Jade | Manurewa
“Ah, kia ora tātou. Ko Jade from Pukekohe. I’m currently residing in Manurewa, but I call Tāmaki Makaurau home.
It was pretty recently, to be honest. It was actually the weekend just gone. A few of us went out for a pretty simple night and obviously, the drinks were going down pretty good, for myself anyway. One of my really good friends, Apimaira along with Tawera and Thomas, they made sure that I got home safely. I just thought the next day, and my wife also thought the next day, that was pretty awesome. I’m just proud of my friends, I call brothers, that made me; well one have a good night, but also made sure that I got home safe. I thought that was awesome.
I grew up in Pukekohe in my younger years, but just over the last maybe 15 or so years, I grew up in Manurewa. I just love everything about the place. I love everything about the culture it provides, the people, but it’s not only that, it’s I guess how I view where I live. I think that’s probably the most important thing for me, is what sort of lens I see the world in. A few years ago I had the privilege of going back to kura, back to school, back to Te Wānanga Takiura, and it really changed my whole view of te ao Māori. How I view the world as it is, but also the world as it was, as it was before. I thought I knew quite a lot of values about being a Māori, and being a Māori here in Auckland, until I got the opportunity and experience to go back to kura and be immersed in te ao Māori and te reo Māori. Just proud to be Māori, to be honest. He kōrero Māori anake ke reira.
It’s just having that regular contact regardless of what that is, either good or challenging. With really close friends, you have that confidence to share things, and I guess for a lot of people – more specifically males – we don’t really get much of an opportunity to share. I think if we find it within ourselves, and look in a very close manner at who would be our first three or first five male role models that we share things with, I think that’s a really good start, to starting to talk a little bit more openly. To not put any expectations on ourselves, or even on others. I think that’s a really good start, a good dialogue to at least have. The more times we share things, the more confident we get. We better our self-esteem, I’m really thankful and grateful that I do have the friends that I have, and not only that they have the same āhua as myself in regards to te ao Māori, but just in general terms.”
