white like the friends I went to primary school with. In other settings, I wasn't black enough either. Then fast-forward several years when I came to New Zealand, in some circles, I seem to be looked upon almost as the epitome of blackness. So there's always been that question of what that means for my identity and how much I carry with me wherever I go. (STIRRING MUSIC) Well, street games were very common in Romania when I was a kid. In towns, lots of concrete, not much grass, so we're just in quite small areas to play in. So we just had to make the most of those small areas. As then we'd come up with different variants of games. And this is one of them. Yeah, when I do this, that, kind of, playfulness of childhood, it's condensed in this, and you take that with you, which is kind of nice, cos there's certain things you leave behind, but then there are things you can take with you. This is one of them. At my school, we play with different rules, but it's kinda the same. It's kinda cool how people from one side of the world play the same game as people from the other side of the world. Growing up in Romania was fun... to a large extent. (PENSIVE PIANO MUSIC) Um, so we were just kids, um, playing. That was probably our main activity. Cos we had, like, two hours of television a day, right? That was all. And we really, really looked forward for that` you know, to that movie on Saturday night ` Dallas or whatever it was. Like, the whole country was watching it. And, you know, so that was a big thing. But not much else happening, so we had all this time on our hands. Obviously, we were going to school ` six days a week at the time. However, that didn't stop us from having lots of fun. Most of us lived in blocks of flats. Our parents came from the countryside into the townships, where there was` you know, they built this industry. That's what communism was built on. So they all got given apartments and blocks of flats. 60 families, and we were probably sharing 300m2 of play, uh, space between all the kids that all these families had. Playing different games, it was our life. So, my idea was pass the ball to each other, but the trick was that if the ball came off you on to the ground, you were out. It was just a you do on a` you know, on an afternoon. So when I, uh, went back` This is about 15 years after the` the game started, I went back to my parents', um, place. I walked to the, um, to the entrance, and then there were some kids there, and they were playing the game that I started 15 years ago. Now, I didn't know these kids, and these kids didn't know me, but they were playing that game, and I really felt quite good, quite` you know, I was like, 'Wow, oh, that's` that's cool!' (UPBEAT MUSIC) (CHEERING) 25 years later, the game that I invented in Romania is now Hungerball. No hands! (CHILDREN CHEER) And no fouls! So, we're at Orewa Surf and Sound Event, and we're playing Hungerball. All right, go! CHILDREN: Go, go! (RELAXING MUSIC) $2 for three goes. (RELAXING MUSIC) (CHILDREN CHEER) Sudden death. Sudden death. All right, so Hungerball is a game where you have six mini goals in a fully enclosed arena. Each player with their own goal, and you go against each other. So it has that element of the game, you know, from my childhood. Keep going! Keep going! It wasn't in. (CHILDREN CHATTER) Oh, OK. So, Toma is my son, and he came up with a game one day. I` I had this idea of Hunger Soccer, Hunger` So it's that, kind of, being hungry but also the Hunger Games idea, and it just didn't sound right. And he came up with the idea ` 'Why don't you call it Hungerball?' One thing that's really important for us is to take the game to lots of places where there's exposure for it so that lots of kids or even adults get a chance to play it and see it. Uh, we're always, um, trying to be here at Orewa and all the activities that are done in our home area. So it's always good, because this is a way of us being connected to the local community, and also it's the place where we started. You can come out, guys! Oh, unlucky. (CHILDREN CHATTER) I hope this will make it into a professional sport. You can't play soccer as, uh` You can only play as a team, right? You always have this confounding variable that is the team. Who's better ` Ronaldo or Messi? Right? You never know, because they play for a team, and it was the team or it was them. Whereas with this, equal opportunities, one winner. If you're better, then you better` It's down to you. So I think it has a chance. (RELAXING MUSIC) I think for the people, the most important thing is that they see the benefit for their kids. Like, you know, you get them off their iPads, that kind of stuff. You know, like, you get them` It's exciting. It's` There's a buzz about it. So for me, it's important to do stuff that's linked back to what` you know, what you really, really like ` like, the basic stuff. Like, I have my career, and I have, like` you know, I have other things. I'm doing other things. But this is... Yeah, this is different. It has that magic of childhood. (SERENE MUSIC) I had a glorious childhood. Some of my favourite memories are the days when my mum would pick us up after school and she'd have the swimsuits and towels in the car and we'd go straight to the beach for the evening. I think maybe that's one reason I love living in Orewa so much. (SERENE MUSIC CONTINUES) Orewa is a gentle and accepting place. But I think to truly become a more diverse community, we need to start taking an active interest in each other's stories. We need to start learning about each other and doing so zealously. I hope New Zealand continues to grow in a direction where people of all genders, ethnicities, outlooks and lifestyles can be not only accepted but celebrated. Captions by Starsha Samarasinghe. Edited by Antony Vlug. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2017