{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-post-js","path":"/kalisi/","result":{"data":{"wordpressPost":{"id":"647bf2e3-9665-57dd-9cb3-86c0f3675f00","title":"Kalisi","slug":"kalisi","content":"\n

What was the last thing you ate? 

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Toast and spaghetti. 

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What was the last song you listened to? 

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Hate it or Love it, 50 Cent. 

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If you had $50 how would you spend it? 

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Ohh, chocolate. All Kit Kats. 

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Ok, so if we were going to read your wikipedia bio what would it say? 

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I was born and grew up in Tonga. When I was 4 my Dad came to New Zealand, he kinda left us, so growing up my Mum was both my Mum and my Dad for ten years. Then Dad came back to Tonga with my Step Mum and we came here…Mum is back in Tonga. I felt accepted by New Zealand but it was hard to move. I was young, I had to learn how to get along with Kiwis because they don’t act like Tongans. It’s hard to catch their vibe. But I got involved in a lot of stuff here, I’m in my final year now and I’m a prefect. 

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Do you miss your Mum? 

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Everyday. I used to be so mad at her for sending us off like that, but I think back now and realise that she wanted us to have opportunities. I didn’t understand that at 13 but I do now. I’m trying not to show her that I miss her lots though. I need to make it easier for her, she gets sick when we’re missing her, so I’m trying to be tough. 

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What’s one word to describe turning 18? 

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Scary.

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And what is it that’s so scary about it? 

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It’s the age when you’re expected to know what you’re doing, have your future organised and be independent. And with being an Islander there’s extra pressure that you’re expected to be a certain way, you’re expected to go to Uni and be a lawyer or doctor or whatever. It’s really difficult because I used to say I wanted to go to Uni and study medicine. But in my last year of high school, I snapped and realised I didn’t want to. I went to the career expo and talked to the Navy guys. I heard all this exciting stuff and got that feeling in my tummy, like this is what I want to do with my life! But I’m scared because my parents won’t like it. 

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It sounds like you’re carrying a lot of family responsibility? 

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I’m responsible for my family in NZ and for my Mum in the islands. It’s like I’m split, like I’m in two worlds. And I don’t think there’s enough discussion about this – about being an islander growing up in NZ. In the Islands you’re taught that when parents talk to you, you just say silent. But in NZ, in school you’re taught to speak for yourself and stand up for what you believe in. But when you come home you can’t do that! So you have to be two people. 

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Is it tiring?

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It’s very tiring! But it’s hard to speak up because you feel like no one is going to understand you and you’re just being dramatic. It’s also hard getting your parents to understand because they grew up in a different environment. My friends all feel the same way. So I love going to school because we all relate to each other and we laugh it off. 

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What’s one really pressing issue that you’re worried about? 

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Climate change, obviously. And I’ve always had this weird worry about the future…like, that I’ll be homeless and clueless. Just because you know, I’m in Otara and I see a lot of drugs and that. So I’m scared I might fall into that even though I know I’m not going to, there’s this irrational feeling I might! 

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How do you feel about the way Otara and South Auckland are presented in the media? 

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It makes me very, very mad! In the media, when a South Aucklander does something successful they say they’re an ‘Aucklander’, but whenever there’s anything bad then they always say ‘South Auckland’. It’s brutal. It’s so sad. And they get it wrong – they always say South Auckland is dangerous, we don’t feel like we are in danger. We feel safe – just because some crackhead somewhere has done something it doesn’t make all of South dangerous. 

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What would an ideal adult life look life? 

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Obviously join the Navy. I’d like to travel a lot, I guess I’ll get married (although I can’t think of myself that way) and have two kids, a boy and a girl. I want to buy my parents a house, make them proud, bring my mum to NZ from Tonga and then go back to Tonga to give back. 

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What was the last thing you ate?  Toast and spaghetti.  What was …

\n","date":"November 07, 2019","featured_media":{"source_url":"/app/uploads/2019/11/esc2221.jpg"}}},"pageContext":{"isCreatedByStatefulCreatePages":false,"id":"647bf2e3-9665-57dd-9cb3-86c0f3675f00"}}}