They had the courage to start. They dared to dream. Hi. I'm Scottie Reeve. In 2013, an AMP scholarship gave me the courage to pursue my dream to launch a social enterprise cafe in Wellington. South Aucklander Jasmine Jenke dreams of a community full of hope and pride. With the help of an AMP scholarship, she hopes to publish a book celebrating the humans of South Auckland. The top three things to come up when you Google South Auckland is gangs, crime and poverty. In the newspaper, um, it's always about something bad that happened ` some robbery in the dairy, some man's been murdered or some woman's been stabbed. It's always negative stuff that you hear about our community. A lot of it is around Pacific Island and Maori males, especially. Um, the negative stigma is attached to them. But, from my perspective, I meet a lot of incredible and inspirational Maori and Pacific Island men and women and the rest of South Auckland as well. The way that we feature somebody on the Humans of South Auckland page is purely through nominations. So somebody will write in and say, 'Have you heard about so-and-so doing an awesome job in the community?' And, um, they'll give us their number. Then we'll get in touch and say, 'Are you interested?' And they'll either say yes or no. Hi! I'm Jasmine. Hey, Jasmine. Nice to meet you. Likewise. Come in. I go, and I meet with them. We do an interview. I ask three questions ` tell me five things about yourself, tell me about your childhood, and then I say, 'What do you wanna talk about?' I used to be a teacher, and I was a high school teacher in South Auckland, and, um, in my first year of teaching, one of my 14-year-old students committed suicide. And so, um, from that, I got inspired to make this Facebook page called Humans of South Auckland, and the purpose of the page is to promote stories of, like, hope and pride in South Auckland. I've just always had a real curious mind about why people are the way they are, what shapes a person, what defines a person. School, for me, was always about meeting people and wanting to know everybody's story. I wanted to know who everybody was, and I would just be around and asking questions and trying to get to know everybody. Now I get to do it for a job, so that's really cool. Three, two, one! CAMERA CLICKS When AMP came on board and, um, they gave us the scholarship, that was actually the final amount of money that we needed to be able to go to the printers in Hong Kong and say, 'Yes, we can publish the book.' So without them, we probably couldn't do what we've` what we are about to do. Jas is a dreamer, but in a good way. Uh, she's full of big dreams and the big pictures and gets excited about the possibilities, um, just in life, and this project was a dream. She loves South Auckland, and it comes through. It comes through in her passion when she interviews people, and it comes through in the fact that we're doing this. WOOD CRACKS Jasmine thrives on people, and she just` she just always comes alive when there's` when there's other people around. If you go into a shopping mall with Jasmine, people just come up to her and hug her ` the most random people, but she seems to know everybody. Three, two, one! CAMERA CLICKS And can you give me a little giggle? (GIGGLES EMPHATICALLY) BOTH LAUGH Beautiful! If you could just use one line with your picture, what do you think your one line would be? Well, 'I'm beautiful, like the people of South Auckland.' (GIGGLES) Lovely. I love it. I grew up in a predominantly European country, which is Australia. Um, the area that I lived in, everybody was European ` the dairy owners, the truck drivers, the school teachers. Everybody in my class was European. So when I first moved to South Auckland from Australia, one of the things that I noticed was in my class of 30, there was, um, Chinese, Taiwanese, um, Maori, um, Fijian, Niuean, Filipino, European ` all in the space of one class. Like, the amount of culture in my class ` you would never find that diversity anywhere else in the world, I don't think. I went to Ethiopia in 2012. I always loved the thought of Africa, and I actually thought that Africa was gonna be my 'calling in life', and I was very wrong. I went over with the purpose for taking photos to get the children sponsored. When I was over there, I saw things that radically changed my perspective and my mentality. Like, I thought I could handle the things that I was seeing, but I couldn't. I tried to, I guess, 'save the world', and it fell back on me 100% and just has changed my perspective and everything in life. SENTIMENTAL MUSIC WOMAN: Jasmine? Yeah. This one. Oh! So this was her`? Her mother. And what did her mother do? She died. She died? I went away feeling hopeless, and... I` I didn't ever wanna go back. Like, I didn't wanna go back, because I saw what I saw, and I know what I saw, and I just felt` Yeah, like, I guess I just` I couldn't do anything there. I` Overcome with grief. I came back to NZ overcome with grief. Yeah. But I don't feel that way about here. UPLIFTING MUSIC About a year after I came back, I had finished my teaching degree, and I'd been offered a job in a high school. At the beginning, I was, like, really scared and nervous, and I was just like` in my mind, I was like, 'I'm gonna be a failure. Teaching's too hard. 'These teenagers in South Auckland are gonna rip me to shreds.' And I was so nervous and so scared of being a failure. After about a month of teaching, I couldn't believe that I was getting paid to do this job. I was so in love with it, and I loved my students, because they were hilarious and smart. About halfway through the year, I came to school, and I got pulled aside by a staff member. And she pulled me into and office and she, kind of, sat down and started twiddling with her thumbs and avoiding eye contact with me, and she said, 'Last night there was a suicide, and it was one of your girls.' Um... I guess if you have a sense of hopelessness, you have a sense of giving up, and you give up, which is what is a big driving force behind this project is` of a girl who gave up on life cos she didn't have any hope. I went to her house, and I saw her lying in the coffin, and when I looked at her, I was like, 'This is not OK, because there are good things that are happening here. 'This place is not hopeless. This town is not hopeless. 'This` This is not OK.' Whereas I think I felt defeated coming back from Ethiopia. But this was like` It stirred everything into me that this wasn't OK, that this wasn't right, and I could do something here. HOPEFUL MUSIC When I first started the project, I was like, 'I can't do this by myself. I actually can't.' So I had to take other people's skill sets, and when I did that, everything started to be a lot better. Maree does all the editing. I do all the interviews, and I write a whole bunch of scribbles, and she makes sense of them. Shall we start with the first one? Hone's story? All right. What came through so strongly for me was passion for his community, passion for his sport,... Yeah. ...and people fascinate him, right? Yeah. So when he came back to NZ and he was looking at people in South Auckland` the young people in South Auckland, he saw huge amounts of untapped potential for soccer,... Yeah. ...with Pacific Island and Maori, which is not a normal stereotype. And he said when he's played in The Islands, it's very normal for Pacific Islanders to play soccer. It's just here that the stereotype exists, and so that fascinates him. My name is Hone Fowler, and I'm part of the Manukau City AFC Football Club. My dad was bus driver when I was growing up, and in the school holidays, I would often just sit on the bus and be fascinated by the scenes and the people going by. You know, h-he's a watcher of people. He observes people,... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. ...so that's what I'd like to pull out. And that bit about his dad being a bus driver ` like, maybe just down the bottom for now, and, like, bring it back. It` It definitely needs to be in the interview` It definitely has to be in the beginning. Oh, the beginning? It needs to be in the beginning. Can it start? Yeah. I'm just thinking whether we even take, um... READS: 'And I would often ride the bus and be fascinated observing the scenes and the people.' And put that bit underneath? Yeah. You could switch. Yeah, I think switch them round. Yeah. Yeah. We're just looking for something in their story that, when somebody else reads it, they can feel a sense of hope or pride in that person that's come from their community. You know, I` I don't like hearing people run down South Auckland or talk about it negatively, because they have no idea. Like, don't talk about something you don't know about. (LAUGHS) You know? Like, if you've lived here and you've earned the right to, you know, critique this area, fine, but if you don't, then keep your mouth shut. I love that. That's awesome. Lee is a graphic designer, and he's putting together the book. I, kinda, have to tell you how I first met Lee for you to understand his character. Lee messaged me on Facebook and was like, 'Hey, um,... um, I love your page. What can I do to help?' And I said to him, 'Hey, I'm gonna go out and do this soup walk in Manurewa tonight. 'Do you wanna come out and meet me there?' And then he was like, 'I don't know if I can get there, 'um, but I'll make it happen.' And I didn't know what he meant by that. Then we were walking round Manurewa, and up comes this guy in a power wheelchair who has gone in his wheelchair from a house that was, like, 30km away in his powerchair to Southmall just to meet me, and was like, 'Oh, hey! What can I do to help?' Would we say, like, 'Real, Raw, Relatable' and then in other text, 'A collection of stories from the`'? I'll show you what I've` what I've done so far. Um. Oh. OK. (GASPS) (MUMBLES) I never even thought of stuff like this. Like, that's awesome. He just makes things happen. He's a graphic designer, but he's just got this attitude that is infectious, and he's just so helpful and positive all the time, and he always has my back. He's just up for anything, and everybody knows him, and everybody loves him. SENTIMENTAL MUSIC You were nominated by your daughter, Kallani, for, um, being awesome and inspirational and changing your life around, so I'm here today to get your story. Um, what, uh` The end goal is to get 125 stories and put them all together into one book. And then we wanna distribute the book into South Auckland areas. My first question is can you tell me five things about yourself? Yeah. Well, I'm Tongan-European, um, a father` father of, uh, seven-to-be children. I class myself as an awesome partner of, uh, 20 years for my partner. Uh, a handyman. And, um, I believe I'm a good leader. Can you tell me a little bit about your childhood? For me, growing up` I mean, um, I was off the rails youth. Um, I broke and stole and swore and did everything, and, uh, ne` was never really good at school, didn't really find school was my forte. Um, I mean, I only went to school up until I was about 12, I think` 13. Didn't even get to go to high school. My father's, um` was a gangster from Otara, and, um` and then I joined a gang in Otara as well. (TEARFULLY) My persona was really ugly. Yeah. (SNIFFLES) Uh, home invasions with sawn-off shotguns, um, extortion, um, bullying, fighting, beating people up. I found a beautiful poem in, um` in one of these gangster's, uh, backpack that he'd left at my house, which, um, was quite a` a, um` a turning point. Yeah. (SNIFFLES) Um, so it` it spoke about a child to its parents ` from an unborn child. And, um, you know, it just asked about what sort of values, and, um` and, you know, if my world is tainted, then their world will be too, you know? (SNIFFLES) And, um, it really hit me` really touched me, cos I could relate, you know? What am I doing? What am I teaching my children? You know? Yeah, it's fine that I wanna be a gangster` or wanted to be, but is that really what I want for my generation` my next generation? You know? And generations to be? (SNIFFS) Awesome. And now we're just gonna take your photo. (LAUGHS) OK. Alrighty. Ready? Three, two, one. CAMERA CLICKS OK, one more. Three, two, one. CAMERA CLICKS Yeah! Yeah, if you wanna take that one again, it's up to you. In a close-up. Or whatever. Whatever works for you. It doesn't matter. They're all pretty good. Yeah. BOTH LAUGH UPBEAT MUSIC I got this phone call from the DHB saying, 'Hey, come in for a chat. We wanna talk about your project.' And then that's when I got offered the job to do it full-time, and I was like... Ah! (LAUGHS) It was the happiest day of my life, cos I guess I found my calling, or what I feel like I'm supposed to do in life, which is to be a storyteller. Today we just went to Mangere, and these are some of the shots that we did. There. So that's the guy who talked about a smile. Right. And what was his quote? Mm. 'A smile is a curve` the curve that puts everything straight.' She was the one who did her, um, driver's licence. 73, going and, like, getting her learner's at 73. OK. Where was this again? Um, that's Mangere Town Centre. Fantastic. And you were just walking up and talking to these people? Yeah. Yeah. The` Yup. And then there's` this boy here was like, 'I moved out of Mangere last year, but, um, I come back because I miss the food.' So he doesn't live in Mangere any more,... (LAUGHS) ...but he keeps coming back, cos he misses the food. And then he said that, 'Wherever there's food, there's my family.' And then these two said that they'd been trying for a baby for 13 years and thought that they couldn't give birth, and then there's the little baby they gave birth to last year. This story that I released yesterday, I was quite nervous about it, because it's quite ruthless, in the sense that, um, she's talking` she basically talks about her dad being the chief of their family and there being, like, a whole lot of siblings and stuff, and he was, like` never gets mad, never complains, always does everything for everybody else. And then when he got diagnosed with diabetes, um, even after being told it was life and death, um, he didn't do anything to change his diet or to start exercising or anything. He eventually passed away because of the diabetes, but that motivated her to become a personal trainer. And, um, I was quite nervous, because I think, um, the way she explained her dad was, like, quite similar to a lot of people in South Auckland ` like, too stubborn to change, or as the head of the family, you know best. I-I think this is` this is really exciting, isn't it, Jasmine, because what you're doing is tapping into how the community feel about these diseases and conditions we get through the door every day in the hospital. Mm. This was the reason that we wanted to work with you. UPLIFTING MUSIC I'm quite ruthless in the sense that I want the story, so I'm gonna ask the hard questions, and you might sit there and cry, and it might be really hard for you to go to that place, but if this is what's in your heart, then I wanna go there, and I wanna talk about it. Hi. My name's Walz Brown. Welcome to Randwick Skate Park. Hey, what's up, y'all. This is your boy Tihei Harawira. My Zumba name is Mama Nim. Talofa. My name's Allan Vaai. Kia ora. I'm Dave Timms, local resident in Randwick Park. I'm Debbie, I'm 30 years old, and I live in Conifer Grove in South Auckland. I live in Manukau City. And I'm a community worker in the Promised Land ` Otara, South Auckland. I am 70 years old, and I'm the oldest person in my Zumba class. I lost my baby in 2012, but I still wonder about that child all the time. You wouldn't have even approached me, eh? It wasn't nice to have me around. Street gangs, graffiti, violence, drugs. My days were spent at the skate park drinking, smoking, getting stoned. RAPS: # This is how I feel. # The way that I live my life is the way that I must reveal. I enjoy going to Zumba maybe once or twice a week. My wife and I had been in the community for a long time, and we were trying to encourage young men and women to make good decisions. If a certain narrative is repeated, it's reinforced. Words create worlds. RAPS: # I'd give you the chills, # or sometimes give oth` other people the thrill. # See, I stutter like none other, but you know I'm just being real. It's not something that society talks about. Going for Zumba for me is like going to a nightclub, and instead of having alcohol, we just drink water. One day, this random Christian guy, Dave, approached me at the park and asked me if I'd like to help redesign the skate park. This was a dream of mine since I was a young fella. Thought it was a joke, but it was for real. I felt like I was a failure. My daughter came and sat next to me and started rubbing my hand. Then she said, 'Dad, I'm pregnant.' So along with myself and three other friends of mine, we designed and worked together to make Randwick Skate Park even better. RAPS: # I'm not the perfectionist at rapping, but you can just tell what I can imagine ` # the struggle, the pain. Dave also offered me a job as a youth worker, which is` which I nearly turned down. Uh, I didn't feel like I was confident enough in myself to teach the kids. I felt like a truck had run me over. She was only 16. UPLIFTING MUSIC The best thing that you can do is just be present and be supportive. No matter what the narrative or story, there's goodness in every neighbourhood and in every person. And in the back of my mind, I could see the irony about how we preach this message to other young people, and then our own kids go on and do it. RAPS: # But I get down, well, even black and the white and brown. Any colour, man, that's me. UPLIFTING MUSIC CONTINUES We found out later that her partner was a good man. For some reason, we treat mental illness like it's a sign of weakness. But once I started medication and therapy, I started to enjoy my life. Eventually later on, they got married, and now they have three beautiful children. Become the change you wanna see in our 'hood. In 2013, I, um, ended up walking away with Youth Worker of the Year award. # I'm Tihei Harawira. I'm a street believer, a true achiever! # UPLIFTING MUSIC CONTINUES OK, ready? Three, two, one. CAMERA CLICKS Beautiful! JOYFUL GUITAR MUSIC # I have a band of men, # and all they do is play for me. # Yeah, they come from miles around to hear them play a melody. Yeah. # I can't believe I get to do this. It is, like, every` all my dreams come true. Like, it's crazy. It is actually crazy, when you think about it, because this job was never available to anybody, like, ever before. # Dance, dance, dance to my 10 guitars, yeah! # And very soon you'll know just where you are. # Applying to AMP was` was on a whim and a hope and a prayer. (LAUGHS) And, um, you know, we believed in our project, but we didn't know if anybody else would. And when we heard` Oh my gosh, it was so exciting. Like, screaming, yelling, dancing, jumping. Um, AMP were definitely that first` the first to believe in us and the first to help us out with where we are right now. Once you get beyond the stereotypes, you see what people are made of and the things that they've been through, and this is what this book is about. I want this book not just to be hope and pride for this community. I want people from outside of our community to read it and to understand that we are not what they think we are. We're better than that. We're more than that. # Shortland Street! I don't feel like I help people. I feel like people help me to understand them, and that's what drives me, is wanting to understand people. # ...honey, when you dance, dance, dance to my 10 guitars! # Probably the biggest lesson that I learnt was you don't have to go overseas to make a difference. You just do it in your own backyard. PEOPLE CHEER Captions by Philip McKibbin. Edited by June Yeow. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2016