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.”