1 Captions by Shelley Upchurch. Edited by Ashlee Scholefield. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2015 RELAXED MUSIC RELAXED MUSIC CONTINUES Raglan is a little coastal town 48 K's west of Hamilton, famous for its legendary surf breaks and its alternative lifestyle. The community of just under 3000 is quite a mixed bag, from the blow-ins in their flash holiday homes to more modest people just doing their best to get by. There's a real mix of nationalities too. People from all over the world are drawn by the glories of the coastline. In such a small town, that diverse mix of people is all around you all the time, and I love that. Let me introduce you to some of the people from all over the world who've chosen to call Raglan home. We'll meet a young woman whose artwork reflects her Czech heritage. I did visualize how Czechoslovakia might look like. My Grandparents and family, they've got pictures with them, of course, and they showed us pictures. A local chef dishes up a recipe, Hawaiian style. Here it is. It's young, it's tender. Tastes like the ocean. A woman rolls out the wedding gift from her Iranian father. I love everything about it. I love the colours, especially the blue. It became a symbol of Iran for me. It was, for me, a piece of Iran that I could honour and I could respect. And we'll hear the story of one man's journey from Madagascar to the beaches of Raglan. We had to leave Madagascar and left everything behind us. And people in NZ as well have to realise how lucky they are to live in such a beautiful place and a safe place. I'm Aaron Brunet, and this is my neighbourhood. MELLOW MUSIC MELLOW MUSIC CONTINUES That's the one? That's the one? Yep. That's the one? Yep. Yep, good. This is my mum, Zora. She was born in Slovenia, which at various times has been part of Austria, Italy and Yugoslavia but has been a republic since 1991. Hi. Hi. Hi there. Those two, thanks. $6.20, thank you. $6.20, thank you. Thank you. Zora's mother, my nonna, was a very strong matriarch who wanted a better life for her family. Times were tough in Yugoslavia, and even though they had their own land in a lovely village, where they could grow their own food, it was still really tough to make ends meet. When the family decided they wanted a better life, my nonno and nonna took the children across the border to Italy and hid out for three days until they could claim refugee status. Many newcomers to NZ have extraordinary stories to tell of the journeys they've taken to get here. A Raglan man who was born in Madagascar is no exception. CURIOUS MUSIC I'm here at the Raglan Coastguard base. I'm a volunteer coastguard. I've been in the coastguard for two years now, and I'm here because I wanted to give back to the community and to NZ. What I love most being part of the coastguard is the friendship that you do have with all the crew, doing something positive impact in the community. You never count the hours. I was born in Madagascar. Very often people think Madagascar is just a movie. It actually is the fourth-biggest island in the world. It is one and a half the size of France, with population which is 20 million. Very beautiful island with a huge diversity in terms of fauna and flora. Pretty unique, pretty amazing place. We grew up by the oceans. We discovered surfing quite late, because there was no materials available there, so I got a chance to get an uncle who brought home a boogie board in the country, and that is how I went into surfing. It was at the age of 12, maybe. I grew up in Madagascar, and when I turned 18 went studying in Paris. So I stayed there for nearly 10 years then made the decision to go back to Madagascar to start my own business. I was travelling a lot for surfing, and the idea came to me to bring, you know, surfers in Madagascar, and then I started my very first surf school in Madagascar, the first travel agency, and then, uh, the first surf camp. In 2009 a coup happened in Madagascar. Military people took the power. When this happened, there was absolutely no freedom of speech in Madagascar. A lot of people tried to stand up for their values, which I was part of it. We had to leave Madagascar and left everything behind us. We arrived here as tourists, and we thought that things are going to settle in Madagascar. The country was banned from the international community and, uh, we ended up never leaving, and we had amazing support from, uh, the NZ Government. CHILDREN: Daddy and Mummy when they were married. CHILDREN: Daddy and Mummy when they were married. That's Daddy surfing. That's me, my cousins and, uh` You look cute, Daddy. This is the place where we grew up on the coast. Which one's you, Daddy? Oh, you're the tall one. Which one's you, Daddy? Oh, you're the tall one. Oh, you're taller. I do miss being with family a lot. Our family has a huge place. Like, every weekend, every family always get together and meets 20-plus people, and we kind of miss this. This year was a pretty special, uh, Christmas, because we had my parents visiting from Madagascar, and as I say, a very special one this year, because it is the first family Christmas that we had since 2008. There's so many things to do in Raglan, but also be quite happy just to sit here and enjoy the family and enjoy the grandchildren. Crab! Look, I won't hurt you. Looks freaky. HOPEFUL MUSIC We are really interested by the people we met here. Malagasy people are kind people, and we meet the same people here. The landscape in NZ is beautiful too. Since it's summer this time, we very enjoyed our trip. It was quite a little bit challenging for me at the beginning with the language. It's really different, really different, when you go to a native English people. And, yeah, so I went to a different kind of organisation taught me English a little bit better, and, yeah, now, just, you can have more confidence. And it's good, you know, to feel that everybody is happy and reaching their balance, and it's the most important, yeah. HOPEFUL MUSIC CONTINUES You never know what future is for you. You just embrace everyday as it is. Always have a dream, always stand up for what you believe in, no matter what it could take. I think that is the most important thing, and people in NZ as well have to realise how lucky they are to live in such a beautiful place and a safe place. It is not always the case in the world, of course. We all know that. Generally speaking, we shouldn't take things as granted in our life. AMBIENT MUSIC An aspect I've always liked about Raglan is that many people living here feel very connected to nature ` from the surfers who always know when the next swell is coming in, to the farmers keenly watching the rainfall, to the people who believe in living sustainably and practising what they preach. I found a real affinity here with my Slovenian heritage, with its deep appreciation for home-grown fruit and vegetables as well as honey, meat and wine. Slovenians have a term 'domace', which basically means 'from home', and that's a term of high praise. Local man Colin Chung, who was born in Hawaii, would understand the sentiment. He's made his mark helping restaurants throughout the Pacific serve up the best local produce the islands have to offer. TRANQUIL MUSIC BIRDS CHIRP My Hawaiian grandmother lived till 108. She was the oldest person ever on Maui, the island where she was born and raised. She spoke fluent Hawaiian. Uh, she only spoke broken English to me, when I came up to spend summers with her, um, but I learned a lot of Hawaiian from her as well, yeah. I think everybody says, when they talk about her still, that her diet of fish and poi` She absolutely did not eat any McDonald's or any other fast foods. I remember her great-grandchildren, sort of, bringing stuff to her and she would refuse to eat it. If she didn't grow it herself, basically, she didn't eat it, you know. I'm part Chinese, part Hawaiian. I was born to the Second World War. My father was in the army, so I grew up in Honolulu of second generation Chinese, uh, grandmother, and first generation Chinese-Hawaiian grandmother, so, yeah, two grandmothers, you know, really raised me. While we are here on the rocks at Whale Bay in front of my house, we're gonna make some lunch out of a few things but including seaweed. We call it 'limu' in Hawaii. It is a Hawaiian word. And a lot of locals, or should I say Islanders, as well as Asians eat a lot of seaweed. When it's low tide like this, everything comes down and is layered on top of each other, so, like, where I'm standing on this rock, there's about three kinds of weed, and one of these, this sort of dark one right here, is edible. But it's much more tasty and tender if you go for the young shoots. So under it are the young babies coming up. Do you see it? This sort of greenish bits there. But here it is. It's young, it's tender, it even looks good, you know? I mean, I could make it look better by blanching it, but it's just really nice. It's crunchy, slightly sweet and salty. Tastes like the ocean. I came here originally to NZ about 1974. I opened a restaurant in Hamilton, and that's basically my start here. So I came over one day, drove over the hill, and coming down into town I said, 'Jeez, this looks just like Hawaii.' I couldn't not come back to live here. After I sold the restaurant, moved out here, and met my wife Rhonda in Hamilton, and we started a family, and it's been` it's been Raglan ever since. We're gonna make a octopus and crayfish salad, but we'll do this in a contemporary way that we maybe wouldn't have done it back there. but the ingredients are all local, and, uh, the fresh seaweed, some baby greens from the garden and some micro greens that we just grew and picked. It is just a quick blanch so that we make it a little bit more tender and I will just put cold water over it. So, what we'll do is start putting the salad together in a way that gives us a little bit of height. So there's some baby greens. Start off with that as a base and intersperse with some seaweed. Try to break it up so we get some height with this here. Here is, like, an octopus leg, OK? And what we're gonna do is slice it up. I've left the tentacles on too cos they are really really nice to eat as well. And really, I mean, it's good, if not better than, crays, actually. My professional career has been in the hospitality industry, managing and running hotels and restaurants and things like that. And the principals of using, um, you know, fresh and local and knowing what quality was and how to use it and the respect for the environment. All those kinds of things are obviously what people are into now, but I grew up with that, is what I'm saying, and it was really nice to do it. OK, this is my contemporary Island-style salad of, uh, octopus, crayfish, crispy taro and all local salad ingredients from our garden, including the tomatoes and the micro greens. Here we go. Here's your lunch. LAUGHTER LAUGHTER Oh, that looks amazing. What kind of seaweed is this, Colin? What kind of seaweed is this, Colin? Oh, I don't know the name of it, but I've been eating it for years right here out of the water. Beautiful food, as ever. Great. I really enjoy the seaweed here, and from my husband collecting seaweed to our children that used to rush out to, like, the food basket in the front lawn and collect seaweed, it has always been interesting. But there is many types out there. Much better with octopus than crab, if you want my opinion. The octopus is delicious in comparison, yeah. My Hawaiian grandmother would love the fact we are doing this, because, you know, 108, and we say that she lived a long time because she ate local fresh stuff from the sea, you know, and this is it. And she would love this` this salad, yeah. Mum's no traditionalist when it comes to cooking. She's been vegetarian since she was old enough to choose, at 18. LAID-BACK MUSIC But Mum's way of cooking and love of food have been the most obvious cultural traditions I've inherited. They helped me win MasterChef in 2013, and this shared bean salad is one of our favourite dishes. It's all about home-grown, simple ingredients, sharing ` this would be in the middle of a table and everyone reaches across to stab it with a fork ` and thoughtfulness ` the beans act as a backstop to keep the lettuce on your fork. It's striking the way a single dish or possession can embody so much about a culture. For Mandana Sutton, a Persian carpet has become a symbol of her struggle to live in two entirely different cultures ` Iranian and German. RELAXED MUSIC When I arrived in NZ, it gave me enough distance, both from Iran and both from Germany, to finally start thinking, 'Who am I, actually, in this?' Because I was trying to fulfil my German expectations from my ancestors and my Persian expectations, and they were so contradictory and so emotionally charged that it was only when I came to NZ that I finally found freedom to find myself. My mother was from Cologne, and my father is from Iran. He was sent over to come and study in Germany and bring his knowledge back to Iran, and they met in Cologne. I was in Germany until I was 8, then we moved to Iran. I had to learn Farsi, so that was my first thing, and I was allowed to play in the streets, so I remember having lots of fun playing football and learning how to speak with the children and playing with them. I was living in Tehran at the time that the revolution was happening. I remember that we all of a sudden had to put on long sleeves, we had to change our clothing ` all things that I had never heard of or had to do. And the idea was that you don't show your hair, you don't show your wrists or your ankles, so everything had to be covered. So, this was here my first visit at a mosque, and it was also my first experience of putting on a chador. This is just another shot of me before entering a mosque, this time a bit stricter, with a black chador and a white maghna'eh. As a result of the revolution, one of the changes was that they closed our school down, so my parents decided to send me to Germany to finish my education there, and they stayed behind. And that happened to many many children in my school. So I noticed a lot of defensiveness within myself ` having to defend Iran and its people with all the questioning that came at me, um, of people having seen pictures of Iran that I had never known about or seen. Here I am at my wedding, dancing a Persian dance. We had lots of fun. It was a great wedding. When I decided to marry and my parents came to England to be at my wedding, they had also brought with them lots of gifts, and one of them, though, they had to leave behind, and that was my wedding carpet. It was special because it was made with special silk that my father had chosen, and he had chosen the colours for me. Because of government issues with Iran not allowing any assets to exit, I wasn't able to celebrate with my carpet for my wedding, so it's taken about 12 years for me to be able to enjoy my carpet as part of my home environment. REFLECTIVE MUSIC I love everything about it. I love the colours and especially the blue. It became a symbol of Iran for me. It was for me a piece of Iran that I could honour and I could respect. I believe that my father really wanted to give me something very precious that came from Iran and that was woven for many years, because this carpet took two years to make. So I really think that he really wanted to honour me by being able to sit on it on my wedding and also enjoy it in my life, throughout my life. I live here in Raglan now with my husband, Rodney. My daughter lives in Dunedin now. She's studying there with my grandson. This is where I get my inspiration ` amongst the pohutukawas in Raglan. And looking through the pohutukawas into the ocean, that's where my heart lifts and my life force just, you know, really feels alive, and, um, yeah, I just, um, get all my ideas for my book, Dare To Be Yourself,... (CHUCKLES) with my muse by my side, my inspiration, yeah. My arrival in NZ happened by chance, and it turned out to be the biggest gift of my life. The liberation has happened from my whole upbringing from childhood and from the Persian culture as well as the German culture, and then coming to NZ and being liberated in all these ways. And that's why I'm so passionate about wanting to pass that on to others. TRANQUIL MUSIC Down at the south-west end of the township is the extinct volcano of Mt Karioi. According to Maori legend, Karioi was a jilted princess who, upon discovering that love was lost, lay down, never to move again. It was a really profound experience for me to travel to Slovenia with Mum when I was 30. It was the first time Mum had been back since she left as a child. Mum had told me many times when I was young about the beauty of Slovenia, but that was when I realised she wasn't exaggerating at all. The whole place really is like a fairy tale. The Czech Republic is also famed for its beautiful towns and storybook architecture. Local artist Denise Fort draws inspiration for her artwork from the country of her parents' birth. WHIMSICAL MUSIC I was born in Munich, Germany. My parents were born in the Czech Republic. My mother is from Prague, and my father's from Pilsen. During my upbringing, I was always in-between these two countries ` Germany and Czechoslovakia. I never could really make peace with that thought, never. and I think when I came to NZ, um, I felt really relaxed, and I felt like I can stop thinking about it now, what I am. My Dad was studying in Prague when the Prague Spring happened. He actually was, um, a student, and they all got the news that, 'The Russians are here, the Russians are here.' They had tanks and they shooted at the people, and I stood once with him on that place and I asked him, 'Did you see friends getting shot?' His eyes filled up a bit, and he didn't answer, you know. He just looked around. The bullets got close completely, and they just got out. WHIMSICAL MUSIC CONTINUES So, yeah, my parents, before us, coming to the border and looking over the border and meeting my father's mother, my grandmother. They couldn't cross the border, so you can see them standing here as far as they can go. And why they waited with having children for a while, cos they wanted to have us in Czech Republic, but it didn't happen for a long time. In the end it was 21 years before they could go over the first time. I did visualise how Czechoslovakia might look like. My grandparents and family, they brought pictures with them, of course, and they showed us pictures, but I think I just saw it with the mind of a child and couldn't see much on the picture, and so I visualise how they live, in a kind of bird house, you know. It was round and you had to go on a ladder up into a little hole, and that was kind of my imagination of it, you know? When I was 9 years old, the border opened up. We went to Prague, and of course they also showed us the historical part of it, and we went to many places, and we drew a lot, and my brother would draw a lot during the journeys, and he always would say, 'Oh, today we saw that. Let's draw that.' You know. But I can see more that's coming out now more, you know, all these buildings and especially on the houses and the windows, every little bubbly things on it. Details. And I think that is why I draw so detailed, because I look at it and I saw all these details, especially in Prague, in these old houses. Yeah, pretty amazing. I prefer to work with pens. I love being able to have fully control about my line. When I create the ideas are flowing so fast, I need to kind of keep up with my ideas, and it's possible with a pen and not with a brush, yeah. (LAUGHS) The biggest fear is you won't have enough time to do everything what you wanna create. That's why it's important for you to create. Makes you happy. A day when I created is a happy day, yeah. They say that draw` artists draw themselves, and I have to laugh when I think about my art, because I am, I guess, a little helicopter who flies around and wants to be free and... and looks at everything very close and detailed. (LAUGHS) I heard that the Czech illustrators have a good reputation in the world. I think, sure, you are always inspired by the architecture, what's surrounding you, but maybe as well if you live in a country where the outside world is not that fun, you know, you kind of go into your own world, and that's where it's coming from, that we're kind of storytellers. When I see people how they look at my art, I'm sometimes jealous, because I would like to be that person who comes across my art the first time and can look at it like it's different. Some people can't see anything, I can see that, but if somebody likes it, they just fall in love instantly, and they're just amazed. You can see, like, first, like, 'Ooh,' then they come closer, 'Ooh.' They have like different stages of reaction, you see. I love Raglan so much because you have so many different people here. A good friend of mine said once, 'When you are in Raglan you don't have to go anywhere, because the whole world is coming to you.' It kind of gives me the space and opportunity to be at one place for a while, cos you need to create and do art sometimes to stay in one place, but I am traveller, and I love to go to different places, cos of culture and different people, but here in Raglan you can have both. I look at the landscape as well. I'm inspired by how the hills are flowing and everything. It's very beautiful. But I do think I am more focusing on the details, and I just like the shapes and everything, cos that's kind of my work, that I draw shapes, yeah. I do miss my family a lot, of course. My father was last here the first time, and, um, it was very special for me to show him around, and I realise that actually they are so proud, because all that they did, you know, it was for freedom, and they are so happy that my brother and I are so grateful, and we're not throwing this freedom away. We're using it as much as we can. He's proud. He's so proud. And when he was here seeing how I live and that I choose a good lifestyle, you know, he's very very proud. REFLECTIVE MUSIC I love the fact that nature plays a big part in daily life in Raglan. I feel so much more aware of it here than I did living in a big city. I also really like the people I've met here ` very real people who tend to care more about each other than being part of our highly materialistic culture. SPLASH! Raglan's a terrific place to put down roots, and I'm delighted to see it's providing a warm welcome for such a diverse range of people. Captions by Shelley Upchurch. Edited by Ashlee Scholefield. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2015