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

Ofeina LangiMy name is Ofeina Langi, I am a 17 year old Tongan and a student at Sir Edmund HillaryCollegiate in Manukau City, Auckland.How important is the celebration of diversity to me? My understanding of diversity isthat it means being different. And being different is what makes an individual unique.We could be different in heart, in mind, in skin colour, in culture, in tradition and inreligion. But what makes a person or a group of people unique is how different they arefrom everyone else.The importance of celebrating how different we are is the essence of life. We have toput in context how special we are as human beings, based on our differences from otherpeople, other cultures, other religions while recognising that it is everybody’s uniquenesswhich creates diversity.Personally as a Pacific Islander of Tongan descent I am proud to celebrate how uniqueI am as an individual. But I also acknowledge the fact that people around me are alsodifferent.53