I have grown up in South Auckland an still live here. South Auckland is my home and it hurts to see how lifestyle here is changing for the worst each day. I use to be proud telling people I was born an raised in South Auckland as I believed I belonged to one of the most multicultural communities in the entire New Zealand. I still do believe South Auckland is a unique and extraordinary place to grow up in but lately all there is in our community is fear.
I read the paper this morning ‘Dead body found in car on Puhinui Road‘, a few weeks ago.. ‘The car of dead man Shalvin Prasad found on Plunket Ave.’ .. Stabbings, break–ins, murders and all seem to now be more common than ever in South Auckland. A few months ago I was reading about how my old high school had a teacher that was trying to sell drugs and had an inappropriate relationship with a student. Our community seems to be losing its multicultural pride and living in fear.. More and more South Auckland seems to be turning into a slum.
We have parents that have no idea what South Auckland school to send their children to as these days every school here seems to have a bad reputation. Parents here wish they could afford to send their children to schools like Kings college or even send them to the city to attend Auckland girls/boys private schools in the hope that their children are able to live a life and have a future that they never had.
Growing up and going through the South Auckland schooling system, I have realised how hard it is to avoid not going down the wrong road. Multiculturalism is not embraced enough in our public schools. If you are Chinese you are stereotyped as being smart, if your a Pacific Islander then your usually stereotyped as being more sporty than academically smart. Fijian Indians, people from the middle east and Asia all go through the process of being labelled and put under a certain stereotype. At school kids usually tend to hang out with only people that fall under their same category. Being in a certain group makes you feel like you can only do as much as your labelled to be capable of accomplishing.
I visited the Te Hana Marae early last year and was surprised to see how proud the people there were to call themselves Maori. These people were not only proud of identifying themselves as Maori but had also embraced their culture and traditions. In South Auckland a typical Maori is seen as being ‘flat nosed and dumb’. Many people shy away from telling others that they are Maori for fear of being abused or seen as someone that is not able to understand as much as the next person.
The question is how do we embrace our multicultural identity and bring forth a strong united South Auckland? How do we as a multicultural community find ways to eliminate crime and violence in our growing multicultural community? Our community is unique.. This multicultural environment is rare and something New Zealand should be proud of.. How long will it take for our local boards and government to realise this an help us build our community?
Our community does not deserve to live in fear. Our community has true potential and our people deserve to go grow up in a safe environment that can be proud of calling themselves a South Aucklander.
The South Auckland Blogger 