77117 HRC inside.ps, page 1-56 @ Normalize - Human Rights ...

Ashleigh PatiaMy name is Ashleigh Patia. I am of Samoan/Cook Island descent, 16 years of age andattend the Auckland Seventh Day Adventist High School, in Mangere, Auckland. I am aprefect, a peer mentor on Project K, a librarian, Student Council Class Representativeand a Yellow Ribbon Ambassador. My philosophy on life is ‘love to live, live to love’; mymost valued quote is ‘tall trees, strong wind’.My thoughts about diversity are that it is something inescapable. It knocks at our doors,processes our finances, educates us, disciplines us, and feeds us. It meets us at work,dwells in our playgrounds, sells us bread and milk, and reports the daily news. Fromthe ever-dependable Indian shopkeeper down the road, to the always-smiling PacificIslanders selling lava-lava and cheeky T-shirts in the markets. From the always-politeAsians at the local takeaways, to the charming Maori on T.V teaching us to korero inTe Reo Maori. From the devoted Muslims and their magnificent temples, to the gentleMormons biking through the neighbourhood. Cultural diversity is something that I as aKiwi, as a Pacific Islander, cherish. It was what I was born into, what I have grown in,what I will age into. It is the air we breathe, it is the land we walk upon, it is the seawe spend our summers in. New Zealand paints the rainbow of cultural diversity in theworld’s sky.Our spectrum of cultures eliminates the hate of the unknown. Take “Hip Hop”. Whenintroduced here, people cringed because it was unfamiliar. It was seen as an Americanghetto culture, a lifestyle that did not fit our idealistic Kiwi mindset. But good things taketime — we have developed a “Hip Hop” culture distinctively New Zealand. It is slowlyeasing its way into the warm embrace of Aotearoa. What has happened to “Hip Hop” hashappened to every culture planted in New Zealand soil, each sprouting and adjusting toour cultural climate, integrating Kiwi life with the values and traditions of old.Cultural diversity is the face of New Zealand.34