1 (UPBEAT THEME MUSIC) www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2017 (REFLECTIVE MUSIC) Birkdale on Auckland's North Shore was once market gardens as far as the eye could see. There really were strawberry fields forever, just like the song says. These days, suburban sprawl has taken out the peach trees. But the whole eastern boundary of Birkdale is green reserve. So you are never too far from a little soul-cleansing bit of nature. I grew up in the beautiful medieval city of Brasov in Romania, surrounded by mountains and amazing landscapes. I'm an actor by trade, and I lived in Birkdale for 10 years now. I think it's the open space and friendly people that make me feel at home. In this episode of Neighbourhood, we'll meet a Frenchman who's found a sense of community while caring for the green spaces here. The reason I'm here is because of the community. And I thought I had to repay some of their debt. A woman from Brazil discovers a way to connect her kids to the culture they left behind. It's just beautiful if you hear the song of capoeira, you get trained into it. Like, it's movement, and music goes with it, and the instruments are all very, like, traditional and simple at the same time. An artist born in South Africa celebrates the freedom that living in New Zealand has given him. When I moved to New Zealand, I hadn't done anything very creative, and it's` it's quite nice, because you, kind of, just go into your own world and forget everything else, and you're just creating something that you enjoy doing. And a young woman shares what it means for her to have left Iraq for Syria and to be finally in a place of safety here. So, quite nice to live in New Zealand, because, you know, there's nobody will hurt you if you say something like your opinion that people may don't like. I am Cristina Ionda, and this is my neighbourhood. (UPLIFTING MUSIC) (REFLECTIVE MUSIC) When I grew up, Romania was still under communist rule. Even as a child, I remember the daily power cuts and the food shortages ` always huge queues to get the milk in the morning. There was only one national television station, and it broadcast two hours of communist propaganda daily from 8pm to 10pm. That was it. Under communists, you could not express your opinion freely without the fear of a repercussion. I remember as a child my parents constantly telling me not to discuss anything we talked about at home with anyone else. It would put us in danger. In Birkdale, it's hard to imagine how I used to live in fear, day after day. But there are people here for whom the memory is all too fresh. (POIGNANT MUSIC) Uh, my name is Dima. I'm 18, and I'm studying in Birkenhead College. I was born in Iraq in 1998, and I lived in Syria for 10 years. When arrived to Birkdale, I did some volunteer work helping kids ` just take care after them, just make them safe and do some activity with them. Dima, how long have you been here? Just nine months. Oh. Yeah. Do you like this job? I love it. I love it. We love you working here. Oh, that's really cute! Do you know where's Syria? No. You don't know where? No. Is your country fun? Like fun? Yeah, like fun. Fun things. It was fun. But not right now. In Iraq, I remember this American army went to my grandparents' home. I remember my dad was told by somebody to leave the Iraq, and if he don't do that, they will kill us. And they covered their, like, head. And they tied up their, um, hands and their feet. And they were looking for some guns, or something like that. And` But my grandparents doesn't have anything. They're really old, and they live alone. Yeah, and then we left Iraq. We went to Syria. This is Dima. I lived in Syria really safe. For six years it was safe. And then in the last four years, it was quiet dangerous. Syrians, but from different cities. Uh, they severe about the war. And they escaped from kill` uh, the killing. They came to our city. Mm-hm. It's, uh, safe` sort of safe. Last, uh` Last winter, it was very cold. 6 or 8, uh,... Minus. ...minus, yes. So, imagine the people living in building without roof, without anything to get them warm. We were, uh, just have them everything we have ` blankets or beds or anything we have, just to` to help them. I did two actions volunteering. So this is the first one ` it was in Christmas. All the Santa Claus give the children gifts, and it was, like, huge number of kids. We made them dance and just be happy on Christmas, even if they are not Christian. But` They're all Muslim, but we just made them happy. And the other one was in their building. It was a grey wall with nothing, so we just add some colour. Tables were colourful, and they were really happy. Yeah. I wish I can do that for them now. (REFLECTIVE MUSIC) Uh, I was happy when I know that we are going to New Zealand, because I'm going to leave a bad country, and I'm going to live in a good country with good conditions. There's nobody will hurt you if you say something like your opinion that people may don't like. So nobody will hurt you or kill you. I have some friends; like, just, maybe five. And in my work, the leaders with me are my friend now. And it's safe. That's the important thing that I have to tell. It's a different world. Like, I mean that. (LAUGHS) It's different. So, um, the electricity and the water was in Syria really bad. So sometimes we spend maybe... two days without water or electricity. It's, like, huge difference. And people in my country, or even in Syria, they don't have the patience that people in New Zealand have. The people in Syria and Iraq, they're really tired of trying to survive. So they don't have that patient and that friendly things that people have now. I'm thinking about nursing, because I can help people. Even I can go as a volunteer, like, travelling, helping people. Maybe that will be easier for me, and it's... it's a nice job for me. (RELAXING MUSIC) I'm really happy. And I wish all the people in Syria and Iraq that they wanted to travel or go in a safe place, they come to New Zealand. They see that the life here and the different that I find it here. Yeah, I love` I love New Zealand. (UPBEAT WHISTLING MUSIC) Communism suddenly ended during Christmas holiday one year. It was so unexpected and new that we didn't know how to react. It was an amazing feeling to have the freedom of speech back. And suddenly we had 90 television channels to choose from. It was great to discover the world at last. Years later, my husband and I were watching Discovery Channel one night, and a documentary on New Zealand came up. We loved everything we saw. That's when we decided to move here. (RELAXING MUSIC) (SPEAKS ROMANIAN) But it wasn't easy to tell my parents that we wanted to move to the other side of the world. It took seven years until they joined me here. But I'm so happy to have them with me. If they weren't here, I would still have a piece of my heart back to the place of my birth. (SPEAKS ROMANIAN) My best memories playing outside with my friends till dark, and, yeah, getting the little insects, fireflies. We used to catch them in summer. Yeah, that was awesome. When I grew up, things were simpler. These days, growing up in Brazil is, in my point of view, dangerous and... it's not healthy. You don't have much access to sports like you have in New Zealand. You're always locked in in your apartments or houses, and I don't want this kind of life for my kids. That's the main reason we` we have them here ` safe and free. GIRL: Hi, chickens! Hi, Mummy. Ow! I bumped my head on this. I live in Birkdale now ` um, North Shore area. It's pretty green and very friendly. We've got lots of Brazilians here. It's a big Brazilian community here that we can, um, catch up on a regular basis. And even doing Brazilian things brought me closer to my own culture living here on the North Shore now. I miss the people in Brazil ` my family, my good friends. All` All of us together. Your baptism in Brazil. That's you. Mm. BOY: And there's me. This is me! (CHUCKLES) (CHUCKLES) You little quiet baby. My mum was the only person from the entire family that` she` since the day I came to New Zealand, she was like, 'Stay there. Don't come back. 'You're in a beautiful country. Your family now is you and your husband and your kids, when you have them.' This is Granny - my mum ` with her garden. She had a big` Is this my granny? Yes. My granny! She was a` a really wise lady. (LAUGHS) She was beautiful. Um, she never, ever asked me to go back, because she knew that this was the place I was supposed to be, for whatever reason. I can live here for a hundred years, but I'll always be Brazilian. (PLAYS BERIMBAU) (SINGS IN PORTUGUESE) (HUMS) So, this instrument is called Berimbau. Every capoeira song starts with this instrument. They call the other instruments. (PLAYS TWANGY NOTES) (BOTH SING IN PORTUGUESE) Capoeira comes from the` the slaves. That` That was their way of, um, communicating and being themselves, OK. And it's a beautiful not only the movement, but also the music. When you're doing your capoeira class, you have to be part of everything. You learn the movements; you learn the songs; you learn the instruments. It's` It's a big cultural thing for us, yes. Um, I've got a 7-years-old son, and he goes to capoeira classes every week. Uh, he's been going for a year now, and he absolutely loves it. It's really hard to keep our culture alive, but he fell in love straight away with capoeira. (UPBEAT CAPOEIRA MUSIC PLAYS) It's just beautiful. If you hear the song of capoeira, you get trained into it. Like, its movements, they're all, um, timely done, and the music goes with it, and the instruments are all very, like, traditional and simple at the same time. When you play capoeira, it's good for the heart; it's good for the soul; it's` the energy's great. (CAPOEIRA MUSIC PLAYS) One thing that kids will get out of this is confidence. Um, you will notice as they start as a beginner, they're so unconfident, don't want to do anything. And by the end of it, they are throwing themselves into cartwheels, flips and anything. I love capoeira because of all the movements and, um, the basic instruments. And we really like Brazil, so we travel a lot. Oh, my mum would be very, very proud to see, um, the place we live and especially that we` even though we here, far away from home, we still trying to keep our culture alive. (CAPOEIRA MUSIC PLAYS) (RELAXING MUSIC) Verran's Corner is reminder of the old market-garden base in Birkdale. In the early 1900s, Charles Verran from Cornwell set up business here with a team of draft horses to cart fresh produce to Auckland City. It's a real hub for the surrounding suburbs today. (RELAXING MUSIC) For me, Brasov, the city I grew up, is the most beautiful city in Romania. It's also the heart of Transylvania, which always intrigues people. My parents actually lived 30km from a place known as Dracula's Castle. The truth is Vlad the Impaler only spent one night there. He was the ruler of a completely different region. But Bram Stoker made Transylvania very famous. I quite like it. No one reacts when I say I'm from Romania. But Transylvania? 'It's so fantastic! Dracula's country!' It's a bit like the connection people make between France and great food. It's French, but this is a glorified custard. But it's` It's going to be very solid. The secret ingredients is those prunes I have marinated in rum. That will make the whole dish come to life. But it's very easy. It's just flour, sugar, eggs and milk. I'm initially from France. Um, I was born there, but I was born 60 years ago, so... And I was making calculations ` I have spent more time in my life in New Zealand than I have spent anywhere else. My early childhood, I was, uh, in Africa in Congo. And then my father, being in the military, we moved a lot. So, really, I'm born in France, but I'm a Kiwi. My dad was in, uh, paratroopers. So that's, uh, pictures of him and his unit... in his dashing, uh, uniform. And this is a photo of, um, me in my early days when I still had, um, a normal face. I was diagnosed with cancer. That was 20 years ago. Um, the doctor that I saw said, 'Well, you know, it's very serious. It's in your face,' as you can see. I went from a very, very busy, focused person to somebody that was missing half of his face. I'd become, um, a bit of a recluse in my own house because it was hard for me to go out. And it took, um, probably another four or five years to accept the fact that I would never be like I used to be before. When it was time for a different change of pace, um, I used to come down here. In a way, the house and the bush section just, um, contributed to me, uh, surviving the odds and being still here 23 years later. (RELAXING MUSIC) It's a traditional` traditional dish from, uh, from Britain. It's a nice, earthy country dish. So it's ideal for, uh` for morning tea at Kaipatiki. Kaipatiki is, um` is a society that's based on the bottom of the road here. There was a lot of earthworks being done, and, um, the difficulty with the bush here is as soon as you remove the bush, the exotics come back first. And if they take a hold, then they stay there, and you` you can kiss goodbye to the` to the natives. (RELAXING MUSIC) If you want to preserve this treasure that is the New Zealand bush, you have to give nature a hand. You have to counteract the human action, and we have to help the New Zealand bush, and that's what we're doing. We're giving nature a little hand. (REFLECTIVE MUSIC) We have, uh, all sorts of volunteers. At the potting table, we have special needs people today. Um, we attract a lot of, um` of people that have spare time. We have Ka Kwey, which is from Burma; Nia, which is from Switzerland; uh, Judy from Tasmania. We don't` We don't hold this against her. NIA: Well, for me, it's mainly about learning. So, I've just come to New Zealand, so there's a lot to learn about the Kiwi way of life. And people are very friendly. You know, they tell me what is it to 'bring a plate' or stuff like that. So, um, it's a very` a sociable thing. It's nice to have people come in and work together, but we also need to have a time when you take a break and people come together. Oh, this is gorgeous. Those pickled prunes are awesome. Mmm-mmm. I definitely do want the recipe. It's scrumptious, I think the English word is. (LAUGHS) Scrumptious. Having been sick, you know, the reason I` I was able to come out of that is because of this social contract we have where the people that are healthy help the people that are not healthy. So, in a way, um, the reason I'm here is because of the community. And I thought I had to repay some of that debt. I'm able to do something and give back. And, funny enough, in giving back, you receive a lot too. (INSPIRING MUSIC) (RELAXING MUSIC) My best friend when I was young was Bianca. We used to share everything. As young girls, we were obsessed with gymnast Nadia Comaneci when she represented Romania at Montreal Olympics in 1976. She was just 14 and the first gymnast ever to be awarded a perfect score of 10. Everyone loved her. Bianca and I planned every day how we were to become competition gymnasts and who will shine on the world stage, as she did. Never happened. But maybe some of the desire to be in the spotlight influenced me to become an actor. It does show that a little bit of inspiration can take you a long way. (RELAXING MUSIC) I moved out, uh, 23 years ago with my partner, Peter. Um, we met in Cape Town. That's where we were living before we moved. Um, and we basically sold up everything, and we arrived in New Zealand with two suitcases and a few pennies in our pockets. And we were ready to start a new life here. In those days in South Africa, uh, talking about your sexuality wasn't number one on your list of things to do. You never introduced your partner or anything like that. It` You know, if they'd asked you about it, you would have just said, 'Yeah, I'm single, and I have got a flatmate.' You wouldn't say that it was your partner. Meeting any other gay people, you'd have to go to the clubs, and they would be, like, really in the back alleys and not` not places where people would want to be seen, compared to New Zealand, where there were more` more gay clubs, and there were more gay scenes, um, and it just easier to` to mix with other gay people. When I moved to New Zealand, I hadn't done anything very creative. And it's` it's quite nice, because you kind of just go into your own world and forget everything else, and you're just creating something that you enjoy doing. I'd seen something on Pinterest. It was also made of concrete, and they were smooth on the outside and smooth on the inside. So I was trying to do something like that, but I` I couldn't get the smoothness on the outside. But I kind of enjoyed it that there was a contrast with the rough and the smooth. Um, so, after a lot of experimentation and mixing with cement and that, the orb was invented. I didn't have a lot of patience when I first started doing it, so it became frustrating. Um, but once you get used to the way it works, um,... then you just have to go with it. Uh, it's good fun working with Peter. We see things similarly, and we do complement one another as well. So, I do jewellery, pendants ` concrete pendants ` um, and I do a few different designs. These ones are the, um, round cylinders that I do. And I get very frustrated, because things like this can happen where you think it's perfect, and then there's a little hole where there's an air bubble. So it's` it's a hit-and-miss. His are quite unique, because nobody else is making them. People have said, 'Whenever I've made some, they've just crumbled.' And when Gary had that too when he first started making them, they were falling apart. He had to get the mix just right. And if the mix isn't right, then that's` that's what happens. I love the making process. Yeah. (LAUGHS) Cos I` I have been painting, but when you paint, you rely on the brush to get your results. But when you're doing this, you're actually using your hands, and it's part of you when you make it, so it's good fun. (REFLECTIVE MUSIC) So, that's me in the pool when I was about 3, I think it is. (LAUGHS) And this would be me, um, probably my first job. And the last one was me in the army for two years in Kimberley in South Africa. In those days in South Africa, violence was accumulating, so it was just nice to come to New Zealand and just feel a lot freer. Not even at school, I didn't` didn't study art or anything at school. So I didn't really know that there was any creativity there. So it's something that you just have to give it a go and see what happens. Hi, Gary. Hi, Jen. How's it going? Good. Yay! More orbs. Some more orbs. Ooh, little goodies. Little goodies. Look at them! Oh, they're beautiful. I love the way they shine. I do always tend to go for the reds and oranges. I do like those colours, so obviously they're something, uh, from Africa that's coming through there. Yeah. Well, what we absolutely love about Gary's work is that it's actually handmade. He's actually` Every bit of it, you can see where he's put his hands on it. And that's what Gary does so beautifully, and then the shine on them as well, too. So people really get engaged with that, and it's something they can hold. You know, when you make the decision to move to a different country, you kind of leave what you had behind and move forward in the new country where you are. And it was probably the best` best move I made. (UPLIFTING MUSIC) People are the best thing about my neighbourhood. I just love the amazing attitude that people constantly display day after day. They smile at you, they greet you, and they help you unconditionally. This is so great. Coming from Romania, a country heavy with thousands of years of history hanging over it, for me, New Zealand society feels young and dynamic. As long as the people continue to accept, respect and love each other the way my neighbours in Birkdale do, I couldn't be happier with my adopted home. Captions by Starsha Samarasinghe. Edited by Jake Ebdale. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2017