Exodyss and Tez | Henderson, Auckland

‘So, this morning, today me and her, we went to go do our learner’s license today, and we passed.’

‘Yeah, we passed, which is good, and we were really shaking, like really shaking.’

‘Everyone was pushing us to get it.’

‘Supporting us to because it took us a year to do it and now we can drive.’

‘It gave us a lot of confidence, yes. Well, we were also nervous and’

‘That gave us mixed emotions.’

‘So, I grew up in up North, in Moerewa, if you know where that is, it’s near Kawakawa, and it was a hectic childhood. Oh, my gosh.’

‘I’m Māori. I’m Tūhoe and Ngāpuhi, and I grew up in Auckland, but I’m mainly from up North, from Hokianga’

‘What I value? My family mostly, but to also succeed in this lifetime.’

‘Mine is also my family, mainly because I want to make them proud.’

‘So we became friends in high school. Year 9. So, we didn’t know each other.’ 

‘And, then she asked me if I wanted to go to the shops and for her to get a feed.’

‘All about that food.’

‘It’s always food for us.’

‘Then we became friends.’

‘We grew tighter and tighter and just.’

‘It’s good, because most friends, they leave you, and stuff like that. So, I’m grateful that we’re best friends, and so close.’

‘Very close.’

‘It’s really comforting for us, too because we actually can tell everything to each other, and we can actually relate to it.’

‘And everyone thinks that we’re like siblings.’

‘Yeah, and that’s our friendship.’