Episode 6: Mukseet Bashir

Mukseet (or Muks) arrived in Massey as a five-year-old, spent his childhood and adolescence here and still lives within a small radius of where he grew up.

The memories made during his formative years have cemented Massey as a special place for Muks - a place that he will talk about at any opportunity.

"The first time I played basketball - which is a passion of mine now - was at Triangle Park. The first time I tried fish and chips they came from the Massey shops."

Mukseet is also excited about the future of the suburb he has called home since he was five.

"For me, 'community' is about coexistence and acceptance of each other, and a desire to thrive together," Muks explains.

"It's easy to be nostalgic, but it's also important for us - as a community - to understand what we value, and what we want for Massey."

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

My name's Mukseet, I grew up in Massey - I went to High School here and now I work as a Finance Business Partner.

So my parents moved to New Zealand in 1998 with my sister, when I was just 5 years old. And we've lived in Massey ever since.

It's such a special place to me - any opportunity I always talk about it.

The first time I played basketball - which is a passion of mine now - was in Triangle Park, the first time I had fish and chips was down at the shops.

It was an amazing place to grow up - it's very unique, the fact that it's an urban neighbourhood that backs out onto farmland. And then the make-up of the neighbourhood, it's so diverse - culturally, economically - in so many ways.

As a kid, I just loved it because of the parks and the green spaces and the things to do.

Getting older it's those other things that have kept me here, in the neighbourhood.

It's the fact that I've been other places and they don't have that same kind of vibe.

And I think we face a lot of challenges that a lot of other working-class neighbourhoods probably do - especially with the changing nature of Auckland, the fact that house prices are going up, gentrification and things like that - and I think we accept those and learn from things that have happened in the past.

It's not always great, but I think it's really important to maintain that sense of community and show who we are.

So I think that's definitely an area that we can work on.

As an immigrant - someone who moved here - I've been able to be my whole self, and I think my whole family has.

We can be who we are, and kind of learn more about ourselves through the fact that we've been accepted.

And I see that in a lot of different cases - we're Bengali, I grew up with Pacific Island families, Māori families, people from all over the world.

So I think, to me community is that coexistence and that acceptance of each other, and a desire to thrive together.

And I think part of that is having a community voice. I think it's important to have that voice - a united voice.

And for us - as a community - to understand what we value, and what we want for Massey.

If I'm not there in the near future, I've always kind of hoped - it's always been a dream of mine to come back and raise a family there and live there. Give back to the community - I hope I can do that.