George| Glenfield
“Basically I’ve been raised and educated in Auckland, Aoteoroa. I did a brief living spell of 14 years in Australia. Predominantly I’ve lived all my life in Auckland. I’ve got children that live in Australia. As a result of living in Australia myself, I’ve been back in the country for three years, and I do miss my family in Australia. I would have to say definitely family.
My daily routine starts with rising about 5:30am in the morning and going to the gym, I try to get into the gym within a 14 minute period after rising. I normally spend approximately one hour a day in the gym, and I’ll exercise between five to seven days a week. Due to my age, I’ve endeavoured to re-educate myself by undertaking computer literacy courses. I spend a lot of my time in the library, because I get access to their computer systems, and I don’t have wifi within my own private dwelling. I do spend a bit of time researching information, a wide range of information.
My interests are health and fitness. I do enjoy reading biographies on various well-known and some that are not so well-known people, but quite enlightening for me to see how they’ve been able to develop themselves in life. I love to research what I consider to be successful people, and that’s basically what I’ve geared my life to; to try and be the best I can be. I see myself as a role model, and not just because I’m a Māori, of the Māori descent, but as a New Zealander. I believe I’ve got much to offer, regardless of age or race. I think we all have so much to offer. So I’m quite content to self-improve myself.
I’ve been a father since the age of 17. All my children are grown adults. They’re all self independent, both financially, and I realise that they have a life and a pathway to learn from their existence that sometimes independence is the way to be for young adults. I don’t think necessarily they totally need their parents holding on their coats strings. You’ve just got to let them grow and develop. I think as people mature, there does become a divide when you have family members living in another country. I suppose loneliness becomes part of that.
I’ve catered for myself, and as I say, I’ve been a father since the age of 17. You certainly grow up pretty quickly. I’ve been surrounded by people from the earliest part of my life who are 10, 20 or 30 years older than myself. So I’ve had to grow up pretty quickly, and here I am today. I’m still learning how to educate myself, and then I’ve got mentors around me. They encourage me continually to be the best I can.
We’re such a diverse culture. With our culture you don’t have to have diversity, and due to the fact that we have so many various cultures I’ve been able to meet Russians, people of Asian descent, people of European descent and it was much like Australia. It was almost like coming back from Australia and, and walking to a state of Australia, basically because of the change that I’ve seen in the 14 years I’ve been away. New Zealand’s certainly blossomed in terms of catering to the wider global community.
I’m also a Christian and my church plays a big part of my life. It’s not just my own Christianity belief, but the wider Christian community’s all part of my life. I’m a volunteer with the Salvation Army. I’m also involved with members of Jehovah Witness Church, who my brother and my former sister-in-law are members of. In terms of my Christian belief I think it’s quite diverse. I don’t think you can look down a tunnel and see the end of the rainbow, I think you’ve got to have a wider view of life. Life is not about singling out this is me and that’s the rest of the world. I think I’m pretty open-minded person, and that’s what I mean with my family.
I think every role model, regardless of age or gender, or cultural background; people judge you on your performance, whether you’re in the work place, whether you’re on a sports field. They judge you on your character. They judge you on your demeanor. In terms of being a role model, I like to think that I’m the best I can be at this stage of my life. I’m like everyone else in this world; we’ve all made mistakes, and I certainly have made several mistakes that, that have been detrimental to myself, and to other people that I’ve loved in my life. However, you can’t dwell on the past, and I don’t live too far into the future, because I don’t even know if I’m going to be there. Today is just like any other day; I live for the moment, and that’s how I see myself as a role model.”
