Soup kitchens and food banks have become such a fact of life in New Zealand that
we don't report on them much anymore. The Salvation Army alone distributes roughly
30,000 food parcels each year in New Zealand, the Auckland City Mission
another 13,000 and on it goes, less notice now the poverty business as usual.
Except for those whose lives have driven them to soup kitchens and food banks as
Britain's child poverty Action Group said, having to ask for food can be
humiliating and distressing. In Ōtara, South Auckland, they've been
experimenting with new ways of providing. A trial at OMAC, the Ōtara Music Arts Centre,
has seen a Monday night soup kitchen combined with an open-mic talent night.
It's been an extraordinary success. The addition of music and of real
community talent has transformed something that can be lonely and
isolating, into a night where people can smile and even dance, really.
Last night our camera woman, Claire Eastham-Farrelly and I went to take a look.
🎶 🎶 🎶
A salad that looks fresh and delicious, marinated chicken drumsticks,
multiple Shepherd's pies with chickpeas instead of mince, garnished with parsley. And there
at the front table five smiling volunteers to serve it all out.
Lovey: What better atmosphere than this here right now?
So they get to have a nice healthy kai, a warm kai, and enjoy some live music.
So, it's really awesome.
JC: Welcome to the Ōtara Music Arts Centre, OMAC, a cultural institution in the city where
Monday nights are special even by the standards of this very special place.
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JC: Inside they're dancing - volunteers, a youth group, people who've come to eat,
people who've come to feed them. There's something bittersweet about this.
The need is sad. The response is wonderful. And music fans with good taste will
recognise the guy doing the backing vocals.
🎶 Screems from Tha Old Plantation by King Kapisi 🎶
JC: That's King Kapisi of course,
Kaps the cheeky, Bill Urale to the formal.
APRA Silver Scroll winner, genuine Samoan New Zealand hip hop star,
and presider over the music and the microphone
at the OMAC community kitchen.
Kaps: Being able to give back to the community
is a huge thing. I serve, I'm from the village, I serve the community
like a village and that's the main thing for me, that we can give and serve.
You know, it's all about heart and I try to make sure that, if I can,
that people can use their heart and learn
the true meaning of community is actually just to give, my brother, just to be able to give.
JC: Here giving begins with a hot meal.
It's cold, even in Auckland, and heating costs money and when rents are high and household incomes are low
something often gives. Food runs out or heaters stay off. The cooks and servers
are volunteers, the venue is council owned and funded, the kai is donated by
the local Life Church. The need is deeper and harder to address.
JC: Do you think people understand how tough life is for some people in this city?
Ellen: No. I don't think so.
I mean, a lot of people judge others but they have no idea what it's like here.
That's why the people around here, they all understand each other. That's why we're here.
JC: Normalcy. Poverty doesn't just mean going without, it can mean social exclusion too.
Where can you go that doesn't cost you money?
Cecilia: Sometimes families are struggling and it seems like a great idea to bring the families out
and join the rest of us, sharing a kai.
Victoria Taupau: And it's from the heart. It's not about trying to gain status
or having a hidden agenda. It's all about love. That's what it is.
Ōtara community is pretty awesome.
You need to come down and be open-minded, and see that there are a lot of caring and awesome
successful people who have come out of Ōtara, as well. Like him.
🎶 How Bizarre by OMC 🎶
JC: There aren't many South Auckland
music stories that don't run through OMAC itself. Perhaps its most famous son,
the late Pauly Fuemana of OMC, the 'O' is for Ōtara of course, who was even farewelled here.
And just last month the place and its work was honored with the special
recognition award at the 2018 Vodafone Pacific Music Awards.
Bobby Kennedy: OMAC is the beating heart of Ōtara,
The people who work, play and create there are the lifeblood.
And the music that is made and performed there is the soul of the Ōtara community.
A soul that stretches out all across Auckland and beyond.
JC: That's Bobby Kennedy the manager OMAC, who was there last night, not only to support but to
celebrate the kids on the mic.
JC: There's some real talent out there tonight I thought! A couple of the youngsters were really good.
BK: Well, you know, I don't know why I always get surprised but this
place, without a word of a lie, is heaving with talent.
Ōtara, there's literally something in the water.
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JC: Soup kitchen meets talent quest.
The band are seasoned regulars.
But the kids on the mic are sometimes even doing it for the first time.
There's no rehearsals, no written music, the band improvises superbly,
and the vocalists just join in.
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This is a youngster called 'Old Soul'.
There are brilliant young people here.
JC: What's your name?
My name is Tui!
JC: And Tui, you are the Head Girl at Papatoetoe High School?
Tui: Yes, that's right.
JC: Congratulations!
Tui: Thank you.
JC: And what's your name?
My name is Alexandra.
JC: And you are the deputy head girl at Sir Edmund Hillary?
Alexandra: Yep.
JC: And what's your name?
My name is Ammon Pulu.
And are you the head anything anywhere?
Ammon: No! I wish I was! We'll leave the leadership to these great young women. [laughter]
JC: Although leadership is about being there, right?
And all three of them: Tui, Alexandra and Ammon were there. A wintry Monday night showing what
community looks like.
Alexandra: Most of the time we're judged by stereotypes on social media
people don't come and look at the good stuff that we have.
I think this is one of the many good things that South Auckland should be known for.
Ellen: There's so much love here, and that's what we want for the community.
Especially here in Ōtara. There's so many families struggling.
JC: What are they struggling with? Is it accommodation costs first and foremost
that really cripple the household budget?
Ellen: Everything, everything. Man, the list just goes on and on.
What's going on around here... I don't know if anyone knows, but yeah....
JC: The food was good and gratefully received, but more than that it was an evening of inclusion.
As Victoria Taupau told me, an understanding that we are all in this together.
Victoria: There's such a stigma about Ōtara, but what it comes down to is that
it's about the heart of the people here, and a lot of those that are outside don't see that.
JC: And whilst this evening is special for the music and the open mic
as Lovey and Cecilia told me, the volunteers and their church group are
doing this all over South Auckland.
Monday nights here in Ōtara, Tuesday nights in Māngere
Thursday nights in Papakura marae, and we are about to open in Glen Innes in September.
So yeah, we're slowly getting there. But it's awesome.
🎶 Lean On Me 🎶
JC: The students and youth council volunteers commandeered the microphone
and you guessed it, they chose the bill with this classic. But sometimes that really is
all you need, somebody to lean on.
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King Kapisi: That's just how it is, and if we can't pay to put bread and
bare necessities on our tables, we have to have something like this,
like the soup kitchen, that people volunteer, people give a damn and
people give their time to be able to feed, because we have so many people that
are homeless, so many people that can't afford just to eat or feed their family.
So this you know big up the Life Church, big up all the
volunteers, big up OMAC. If we don't do this who else is gonna do it?
King Kapisi aka Kaps aka Bill Urale
ending that piece, which was shot and edited by Claire Eastham-Farrelly.