She didn't have to, but she chose to donate an organ to a complete stranger. Would you? I feel, um, yeah, even more ready to do this. Yeah. Giving the greatest gift of all ` I know I am not going to change my mind. the gift of life to a stranger. It's a pretty amazing thing to do for someone else. One kidney for transplant. < Are you scared for her? < Are you scared for her? Yep. Spread the love. She's still a baby. Lonely, lost and frightened,... Awwwww. > ...Africa's new orphans. He's just exhausted from looking for his mother all night. The beginning of the end for elephants. It's absolutely a war. An untold war. HIGH-PITCH: # Ah. # It's so beautiful. A very very rare thing. Our Pati brothers in the land of song. These boys have lungs! My goodness me. Kia ora. I'm Miriama Kamo. Would you give a body organ to a total stranger? For most people the answer would be to a family member, maybe, but to someone you didn't know, probably not. But what if you knew the donated kidney was going to give that stranger their life back? Gill Buckley is one of those good people. She decided not only to donate one of her kidneys to someone she had never met, but to share her story in the hope her donation will inspire others to do the same. John Hudson has the story of an extraordinary woman and her extraordinary gift. It's been a dream for so long to do something like this. I know I'm not going to change my mind. Gill Buckley is 41 and perfectly healthy, but she's about to do something that will endanger her life. Not nervous at all? Not nervous at all? No. I can't quite believe it myself. She is going to have major surgery. < No last minute regrets at all? < No last minute regrets at all? No. No, no, no. I feel even more ready to do this. Surgeons at Auckland Hospital are going to remove one of Gill's kidneys and transplant it into a person whose kidneys have failed; a person who Gill may never meet, never know their name. They've told me that I would be happy to know who it is, and that they're a good person, so that's enough. Yeah. What are the risks for you? The fact that my remaining kidney could fail and I would end up on dialysis myself, that I could die during the operation. As a child, Gill learned first-hand how kidney transplants have the potential to save lives. When I was little, we had a family friend that needed one, and I wanted to be the one that would save him. That family friend died young, but Gill's plan to save a life lived on. The idea's always been in my head to help somebody in that way. Two years ago, she read about an altruistic kidney donor, and was inspired. I thought, 'Oh my gosh. I can do this.' (LAUGHS) You read about it in a magazine? > You read about it in a magazine? > Yes. And how long did it take to put that idea into action? An afternoon. (LAUGHS) An afternoon. (LAUGHS) Oh. OK. That soon? > Yeah. I read the article and then I contacted the Kidney Foundation that night, and they passed on my email to the Auckland DHB. And her interest was welcomed. For most people who have got kidney failure, the ideal treatment is transplantation. And in NZ we have about 600 or 700 people who are on our waiting list, and every year we are performing about 120 transplants, so each year the list gets longer. And yet despite the huge demand for live donors, giving away a kidney isn't as easy as you might think. There's a whole barrage of tests that people have to go through for that, and we do turn people down. < This is the last part. You've done everything else. You've seen the anaesthetist and you've had your blood test done. Yeah. Yeah. This last part has come so quickly. It's exciting. 'Everybody has an assessment where they see a physician like me, and a surgeon, and also a psychiatrist, 'and we make our own individual assessments, and then discuss them as a group.' In Auckland, we'll not accept someone as a donor if they've got blood pressure, even if it's controlled. And, otherwise, you're OK. Still not smoking? Not drinking too much? And, otherwise, you're OK. Still not smoking? Not drinking too much? No, no. Not only do you have to be physically up to donating a kidney, there's a tough psych assessment as well. Post-surgical depression is a risk. Sometimes we do turn people down because we think that there's something wrong that might put them at more risk of having a serious mental illness afterward. Here we go. Normal heart. That's your lungs, the black bits. That's all good. For Gill it's taken 18 months to be worked up for surgery. Why give up your own kidney? > Just something I feel really compelled to do. It makes me feel happy. Do you think it will affect you emotionally? I think probably it will. I'm prepared for it. It's a part of myself that I don't see, so I'm hoping the grief won't be too much. (LAUGHS) Have people tried to persuade you not to do this? Um, a few people have. Yes. Yeah. How does your husband feel about it? Yeah... He's nervous. He is nervous for me, but proud too, I think. John is Gill's farm-manager husband of 15 years. They chose not to have children ` another reason why she's happy to donate her kidney. It's a pretty amazing thing to do for someone else. Are you scared for her? Yep. Yep. Because there is a risk involved? Yeah. I think you'd be pretty naive if you weren't worried. She's determined. She'll do what she will with her kidney. Did you ever feel like putting your foot down? It would make no difference, I don't think. No. Gill is quietly determined, fit and focused. Running and yoga are part of her daily life. And from her Cable Bay home office in the Far North, she works in the travel industry. Painting and drawing are her passion; does classes to hone her talent. But now she's taking time off everything to follow her dream ` to donate a kidney, hopefully save a life. Yeah. Be the person that saved somebody, and I've been waiting for a family member to need one, but none have. No... So when I found out that you could just give to a stranger, it was just perfect. Do you have a burning passion to meet the person who ends up with your kidney? It would be nice to know how they recover and how they get on, and what difference it's made to their life, but I don't have to meet them. After the break, the difference a donor kidney can make. If it hadn't have happened when it did, I doubt we would be having this conversation now, John. But will Gill's sacrifice be worth it? There's always a risk of bleeding from where the kidney's been taken out, and there's a one in 3500 chance of people dying. LILTING PIANO MUSIC When inspiration strikes, talk to an ANZ home-loan expert about this great rate ` 4.95% per annum, one year fixed. Talk to us today. Each day in hospitals and homes across NZ 2500 people with damaged kidneys are on dialysis. It's a lifesaver ` removing waste and excess water from their blood. There's nothing functioning, so this is my kidney. But it can mean more than 20 hours a week hooked up to a machine. Are you up for another kidney transplant? > I'm on the list and I'm still waiting. Gerald Endt's wife, Caity, gave him one of her kidneys six years ago. At first, he felt fantastic. My mind was absolutely as sharp as a tack, and, um, yeah, it was just amazing. You felt really good. But after two years, the transplanted kidney packed up and had to be removed. Now Gerald is on dialysis. I'm still enjoying life and I'm making the most of it, and it would be fantastic if I got another kidney. How do you feel when you hear that people are donating their kidneys to total strangers? Really brave people, and I think to do that is,... yeah, unreal. What inspires people to donate a kidney to someone they've never met? A huge different number of reasons. Some people have been doing, oh, good things for their whole life. You know, they've been on volunteer boards and helped with all the local agencies. They've been blood donors, plasma donors. How many altruistic donors like Gill have you had through the programme? We've done about 40 altruistic donors now, and that's quite a high number compared with other countries in the world. Grant O'Brien knows what it's like to get a new kidney. Today he's swimming a couple of kilometres and thinking of doing a triathlon, but this time last year, before his transplant, he was knocking at death's door. If it hadn't have happened when it did, I doubt we would be having this conversation now, John. How far away from death do you think you were then? Some days I was feeling so ill from dialysis, death kind of looked kinder. The longer you go without having a kidney, then the longer you're on dialysis, and I think the sicker you become. After five years on dialysis, Grant was saved by a kind-hearted colleague from Waikato ` a social worker who'd asked about the tubes on his body. So I explained to her that I had end-stage renal disease and was on dialysis. She said to me, 'Look, I'd just like to give you a kidney.' What do you think it was that motivated her? Um, well, social workers are great people, John. They want to prevent misery in anybody. Compassion? > Um, compassion. Yeah, yeah. How has that changed your life? How has that changed your life? It's like a light switch going on, really. It's given me my life back to the point where I can start to pick up what I left off. So pick up my career again, start doing some more travel and start doing the things that I enjoy. It's kidneys from live donors, like Gill, that work best, but there's simply not enough of them. Half of all kidneys transplanted come from people who have died. There is room to increase the number of deceased donors, but a live donor is preferable from the point of view of the person who's gonna get the transplant. Undoubtedly, there's better long-term survival. Hi, how are you? Gill Buckley is now back in the ward minus a kidney. It's 24 hours since you had your operation. How are you doing now? It's 24 hours since you had your operation. How are you doing now? I'm good. Sore, but good. Yeah. Is it as painful as you imagined? Um,... maybe a little bit more painful than I imagined. Do you know how the recipient is doing? The renal team came around this morning and they said they are doing really well and they're passing urine now through my kidney, now their kidney, and they're really happy. And do you feel like there is something missing? No, no. I'm sore, but I don't feel like there is anything missing. No, definitely not. You're not gonna feel anything from having only one kidney. 50% of kidney function ` in fact, the kidney will grow up a little bit ` is well and truly enough to keep you feeling well. You don't have any effects from that. The short-term success rate for live donor kidney transplants is around 95%. Long term, the outlook isn't that good. On average, 50% of live donor transplants would still be functioning after 20 years. And so the longest transplant that we've got going from our Auckland unit is 40 years. It's made a huge difference to that person's life. She's been able to have pretty much a completely normal life, have children, work, travel, and, yeah, that's what we hope for. Ideally, NZ should... could be doing about 300 kidney transplants each year. And we'd be ecstatic if we could do that many transplants, but, realistically, in NZ that's only gonna happen by an increase in the number of live donors. What do you think about these people who give one of their kidneys to a total stranger? Most of those people have thought about it carefully, they've benefitted from it, and they've done an enormously good thing, and also that the person who's got it... It's transformed a number of people's lives. I've become quite enthusiastic about it. Yeah. Hi. Nice to see you. Nice to see you. You too. It's now a month since Gill's surgery. Oh, don't cry. Friends have come to celebrate her good health and success. Whooooa! Gill is still sore, but she's off the painkillers and is on the mend. ALL: Cheers. They told you about depression. Did you actually feel depressed at all? They told you about depression. Did you actually feel depressed at all? Yes, I did. When I got home I got really down. I didn't try to fight it. I just pretty much stayed in bed for a week. Just let myself be sad. But, no, no, you can't be sad when you've done this amazing thing, so... Would you do it all again? Oh yes. (LAUGHS) I wanted to do it again straight away. If I could I so would do it again. Definitely. Of course, with only one kidney left, she can't do it again. But now Gill has met kidney recipient Grant O'Brien, and together they've come up with another way of helping out. A website to promote or publicise giving a kidney and hopefully inspire more people to consider donating themselves. You don't have to be anybody special, just be a little bit brave and healthy, and you can do this. < And go for it. < And go for it. Yeah. You're moving on. You're moving on. Yeah, yeah. (LAUGHS) Spread the love. The details for Gill and Ian's new site are on our Facebook page. By the way, here in NZ, organ donors and the recipients are stopped from meeting each other. But those rules are under review. Now, have a listen to this. Is it hard for you to reach it? Ooh, well, see now, I'm starting to think about it. But you can go... HIGH-PITCH: # Ah. Ah. Ah. # (LAUGHS) Yes, that's the Pati brothers hitting the very high notes, and wowing them in Wales, the land of song. That's later in the show. But next, the heartbreaking and infuriating trade in tusks. Every day, the reality of a world without elephants becomes closer. AFRICAN MUSIC It's absolutely a war. It's an untold war. Hi again. It's hard to fathom ` a world without elephants. But that's what conservationists say could happen in just 20 years because of a sickening, destructive, and booming trade in ivory. It's sending Africa's elephants on the fast track to extinction. 60 elephants are killed for their tusks every day, which are then spirited off to China where a cashed-up new middle class is in love with ivory trinkets. Even chopsticks. Yep. Elephants are dying to make flash chopsticks. Here's Eric Campbell. INDISTINCT CHATTER Turn off the tourist track and you'll soon see the work of poachers. Today it's a lost elephant calf searching for his mother. She's still a baby. Rangers found him here this morning, dehydrated and very frightened. They fear poachers shot his mother last night. Awwww. > Distraught, he collapses in the dirt. He's just exhausted, probably, from looking for his mother all night, and obviously very distressed, but this is the reality of what's happening all over Africa now. Adult elephants are being slaughtered for their ivory, to satisfy the demand for Asian trinkets, and the orphans are being left to die. It is the worst threat Africa's elephants have ever faced. Across the continent, nearly 40,000 are being killed for their ivory tusks each year. In Tanzania, just across the border from here, it's estimated more than 60 are poached every day. AFRICAN MUSIC If you want to see wild herds before they disappear, Tarangire National Park in the north of Tanzania is as good a place as any. We estimate about 3000 elephants in this park at the moment. When you were a boy, would you see bigger herds than this? Oh yes. Absolutely. I remember herds of up to 7000 in the old days. 7000? 7000? 7000 in this park. Yes. In the wet season they disperse, and that's where the concern comes in, because that's when we start losing elephants. Elephants don't know where parks start or end. When they roam outside them, they're at the mercy of poachers. These two older females were the first two that were shot. That one and this one here, and there's a young one that was shot... Pratik now runs photographic safaris in Tanzania to showcase its wildlife, but an ever more common sight is dead elephants, sometimes entire families killed by automatic gunfire. There's a total of four. So this is one family that is moving slowly, they shot. And to be honest, they didn't even have any substantial ivory on them. You know, hardly 10kg of ivory, you know, each, and so there wasn't a lot there. Most of the tusks have ended up in China. Ivory carvings, jewellery, even chopsticks are a status single for China's booming middle class. It's been illegal to harvest ivory for sale since 1989, but the surge in demand from China has made a mockery of the international ban. It's just like cocaine and heroin ` so how do you fight them? Pratik employs Masai tribesmen on his properties to try to protect wildlife from poachers. But as brave as they are, and few are braver than the Masai, they're hopelessly outgunned. This is another example of not a very good quality rifle. They're up against automatic weapons. They're against guys with automatic weapons, with armour-piercing bullets, so the fight is not fair. ALL SING, CHANT One ranger, Australian Sean Willmore, is determined to turn this battle around. If we're going to get serious about conservation and serious about supporting the rangers on the front line of that battle, we need to support them. We need to supply them with equipment, we need to train them properly and we need to pay them respect. A few years ago, Sean sold everything he owned to raise funds for rangers in environmental hot spots. He called his charity The Thin Green Line in recognition that rangers are effectively in a war with poachers. A round of applause for Tanzania. It's absolutely a war. It's an untold war, and we've lost over a thousand rangers that we know of, and the likely figure's probably 3000 to 5000 rangers killed in the last 10 to 15 years. To see what's fuelling this war, we're heading to the centre of ivory smuggling ` Tanzania's capital, Dar es Salaam. Rangers themselves can't stop the ivory trade. Rangers are at the pointy end, dodging bullets and trying to take down poachers, but it's the demand at the other end that needs to be stopped if we're to stop the ivory trade. Every year Customs officials seize up to 10 tons of smuggled ivory, but that's thought to be a tiny fraction of what passes through the port. Working through a well-connected contact, it doesn't take us long to find black-market traders. How are you? How are you? Good. Pleased to meet you. We meet them in a cafe near the city centre, filming with concealed cameras. Our cover story is that I'm buying for a Chinese Cambodian businessman, and Sean is my security. Eventually, they agree to show us some ivory in return for money. They refuse to say where they're taking us. They tell us their price is $200 a kilogram, and they assure us they'll have no trouble filling big orders. Say 100kg? Say 100kg? Just one day. One day? really? You have a stockpile? It's a suitcase full of ivory tusks. < Oh, very good. That's good. That's very good. Yes. < Can I have a look at that? < That's fantastic. OK, that's good. OK. That's very good. GUNSHOT Surprisingly, rich Mzungu or white people can harvest ivory legally. GUNSHOT Tanzania is still selling permits for elephant hunts. GUNSHOT Every animal you have to pay. A lion will be $4000, $5000. You've got elephant. You pay something from $10,000, $15,000 to $25,000. Mohsin Abdallah, better known by his nickname Sheni, owns the lion's share of hunting concessions around national parks. This is the tusk from a hippo. Elephants often roam into them, but Sheni says they only shoot old bulls and other approved animals. The lion is a very aggressive animal, and it's fun to confront him and to hunt. So you shot that one, did you? So you shot that one, did you? Yeah, that one was shot by me in 1995. Yeah, a long time ago. And the one behind you? This one behind me was shot by my son. I bought him a 21-day licence where he shot this lion. MAN: Africa's Okavango Delta. It's where we've come to stalk the world's largest beasts. Elephant hunts are openly advertised in South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe too, often claiming they just cull excess stock. GUNSHOT You know, in the '30s we had, you know, a few million elephant. Today, in Africa as a continent, we don't have more than 450,... maybe 500,000 elephant, you know, so can we continue hunting our elephants? I think the answer is no. It has to stop. It's not sustainable. It's horrific and desperate. When we come back, the elephant orphanage. (TRUMPETS) I think elephants could disappear in the next 20 years. That's a terrible thing. > INQUISITIVE MUSIC INQUISITIVE MUSIC CONTINUES MUSIC SLOWS MUSIC QUICKENS When inspiration strikes, talk to an ANZ home-loan specialist. We have more local experts in more places to help bring your thinking to life. So, elephants are being slaughtered at a phenomenal rate ` 60 a day in Tanzania alone. And rangers trying to protect the herds are copping it too. So how to stop it? It's been likened to the drug trade. If there was no demand for ivory products, there would be no poachers and no orphaned baby elephants. Eric Campbell again. Poachers aren't the elephants' only predators. As the growing population spreads deeper into the bush, farmers are now killing them too. So, we're very close to the village. They're just in the background there. Just where you can see it now. So, they don't like the elephants coming into their farms? So, they don't like the elephants coming into their farms? No, they destroy their crops. Only one spear went right through the liver, causes poisoning and then they die. Just one spear. Only one. Today they're taking us to see snares, the tell-tale sign that poachers are targeting a path. This will stick on the elephant or rhino front leg or the back leg. Then it will keep like cutting and cutting until it gets worse and worse. So... A very painful way... > A very painful way... > Very. Yeah. Both Kenya and Tanzania have vowed to stamp out poaching, but the potential profits are corrupting both politics and law enforcement. Back in Tanzania, Pratik Patel and his family have paid a high price for speaking out. Two days before we met, his wife Sonia was run off the road by a gang of motorcyclists. They could have killed me. Yeah. I almost lost my life. They drove me down. The car rolled over. She was lucky to escape with cuts and bruises. She's convinced it was a warning. Do you think it's worth continuing? Do you think it's worth continuing? For sure, for sure. Yeah. Now it makes us more stronger, and we feel very strongly about this, and we will go ahead with it. I don't mind getting shot at. You know, it's not the first time that I've been in a heavy situation being in the bush, but I think now they're trying to get to me through, you know, going after my.... targeting my family, which is really a huge concern for me now. Yeah. Would you like a beer? Would you like a beer? Oh yeah. > Would you like a beer? Oh yeah. > Let me turn this down. I believe that's water. Meanwhile, the trade in illegal ivory is becoming ever more brazen. After deciding we were genuine, our black marketers came to our hotel with ready-to-sell carvings. Can you go through for me the prices of each one? This one? This one? Yeah. After carving... Yeah. Yes, yes. his one.... like, uh,... 200... Yep. That's reasonable. Like 1500... For the pair? For the pair? The pair. Is that hippo or...? Is that hippo or...? No. It's elephant. We had to emphasise we were not placing orders. We think things are a bit of heat happening, too much patrol, so we don't want anything for the next month because if he gets caught, then we have no supplier. ALL LAUGH Sometimes there's hope for the poacher's victims. The calf we found searching for his mother, turned out to be lucky. Instead of dying of thirst or being eaten by lions, he was taken by charter plane to an elephant orphanage. That's what it takes to save a baby when its mother's killed. ELEPHANT TRUMPETS This one is called Ngusha. This one is called Ngusha. Ngusha? This one is called Ngusha. Ngusha? Yes, yes. Do you know how her mother died? Do you know how her mother died? Yes, from poaching. The orphanage in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, looks after calves until they're old enough to be returned to the wild. Edwin Lusichi is the chief guide. Yes, they have to go here first because we need to give them the first love and first attention-care, and provide them with all the medication that they need and all the security that they need. They even have to deal with trauma. The old cliche that elephants don't forget is actually quite true when it comes to the loss of their mothers. After they're killed by poachers, the babies will be depressed and upset and confused for months. They will grieve remarkably like humans. It is an enormous undertaking to raise them, and it can all be undone by a single poacher's bullet. That elephant is approximately a year old. Well, I've reared 150 of them. So... And when you rear an elephant, it's a long-term project. It's not just one or two years. They're with us for at least 10, and all our elephants end up living normal lives again as wild elephants exposed to this problem. Daphne Sheldrick started the orphanage in 1977 after decades working with her husband, David, in Kenya's largest national park. Her life story is the stuff of Hollywood. There's even been talk of a film starring Nicole Kidman, but Daphne Sheldrick, who's now a dame, fears there'll be no happy ending for her elephants. I think elephants could disappear in the next 20 years. So when you think of a world without elephants... > Well, fortunately, I don't think I'll be here to see that. It's a terrible thing. But it's up to the international community to do something about it, isn't it? So, the children that visit that orphanage live in a time where elephants roam free, but the sad reality is, that for their children, the elephants could be gone forever. Next, the irrepressible, impressive, and inspiring Pati brothers. Remember them? The full-bodied, fine-voiced duo are now a trio of tenors, and thrilling the locals in Cardiff. ALL SING SAMOAN SONG Hi again. We first brought you the Pati brothers a year ago ` Samoan-Kiwi brothers with amazing tenor voices. Now the duo is a trio. The group called Sole Mio are in Wales to study opera at the elite International Academy of Voice. As Janet McIntyre discovered in a playground in Cardiff, Pene, Moses and Amitai are drawing crowds wherever they go. How many times has Wales beaten the All Blacks? It's a runaway! When you're a kid in working-class Cardiff, on a rare, sunny afternoon,... He carries all of them. The weight of the world is on his shoulders... ...the last people you might expect to come across are three Samoan Kiwis. How can there be Samoans in NZ? < Oh, there's heaps. < Oh, there's heaps. What? In the rugby team? < Oh, there's heaps. What? In the rugby team? < Mm-hm. That's cheating. That's cheating. < (LAUGHS) I'm gonna tell them NZ's cheating. They have got players from other countries. Kiwis, as it turns out, with gigantic feet. The smallest size out of them three is size 12. That is big. Like, my uncle's 6ft something, and he hasn't got that big feet. But there's another surprise in a playground, in a land famous for its singers. Can't you sing us one of your songs? Can't you sing us one of your songs? Choose a harmony. Any harmony. Whatever you want. ALL SING SAMOAN SONG They can charm a crowd, no matter how small... ALL: # More than he could choose. # But through it all... # ...or big. # When there was starch, # I ate it all. BOTH: # He did it. He did it. # I faced it all... Only last year we met them for the first time ` brothers Pene and Amitai Pati at their old school, Aorere College, in South Auckland,... # ...my way. ...and Moses McKay. They'd just teamed up. ALL: # And did it... # our way. # WILD APPLAUSE These boys have lungs. My goodness me, they're big boys, you know. From far away, the trio was being watched and listened to by Welsh tenor Dennis O'Neill, a man with impressive lungs of his own. So, you handpicked these boys? Why? Well, I mean, they're very special. But I think, in a way, they handpicked themselves. These things happen in various ways. So, less than a year later, in Cardiff, Wales, we found the trio again, living away from home for the first time,... This stuff, like, you only see in storybooks. ...missing, of all things,.... Milk. A pie. ...and friends. The biggest difference is you won't see any other brown faces. I think there is less than 10 of us, and the majority of people don't even know where Samoa is. (SINGS VOCAL CHORDS) (SINGS VOCAL CHORDS) But they're knuckling down. They're among just a handful of international students selected by an operatic icon. The voice is not the answer. They're very lucky because they have many of the elements. What they have also is charm, intelligence, no question about that. A natural musicality, and they're very very quick, and I like teaching them because they listen. The first to catch his attention was Pene,... (SINGS OPERA SONG) ...a tenor selected for the academy without even an interview. How unusual is that voice? Oh, Very very rare. There's a certain natural quality about it that is... You just don't hear it. You can go for years, 10 years or more without hearing another voice like that. It's so beautiful. It needs to get more strength, but he's very careful, which I love. You have to wait for that. (SINGS ITALIAN OPERA SONG) But already, Pene, 25, has a remarkable high C ` it's every tenor's dream note. Depending on what you're singing, it just rings right through. It's the pinnacle of glory notes. Is it hard for you to reach it? Ooh, well... See now, I'm starting to think about it. You can go... # La, la... Ah! # But wait, there is even more. # Ah, ah, ah, ah! # Amazing. I've never heard him sing that note before, and it was quite spectacular. It's very unusual for a tenor to go that high with such confidence, and, yeah, such an assured sound. Pene's high C is extraordinarily easy and a very very rare thing to acquire. Well, not to acquire, but to be born with. That's very very rare. # Ah! # (SINGS ITALIAN OPERA SONG) You might think that's a hard act to follow, but that's exactly what Pene's little brother did. Back in NZ last year, Amitai, also a tenor, won opera's coveted Lexus competition, and he too was destined for Wales. APPLAUSE It makes me cry. It makes me really happy to think my kids have come that far, you know. Juliette and Pene Snr could not be more proud of their sons. There's two things. 'You're brothers. The second is you're tenors. 'It's difficult to find anywhere.' They had the humblest of starts ` shy youngsters growing up in Mangere. When they asked for money for school, we always say, 'We have to give money to the family first before we do something for you guys.' It was the same for baritone Moses McKay, who grew up on the North Shore, singing hip hop and R & B. He's now the third Samoan Kiwi at the Welsh academy. We're in this art form that, you know, it's not well represented by Samoans, and our families are from small villages in Samoa. Samoa's very small. And for them, when they were young, our age, NZ was the big trip. They came to NZ because they wanted a better life, because they wanted their kids to explore the world. And now the world stage. BOTH SING OPERA SONG This European summer they were impressing opera buffs in Cardiff, paying their way with what they made as a trio back in NZ ` the trio they started only a year ago. (SINGS OPERATIC SONG) (SINGS HIGH NOTE) LAUGHTER It was the funniest thing, you know, when we think about it. It was just someone, you know, in a cafe who said, 'Oh, you guys, you should form a group,' and we laughed at the prospect. We were, like, 'Oh, that's never gonna happen,' and it's funny how far we've come. It's kind of crazy, actually. ALL SING OPERA SONG Are they going to have to make a call, a decision which way they're going to go in their careers? Well, who knows? I don't know of a trio of that kind that lasts forever. Anything that's very popular generally has a limited life because there's always another one. If they really concentrate... But they're young enough. They have as much chance as pretty well anyone I've ever taught. of becoming international opera singers. # Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear you. ALL: # Look away, you rollin' river. We have kind of grown up with these voices that we didn't really know how to use. # Look away. We're bound away. You have to put in the hard yards. There is no escaping that. You have to knuckle down and put in the hard yards just like everyone else. Knowing that we can sing this kind of music, and we love this type of music, we can actually use it as a way for us to give back to our families. # Shenandoah. # Shenandoah. # Shenandoah. ALL: # Shenandoah. # ALL LAUGH, CHEER Big news for the boys. Sole Mio has just been signed by Universal Music to produce four CDs, but they also intend to continue studying with Dennis O'Neill in Wales. That's our show for tonight. Thanks for joining us. Check out our Facebook page, Sunday TVNZ. We'll see you next week. Nga mihi nui, hei kona. ALL: # E hine e # hoki mai ra. # Ka mate ahau # I te aroha e. # E hine e # hoki mai ra. # Ka mate ahau # I te aroha e.