The OG’s from here,
this is all new to them.
There was never a fa’afafine community
when they were growing up in Hawke's Bay.
People really don't expect
these communities from small towns.
You can have some mascara.
What is that? Don't move.
Or this is gonna go into your eyeball, sweetie.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
A girl.
I want to complete a Bachelors of Nursing.
Oh, that's sickening.
I can look after you when you get old.
Once I moved here, I’ve come out a bit more.
I wasn’t as...
I guess...
“Womanly”
when I was still living in Melbourne.
When I found out I was moving back here,
I didn't want to come.
I was scared to come here and be bullied.
But I didn’t expect there would be
this much of a community here in the Bay.
So Teine o le Apu
is a group that we started a year ago.
It's a group of fa’afafines that live
locally in Hawke's Bay, and we've built this group
just to have a comfort zone for us.
Teine means
women or girl and
Apu means apples.
Majority of the seasonal workers here in Hastings
are from Samoa.
So every time people say Hastings or Hawke's
Bay, they would automatically think of apples.
In Samoa where I grew up
Every family has a fa’afafine.
It's part of our culture.
So I grew up seeing a lot of the older generation
at chapels, at events,
functions, you name it. You would see them everywhere.
I already knew I was a fa’afafine at probably like five.
We had the Manioro here earlier this year in Jan.
It was the first Rainbow show
here in Hawke's Bay.
We were speechless
with the amount of support that the Pasifika community
brought through that night, we saw everyone there.
It was a full house.
One, two, three.
One..
The feedback that we got back from that night,
people wished it was longer.
So now we are planning to have a longer showcase.
When you were growing up
how did you do your makeup?
I had to work with all I had back in Samoa.
We had like, some Thin Lizzy.
So you just have to let it set into your skin.
Okay.
Oh, look at you.
You’re glowing.
Is that your real hair?
Yeah it’s my real hair.
Do you want to touch it?
Oh, it's very nice.
I killed a lion for this.
It's such an amazing and overwhelming feeling
when I see the younger generation. I know that
they get very excited to see, you know, fa’afafines
that are much older than them.
It inspires them.
That's how I felt when I was young.
Watching the older generation of fa’afafines
walking around freely, dressed as who they are.
Just brings back all the memories from my childhood.