Devashna | Kumeu, Auckland

“My original home was Fiji, and now I call New Zealand, Auckland, Kumeu as my new home.

Home is pretty much where you come out to have love, compassion, empathy, sympathy and everything in general. So, leaving Fiji, which was my home-home, and then coming to New Zealand, I was welcomed with open arms, and was given all the opportunities over here to feel at home, feel welcomed, feel belonged, and that is what made me feel like I belong here now. So, this is home to me.

Sense of home? I believe that everyone’s different, of a different perspective, different personality, and coming to a place where everyone’s togetherness and being together, being involved in everything, being part of anything that you want to be part of basically is where I think that I would want to be. I feel that it is important to be there, important for everyone to be there together. Pretty much, home is home.  Home is where love is. Home is where Mum is, Dad is, husband is, family is. Home is family, and New Zealand is the new family for me.

I come from the beautiful island of Fiji, which is amazing, and I grew up in a family of five. Mum and Dad were both teachers. We were three sisters, and everyone’s educated, got married into a family of teaching background and so the legacy carried. I’m a teacher now. Husband’s also a teacher, and we’re trying to give back to the community, give back what we’ve gathered, what we’ve learned from everyone, and be helpful.”