An Olympic gold medallist, the head of one of New Zealand’s biggest companies, a television newsreader and a neighbourhood bakery are among ‘stars’ of a new video celebrating the south Auckland community of Manurewa.
Manurewa – it’s MY home, is the result of a partnership between the Manurewa Youth Council, Counties Manukau Police and Manurewa Local Board, who hope the video will help change the perception of Manurewa – both inside and outside the community.
“Sometimes Manurewa gets a bad name and what we wanted to do this video to remind everyone of what a great community we have by highlighting the success, beauty and familiarity of it and that the people who grew up and live here are proud of it,” says Manurewa Youth Council chairperson Sarah Colcord.
“The high school student representatives, who sit on the Manurewa Youth Council, rallied their schools together to get involved.
“We were committed to ensuring all three local high schools were featured because it was really important to us that the voice of youth was featured. They are a huge part of the community,” she says.
Manurewa Local Board chair Angela Dalton approached the police earlier this year after seeing a similar video they had produced for Papakura.
“For me personally and for the local board, we want people to see the richness of Manurewa, to see that what makes us special is the people who live here, who are proud to call Manurewa home and I thought a video would be a great way to do that.”
With the police and youth council on board, the local board agreed to fund the project but Ms Dalton hopes it’s the start of something bigger for the community.
“It would be great to spread that messaging, that sentiment across our community.”
Manurewa's THEIR home
Among the ‘famous faces’ who were born, educated and raised or still live in Manurewa featuring in the video are Vodafone NZ boss Russell Stanners, newsreader Wendy Petrie, Olympian Sir John Walker and musician Ryan Monga.
However, Sarah says it was important to be inclusive of people and places.
“It is also about the people who still live here, the people we see every day who work and live here and the places we go.”
Manurewa Youth Council also came up with the catch phrase, Manurewa – it’s MY home.
“It was about finding something that everyone could relate to and this really resonated with all of us.”
Changing perceptions
Counties Manukau Police’s Shelley Nahr and Senior Constable Garry Boles worked on the project and were keen that it focused on changing the perception of the community.
“We were really keen that the video focused on celebrating the community and creating a sense of pride and positivity,” says Mr Boles.
“We are thrilled with the way it’s turned out and being received.”
Launched on the police district’s Facebook page on 23 June 2016, the video has had more than 110,00 views and more than 1400 shares.
