Keesha | Ōtara
“My name’s Keesha. I’m from Ōtara. Something that I’ve been proud of in my life is basically being helpful to the community in Ōtara and basically helping out my family.
That was the proudest thing I’ve ever done, or accomplished, just standing on my own two feet, proving them wrong, those ones who looked down on me.
I was brought up in Ōtara with my family, living with my family for 22 years, and now since I’m 23 I am living with flatmates, still in Ōtara, and I’m loving life at the moment because I just want to prove it to those ones who look down on me. I’m just sick of family complaining to me to go look after my grandfather when he’s already being looked after, and so I just want to prove it to them, that I can do better on my own. I am the oldest of eight and I come from a Polynesian background, Seventh Day Adventist, and I have no kids.
At the moment I am working on towards getting a fulltime job. At the moment I’m just trying my best to get a job, but the only thing that’s bugging me is my criminal convictions. That’s what’s holding me back at the moment, but I’m trying to get a full job.
Just don’t look down on yourself. Just keep going. If you have criminal convictions, don’t always doubt yourself like that. You can always get a job. Just keep moving forward. Don’t look back. You can’t change your past, but you can change your future. Don’t walk back. Don’t look back. Just keep achieving your goal.”
