Jess | Papakura
“If I woke up tomorrow and actually had to change one thing, well there’d be a million things I’d actually change but one would actually be, the poverty that we have got in Auckland City and around the country.
Why that would be is, I think most of us being, oh well for myself, being a Māori, have actually lost their tikanga and their aroha, and what we actually have in this beautiful country of ours. You know, we can grow our own food. Some of us actually need to actually go back to our roots and where we actually come from.
Well for myself, I was actually born up in Wellington. A big windy city, and was moved from Wellington to the Far North, called Kaitaia. I was brought up on a country, I was a country girl, killing cows, riding horses, doing what we do in the country; go pig hunting and fishing. I have come down here because there’s not much work for us to actually do up there. We need more things for our communities, to actually give us and other people work.
Poverty? Well, yeah I would see a lot of, a lot of our younger, our next generation actually coming through, and there’s not enough food for them. Some of the homes that we’re actually living in have a lot of damages, and a lot of leaks, and some of our kids are suffering by actually being on the streets.
I have nothing against people’s gangs. Some of them are actually really good. Some of them are actually, should actually teach some of these younger ones about you know, life and survival out here in this cruel world and things aren’t getting any easier for us, because, housing is getting dearer, property’s actually getting dearer. Food’s getting more expensive, and yeah, I’m running out of things to say now.
Well I’ve seen a lot actually happen, happen in Papakura, including, working because I work for Manukau Beautification. We help out our communities as best as we can by removing the graffiti and doing community projects with churches like, Latter Day Saints, and other organisations, and with our local council board and the local shops that are actually around the areas that we do in South Auckland. Some of the things that I’d actually like to see is more gardens for, for some people that can’t, you know, get out there and actually plant. You know? Just little home, little gardens that they can actually do at their own, and look after themselves at their own little houses.”
