Olivia - This is Aotearoa

Olivia | Auckland Central, Auckland

“I was born in Mexico, my mum, she’s Samoan-Chinese, and my dad’s Australian, and he had a job that allowed us to move around the world a lot.

That’s why I was born in Mexico. Moving around, I learned a lot, but I also felt very displaced as a child, and when we finally moved back to what I call home now, Aotearoa, about 10 years ago, it was the first place that I could call home and have a connection to. I didn’t realise the gravity of that until I reflected on it and also reflected on my passions of tangata whenua, and Te Tiriti and what Aotearoa provides. The amazing communities that I’ve been a part of. It’s a big thing to be grateful for a country. I think it’s just so important to have a place that you can call home, and have a connection to the land, and be able to present yourself as a New Zealander. I’m just incredibly grateful for Aotearoa.

Well, I think that experience has led me to what hopefully will be my career in six months’ time, which is social work. I feel so indebted to what the country and the home has provided me that I’m really passionate about continuing that for myself and others. You don’t realise how much something means to you until you’re shown and you have that opportunity, and a lot of people unfortunately are displaced, and it weighs heavily on me.

What am I inspired by? I think it’s just got to be family, and that doesn’t mean the typical definition of family. I think that means my sisters as my best friends, and that means the community, the netball club that I’m a part of. It’s being able to fall back on something, and it’s being able to have something that grounds you, and for me, it gives me confidence.

So I was born in Mexico and I’m an only child. We moved to LA, and then spent most of our time in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a completely different place in the world to here. Then decided to move to Australia, which is where my dad’s from and then I think by that time, my parents noticed that I was very confused, I didn’t even know what a Kiwi bird was or a Koala was at that point, so I think they realised the importance of having to move back home which is where my mum’s side of the family is. They migrated from Samoa. So my mum’s the first generation born here and I have a beautiful partner and am currently living with my mum, because it’s just her and I, and I need her, and she needs me.”

What, if anything, have you done differently after visiting this site?

Hen

Hen

Hen | Hokitika, West Coast - "I’m the fifth generation. I wouldn’t say we own it, but we are like kaitiaki. Just having the river there and having all the stone there, it just kind of cemented us as people. It’s made us who we are."
Jay

Jay

Jay | Whanganui, Manawatū-Whanganui - "II’m really grateful to have been a part of that whole journey from a 14 year old where our people peacefully reclaimed that land. To now where the partnerships between local iwi, local government and Central Government are well enough that we can actually sit down in that space and kōrero, and share and be able to pass on some of the important knowledge about that place."
Karney

Karney

Karney | Aramoho, Manawatū-Whanganui - "II’m really grateful to have been a part of that whole journey from a 14 year old where our people peacefully reclaimed that land. To now where the partnerships between local iwi, local government and Central Government are well enough that we can actually sit down in that space and kōrero, and share and be able to pass on some of the important knowledge about that place."
Jecheala

Jecheala

Jecheala | Mt Roskill, Auckland - "I think being able to share the Māori culture, the indigenous culture of New Zealand and having people appreciate it, just as much as I do, was very enlightening and heart-warming for me. It teaches me that there is a willingness to share cultures here in New Zealand not just for people learning Māori, but for me, learning other cultures."
Tes

Tes

Tes | Tauhara, Waikato - "I know it sounds really funny, but I’m grateful for the time where I lost my home, I lost my children, I lost my family connections, and I’m grateful for the many experiences, the many painful experiences that brought me to a place where I had the opportunity to learn about myself."
Anaru

Anaru

Anaru | Māngere, Auckland - "For me, it was finding out what I really wanted to do with my life, and so when I returned back home, I didn’t know what I was going to do. I managed to enrol into an art and design course, in Manukau, and I realise that this is what I really wanted to do."
Brendon

Brendon

Brendon | Nukuhau, Waikato - "It was really encouraging to be able to see young people like these two men actually passing it forward, reflecting back the mahi, the work that we do out in the local community. For me, that was really encouraging to know that the fight’s worth fighting for."
Exodyss and Tez

Exodyss and Tez

Exodyss and Tez | Henderson, Auckland - "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."
Jamie

Jamie

Jamie | Hokitika, West Coast - "Tāua passed away, and it was a wee bit hard for me and my family and whānau, but I have a brother up in Auckland, and he’d always cheer me up, and I was just real grateful for him, for those couple of weeks"
Jas

Jas

Jas | Gonville, Manawatū-Whanganui - "I recently, just this year, lost my husband, and I’ve been really, really grateful for the support of friends and family but most particularly of his hapu, his extended family at Kaiwhaiki."

Olivia | Auckland Central, Auckland

“I was born in Mexico, my mum, she’s Samoan-Chinese, and my dad’s Australian, and he had a job that allowed us to move around the world a lot.

What, if anything, have you done differently after visiting this site?

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