1 Captions by Faith Hamblyn. www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2017. (RELAXED ELECTRONIC MUSIC) Hamilton East is one of Hamilton's oldest suburbs. Originally, it was known as Irishtown, because of the large number of Irish immigrants, who settled here in the 19th century, so it's a place that's been welcoming newcomers for generations. I was born and raised in the Philippines, and when my family and I moved to New Zealand, when I was 17 years old, Hamilton East was the first neighbourhood we settled in. (RELAXED MUSIC CONTINUES) This place is bursting with creative people making art, establishing small business and even creating things for the city. In many ways, I feel like this is the place that moulded by into who I am today ` a storyteller, actor, writer and blogger. Hamilton East is just so special to me. Let me tell you the reasons why. In this episode of Neighbourhood ` we'll meet a local man tackling issues in the Indian community head-on. There's a lot of various issues ` family problems, financial problems, family problems. And that's the reason why we want to educate ` we can't cure it with showing a video and all that, but we can educate them. A woman from Argentina dishes up some homegrown hospitality. Food is quite a huge part in our tradition. We always have family meals, friends' meals. Tradition is every Sunday to get the family all together. A Hamilton East musician explores the way her Zambian heritage colours her music. I started exploring more connection with my culture when I moved to Hamilton. With no family here, I saw how important it was to know where I'm from and, yeah, to know my place in the world. And we'll discover the way the local Muslim community here has gone from strength to strength. You've got Arabs, you've got Indians, you've got Malaysians, you've got Africans, and everybody comes with their own culture. I'm Jess Molina, and this is my neighbourhood. (VIBRANT MUSIC) (TINKLY MUSIC) Quezon City in the Philippines is a concrete jungle. I'm definitely still a city girl at heart, but I do love the contrast between that and Hamilton. (MUSIC CONTINUES) I identify myself as a Filipino Kiwi, and I love that I still hold traditional values from my Filipino upbringing. Like, Filipinos are pretty positive and resilient people, and I do think that is a big part of me. But at the same time, I'm very New Zealand in the way I think and behave. People actually always get surprised when I tell them I've only been here for seven years. But that's the great thing about having lived in two very different places ` you get to experience and choose the best part of each culture and incorporate it into your daily life and your art. (CONTEMPLATIVE KEYBOARD MUSIC) I first started learning the piano at high school. So, when I was about year nine, I... enrolled in a music class. And I asked my tutor if he can teach me how to play piano. And he said to me, 'Well, do you know how to read music?' And I was, like, 'No, I don't.' And he said, 'Have you ever played the piano?' And I said, 'No.' I remember I said, 'There's this really, really nice piece that I wanna learn, 'and I wanna start from there.' And he said to me, 'It's a really hard piece. It's not easy.' And I was, like, 'Yeah, I know, but I can do it.' (PLAYS PACHELBEL'S 'CANON IN D MAJOR') And I learned the piece in four months, and my tutor was very impressed. And I was, like, 'Oh, my dream is coming true.' (CONTINUES PLAYING CLASSICAL MUSIC) In Zambia, the culture's really different to New Zealand culture. I'd go to my grandma's house, and all my cousins would be there. Or I'd go to my friend's house, and all their cousins would be home. And so there was a lot of togetherness. (HUMS) I moved to New Zealand when I was 9. (HUMS) I was raised as a Jehovah's Witness. And that meant that I couldn't celebrate, um, certain celebrations or take in certain events. So one of the events was Zambian Independence. So I always wanted to go,... but I always knew that I couldn't. Could say that while I was growing up, I was very distant from the Zambian community. And, um,... as time went on, I felt left out. I felt like I didn't know them as much as I should have. And I really, really wanted to, but I felt like my opportunity to get to know them kind of was left back there. (CONTEMPLATIVE MUSIC) I read this really lovely poem, and it inspired me to write my own poem. So I bought myself a little diary, a little notebook, and I wrote a story a day. And eventually, I was, like, 'Oh, I can play piano, and I can write really good poems, 'so I guess I can write a song.' So that's how I started songwriting. (TINKLY MUSIC) I started exploring more connection with my culture when I moved to Hamilton. With no family here, I saw how important it was to know where I'm from and, yeah, to know my place in the world. And I said, 'I'm gonna meet new African friends, and I'm gonna talk to them. 'I'm gonna ask them about their stories and where they're from.' When I started connecting with more African people, I started to learn that we're actually very similar. I thought I felt very alone,... and, um, they kind of felt the same. And I thought to myself that maybe I can write about these topics, and it could inspire someone or encourage someone or uplift someone. # Love is the only thing... # that makes my bells ring. # Living in a castle... # with a crown ` # that's my thing. # I write my own ways. # That's my thing. I'm the queen... There's still a lot more to learn about my culture and where I'm from. But I think it's important for me to... to give myself a break, to tell myself that, 'OK, you came here when you were really young, 'so it's OK to know about your culture, it's OK to want to learn about it, 'and it's not gonna take you two weeks to learn about your culture ` 'it's gonna take you your whole life.' # I write my own ways. # That's my thing. I'm the queen. # I write my own ways. # That's my thing. I'm the queen. Yeah! # Like, la, la, la, la,... # la, la, la, la, la. # La, la, la. # La, la, la, la, # la, la, la, la, la. # La, la, la. # (ACOUSTIC GUITAR MUSIC) Growing up, I never truly felt like I belonged anywhere. I've always had a sense of who I was and was quite happy being unique. In fact, I loved dressing up, even though I didn't quite have the right body for it, and society made me feel like an outsider. Add to that the challenges of leaving everything behind just before my 18th birthday, and my first few months in New Zealand was pretty challenging. (ACOUSTIC GUITAR MUSIC CONTINUES) Fortunately, it didn't take me very long to feel a sense of community here, one that accepted me for who I was. But it did give me a taste of just how isolating it can be to be very much alone in a new city. (GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC) As a child growing up in Hamilton, I went to a primary school where there was about 600 kids. And I was the only person who wasn't either Maori or Pakeha, so I found that quite difficult. They probably didn't actually know I was Muslim ` as a little girl, I wasn't wearing hijab or anything ` so it was more the skin colour and the Indianness. And I remember, I must have been about 7 or 8, and some little girl asking me, 'What does it feel like to be Indian?' (LAUGHS) How is it supposed to feel? I don't know. (GENTLE MUSIC) My father had just finished his doctorate in Canada, and he had a job lined up to go to India, but he got this offer to come to New Zealand on a two-year fellowship. So they made the decision pretty much the day before they were due to leave for India that they would come to New Zealand. And, um, after having lived here for two years, they really loved it and decided it was, um, the place that they wanted to live. (INTENSE MUSIC) Back in 1975, first time we started congregation of Friday prayers, and they were held in this house. And for nearly 10 years, we had a room set aside. As the numbers grew, then we suddenly found the house was getting a bit small. In Islam, as the prophet migrated, the first thing that he did himself was build a mosque, and, uh, it is, uh, recommended for any community, as soon as you have some people. And a mosque doesn't have to be a huge building; it could be a tin shed, which many of the Auckland mosques, before they got there, we started in garages. So in 1996,... we started dreaming about building a mosque there. Because, uh, we were the first Muslim family to settle, as we grew, I realised that, uh, we need to, uh, keep, uh, a record of, uh, things that are being done, uh, as our community grows,... for our own community to take lessons from and for our next generations to see how everything, uh, has grown. (INTENSE MUSIC) It was important to build a community and a facility for the community in which the children could grow as Muslims and could be a part of a community. So that was in a way a catalyst to work hard and to build a mosque, to build a community. And it still continues today. (INTENSE MUSIC CONTINUES) When you look at, like, in our small, uh, mosque here, there are people from some 32 different nationalities they are coming. 42. So you've got, uh, Arabs,... you've got Indians, you've got Malaysians, you've got Africans,... and everybody comes with their own culture. So to have all these people together and to come to one decision over some of the major things, uh, it is, um, a huge task. So certainly, we became much better Muslims living here than we would have if we were living in India. (INTENSE MUSIC CONTINUES) The early childhood education centre was actually a dream of our president, who's just left last year, and he said it was like a legacy project. Because he wanted to leave something that was lasting, and, of course, for Muslims, education is a really core value. It's something that's extremely valued. (TINKLY MUSIC) One of the things is that we were looking at kids that weren't getting access to early childhood and making sure that they were able to get to that, so, um, yeah, I really appreciated that. And also it's about helping them to shape their own Kiwi identity. And it's something that they focus on a lot is what it mean to be a Muslim in New Zealand. My favourite colour's red. What's your favourite colour? Eh? Do you like blue? Green? Mm-hm. You like all the colours? As a child growing up in Hamilton in today's world, it's hugely different. For Muslims, they can immediately go to the mosque and connect with the community. So I think it's a much better experience, and I feel hopeful for my children. Because both of them have a real multicultural range of friends. And I look back and think, you know, 'Wow, that's something I never had.' And I think it makes a huge difference to their level of confidence, um, their ability to achieve. Yeah, it really does. (TINKLY MUSIC) (GENTLE MUSIC) Family is the most important thing to me and for a lot of Filipinos too, and there's nothing like that genuinely caring Filipino hospitality that we are known for. I love Filipino food. I feel it's really important to share something so special from my culture with my friends. It was actually my lola, or nana, who taught me my favourite recipes. (GENTLE MUSIC CONTINUES) When we first moved to New Zealand, we didn't know what 'bring a plate' meant. And after a while, I've become the family go-to for preparing dishes for when we go to parties. Sharing food is such a great way to connect with people, especially when you're a long way from home. (GENTLE MUSIC) I was born in Tucuman, which is the northwest of Argentina. I grew up in a very small town, actually. My province is the smallest in the whole Argentina. I think we were always looking for a change. Not because we didn't have fun ` it was a great, lovely childhood ` but we wanted to see more. So that's why, probably, I ended up in New Zealand. (CHUCKLES) I'm teaching in Hamilton at the moment. So, I have my work, which is I am an ESOL teacher. I also volunteer for Language Partners. What we do is we teach, uh, new migrants and former refugees so they can start their new lives in New Zealand. Being part of different charities, organisations helped me meet a lot of people here in New Zealand. And that helped me also not feel so lonely here. (CHUCKLES) And, well, it became our home in that way, helping each other. All the friends that we have, uh, we have helped each other at some point. (RELAXED MUSIC) We're making alfajor de maicena, which is a traditional Argentine pastry. I made these for the first time when I was very young. I mean, 6, 7 years old ` it was probably my mother or my grandmother, I'm not sure. So basically, this is a sweet dough. We put them in the oven, we will bake them, and then we will stuff them with dulce de leche, which is traditional sweet, which is like sweet caramel, a little bit thicker for us. And then we will roll them in coconut. Today we're having a barbecue with my friends and family. They're all coming over. We will have a delicious meal, and then this will be the dessert. Being from Latin America, I think that food is quite a huge part in our tradition. We always have family meals, friends' meals. We love getting together to cook and prepare things. Tradition is every Sunday to get the family all together. I love to bake, and I think it's nice to continue the tradition, you know, you even if you're far away. This is something I would like someday my kids to have, and even if we're far from home, they still know this and what does it mean and how do you do this, and they enjoy it too. (TINKLY MUSIC) (INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS) (MUSIC CONTINUES) When we first came, we came as visitors. We didn't know anything about Hamilton when we moved. We were, like, looking around, checking what it looks like. I can say that as time passed by, we fell in love with it because of all the green areas and all the activities that you have to do outside. So it's just five minutes' drive and you can be in beautiful landscape, so that's what we like the most. We're just doing all the side dishes and the desserts. So, men normally are in charge of the meat, so probably that's the part that I don't know a lot about. (INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS) I do enjoy cooking, like, with fires, with barbecues and stuff, so mainly I will do the barbecues when we get together with all our friends. Back there in Argentina, yeah, men will probably get in charge of all barbecues, all outdoor cooking. And yeah, mums will cook inside, and... Yeah. And I'm in charge of the baking. (LAUGHS) Yeah. She's a good baker. (TINKLY MUSIC) You always just learn on the way while you grow up, getting together with family, and so your dad or cousin or whoever will teach you by, um, just going away for fishing with friends, and you'll have to survive out there, just build a fire. (TINKLY MUSIC) While waiting for the barbecue, we normally have some mates, which is a traditional Argentine drink. It's kind of a green tea that we prepare. So normally, people in New Zealand don't like the idea of sharing the straw, which is called bombilla, that we use to drink mate. But, of course, people get used to it. OK. (SPEAKS SPANISH) Thank you! Thank you, Julio. (CHEERING) I think, coming from Latin America, we are very expressive, and we love... we hug, we kiss each other ` we are, like, you know, very friendly, let's say. Probably, the sense of community, so you always know your neighbours, you know who lives next door, you know the people from the shops. (CHUCKLES) And probably, this doesn't happen here. It's a little bit like you have more distance, let's say, with people. So we have built a community here, but most of them are people from Latin America. And, of course, we have friends from all over the world, but every time that we have this gathering, we have mainly Latinos around. (CHUCKLES) New Zealand, it's home now. This is the place that... where I have my family now, and we will stay here, so we'd love to have a future here. We're here to stay. (CHUCKLES) (DOWNBEAT MUSIC) Writing a blog has given me insight into the power of words in ways I never could have imagined. Back in 2013, I wrote a letter to Parliament at the height of the marriage-equality debate. (DOWNBEAT MUSIC) The next day I woke up to my blog being shared, personal replies to MPs, and even all these comments from strangers. Suddenly, people were hating on me. There were comments of support, and it was just such a crazy time. That was actually the moment I realised that words, even my words, can truly create an impact. (CONTEMPLATIVE MUSIC) In the Indian community, depression is, like, the mental issue. If someone got a depression, they don't tell, and that's the worst thing you can do in depression. So you need to actually speak up, speak to other people and get help if you need to. So we need to break that and bring it out. One of my friends, his 16-year-old son committed suicide without any reason. Everyone got surprised. Um, very well-established family in the Waikato. The parents are in limbo, 'What we done wrong? Where was it?' Because they didn't see any signs coming up. And that triggers us that, hang on, we need to do something about it. And that day on his funeral, what we'd gone through, cos it was very emotional for a whole community, it was very, very sad moment for a whole community ` That day we're standing there, we decided that, OK, we're gonna do something about it. It's called I Am He(r) Charitable Trust, and 'He's in brackets, so it is I am he or I am her. That works on stigma in the community on different issues and the communities, like, depression, family violence ` all these issues that need to bring out. So community get educated from it. So, we... we done the first launch by, uh, releasing the musical video on depression. Uh, it's called Zindagi. It means life. And in English, it's called Life. And then that's all a story been shot through a man who's in depression and how his life is and, uh, how he come out from it. # Chal uth chal bandeya. # Ho chal uth chal bandeya. # Uth chal bandeya. # Chal uth chal bandeya. # Je tere tandrustiyan kol. # Fer dass kahton jaana ae dol... And since we released that video on the social media, it had 500,000 hits in 30 days. And surprisingly, a lot of people rang us, and then they suddenly start talking and saying that was what we want. So we start getting the feedback off it, and that motivates us. # Ae Zindagi jung varat har dhang. Sohneya ladni paini aa. # Uh, yeah, you get goosebumps. (CHUCKLES) So, yeah, it's a very motivational song. Uh, every time you listen to it, it just comes to mind. That life is good. Get on to it. Happiness doesn't come from a shop ` you have to create your own happiness, and that's the lyrics of the song too, you know, so you get up and keep going. (POIGNANT PIANO MUSIC) There's a lot of various issues ` family problems, financial problems, family problems. And that's the reason why we want to educate ` we can't cure it with showing a video and all that, but we can educate them. One way we find, through the culture clubs and everything, the way to put a message across to the communities is either entertainment or food. So if one should entertain them, they give you better message than you sitting in the seminar getting bored. That's the whole reason we make videos and short films, cos that becomes a part of the entertainment. (CONTEMPLATIVE MUSIC) Our next project is a family violence project. And in New Zealand it's a huge issue. Being on a multicultural advice board, so I know the internal stats. New Zealand police spend 40%, 45% of their total callout is family violence. And, um, still there is a lot of unreported, which comes from South Asian communities, especially Indians. Action. Mother! Mother! Get here! Mother! We are at the first day of rehearsal for one of our second projects of the trust. This project is focused on the Indian community. And the project that we're here for today is on domestic violence within the ethnic communities. What we wanna show through this video is that actually, there are other forms. If he's taking your money, if he's stopping you from meeting your friends and family, if he's embarrassing you ` these are all forms of domestic violence that the women in our community have no idea about. (BOTH YELL IN PUNJABI) The name of the movie is, 'Loka Ki Karanage?' It means, 'What Will People Say?' What will people say if I do this? What will people say if I do that? And that is to take the people out from their stigma and come out and then say, 'Look, you'd better live a better life. 'So don't care about that, and then care about yourself first, and then go from there.' When I do that sort of project, it gives me peace of mind. It also gives me happiness, uh, that I'm doing something right for the community. (TINKLY MUSIC) I believe Hamilton East is one of the more progressive and accepting places in the city. There are a lot of really cool and open-minded people living here. (MUSIC CONTINUES) But that doesn't mean there isn't progress to be made. There still seems to be a lot of negative perceptions about migrants, and I do think a lot of that stems from fear. We should see diversity as a strength instead of a threat. For us to become a truly diverse and accepting community, we need to be having open conversations. We need to be listening to people with different views than us. Let's constantly use our voice, whether that's through art, music, writing or whatever. Let's be open and vulnerable and honest, because that ` that's when change happens. Captions by Faith Hamblyn. www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2017.