Tailua | Māngere
“I grew up in South Auckland, pretty much between Manurewa and Māngere. I’ve pretty much only ever lived in Mangere and Manurewa and Ōtara. I’m trying to finish up my studies of my Level 5 business diploma, and hopefully being able to go into an industry where the skills I’ve learned in business are able to help me succeed into the mindset of a goal that I have.
Random act of kindness
A random act of kindness that I’ve done was because there’s a lot of homeless people that we see around Manukau, around Ōtahuhu, and I was passing by one day and I had food, and this person had everything on the side; a bed, blankets, bags. I was with a friend and she’s kind of, not sceptical but she hesitates a lot when it comes to giving. But for me I told her, no let’s give this person something to eat, because seeing people on the side of the road, having nowhere to live, no nothing to eat, I have to imagine myself in their perspective.
So giving them the food that I had, giving it to them, just the grateful look on their face or something, I cherish so much, because it made my heart warm, and even the smallest things like giving them a chocolate or KFC chicken or whatever is there, is something that I reckon is, you know, something kind to do, because not many people do it. So it was real, I reckon for me that was a real, act of kindness towards someone else.
Connected with someone you don’t know
There was a day I was actually out here in Manukau, and a young girl came by and she was asking for a cigarette and I sat down with her and I started talking with her and just getting to know how her background was. You could tell she needed someone to be that listening ear, someone to talk to, but being there to just talk with her, find out what her situation was, try help her, um for someone that wasn’t in school I recommended a course that I had gone to that was free for youth that would be able to help her go down the way that she wanted to go for a career choice.
Her career choice was to be like a dance teacher or take up sport and work. So helping her, guiding her in that way, was a good thing. Then I caught up with her awhile back and she had gone with the idea, rather than being a drop-out and roaming around. She decided to go to a course and she’s doing real well, from when I see her and check up on her.
I think society gets so caught up in doing their own little thing and being so worried about themselves, but being able to listen to them, help them out if you can… There’s so many people that are going through things, and you never know what’s happening in their background. You never know what’s happening in their mind, and being able to just stop and say hello to them, or smile at them, or even have a conversation with them, that really does make a huge difference, and it makes more a difference than I think anyone actually realises.
Heart to heart conversation
Yeah [my last heart to heart conversation] was a couple of weeks ago, it was with my partner and my younger sister, pretty much opening up about things that my sister wasn’t aware of. I mean, she was aware of, but you know, she didn’t know some of the things recently that were going on, and neither did my partner. So sitting down and just talking with them, opening up, and them doing the same, it was a real good thing, because at the same time I had a real close friend who’s doing his best to pursue music, and sitting down with him and telling him that he’s able to do whatever he wanted to if he put his mind and his heart to it was real good, because those kinds of conversations. Those deep conversations have pure meaning, and they’re so rare to come by. I reckon the deep conversations with them are pretty much by far the best conversations I have ever had.
Connected with your culture
Last time I felt connected with my culture… would have probably been at the start of the year when we had Polyfest and my sister was in the kapa haka group for her school. I had a cousin that was helping out with the Samoan group, and being able to be there with them, and go to the songs and talk with them was amazing.
Even planning a trip to visit where one of my ancestors rests is a plan that I’m really looking forward to, because being able to connect with your roots by going to where it all started is probably the best way anyone can really connect with their culture on a deeper basis, compared to being in a multi-cultural society.”
