SOLD: Beautiful Happyzine

The other night I was really grumpy.

Having sat two exams during the day, tried to move house that evening, and somewhat failed on the realisation that my car was broken and couldn’t be moved out of the drive way, I was not in the best of moods.

Resigned to a long bus ride home, I sat at the bus stop sulking.

Lost in my own head and just wanting to get home, my stream of consciousness was awoken by flashing lights and screeching tyres pulling into the bus bay. Not too impressed by this, I wondered what on earth could have warranted a police vehicle showing up. Surely I hadn’t done anything wrong?

That’s when I met Graeme.

It turns out it wasn’t a police vehicle – quite the opposite in fact. The light’s stopped flashing and I realised that it was actually a beat up little repairman’s truck. An older man got out and whistling some upbeat tune, walked towards me.

“Did you write that?” He joked, in reference to the graffiti on the bus shelter behind where I was sitting.

Great, just what I needed. Someone talking to me. I dismissed Graeme in an instant. He was old, wearing scraggly clothes, and a cleaner. No need for us to make pleasant chat. But he continued. And the more Graeme spoke, the more my evening improved.

“I thought I’d clean this shelter tonight, because I’ve got two exams tomorrow and I want to get a good night’s sleep,” he tells me.

‘What!!?’ I’m thinking. Crazy cool.

Turns out, Graeme had worked hard all his life in the public health sector, and recently decided he was going to go to university to study social services. He cleaned full-time, servicing all the bus-stop shelters around Auckland, because it was a job that allowed him to maintain his extra-mural study and work flexible hours.

He then proceeded to tell me that he wasn’t worried about his exams, because he had an A+ average. But he still wanted to be on top of his game. Graeme, the bus-stop cleaner, was the top social-services student in New Zealand. In his second year of uni, he had so far beat the 800 or so pupils studying the same field – most of who would be at least half his age. He had also inspired his 23-year-old daughter to study.

“If dad can do it, I can do it,” he tells me she said. His daughter now works in a bank and studies part-time, inspired by the life and positivity of her father, no doubt.

An old man turned academic, what a story and what inspiration, I thought. In the space of five minutes my mood had changed dramatically. I got onto the bus with a smile of my face, thinking ‘I don’t think I’ll ever forget this man’s name’. I left Graeme water blasting the graffiti off the bus stop, probably still chatting away to whoever else turned up, all the bit better and happier for our chance encounter.

The moral of the story is, without trying to sound too cheesy, that there’s always something good going on and always encouraging news and stories to be found.

This blog will focus on finding positive stories from around Tamaki Makau Rau that are all about moving us forward. It will be a weekly commentary, highlighting people, places, projects and events that encourage, promote and empower people in Aotearoa.

To kick off, I want to leave you with the following updates. There will be more news to come next week, but for starters, here’s a taste of what’s going on in Auckland.

Tumeke Cycle Space

Auckland Fruit Tree Project

Maori Language Week:

Yesterday I received an invitation for Maori language week. Via facebook. The message was simple and started by Auckland students: Show your support for Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori by posting your status updates in Maori this week.

Whoever would have thought that facebook would become such a phenomena and platform for social change. And it really can have impact – take the Save National Radio, friken awesome! Also, facebook proved successful in launching the campaign against mining on conservation land, which as we all know has been rather successful.

Sometimes the smallest gestures can have the biggest impact, and as facebook has such a wide reach – promoting te wiki by this means, is a TUMEKE!! idea. There are lots of other grass roots things going on this week to celebrate te reo Maori, so check out what your local community is doing and get involved.

Have a fantastic week!

Kia ora.

Writers Bio: Hanna Spijksma

Hanna is a final year journalism student, studying in Auckland. She is interested in intercultural-communication, Maori and environmental issues,travel, hospitality, and breaking stereotypes. In her downtime, Hannah enjoys spending sunny afternoons drinking coffee, reading the paper and listening to Anika Moa and all the other talented musicians New Zealand pulls out of its hat. She is also aiming to/trying to train to run a half marathon, which isn’t going so well – but the theory is that exercises gives you endorphines, endorphins make you happy, and happy people are, well, happy. Chocolate also has endorphines, but it doesn’t help the half-marathon efforts.

Tags: Auckland, Maori Language Week, News, positive, Tamaki Makau Rau, Te wiki o te reo Maori