Episode 4: Robyn Fasi

In the early 1990s Robyn Fasi moved from Whangarei to Auckland, landed in Massey and never left - in fact, her family has lived in different houses along Oriel Avenue the whole time!

As Deacon at Northwest Anglican Church and a committed stalwart of the Massey area, she has worked tirelessly in our community for nearly three decades and credits Massey's authenticity as one reason for staying so active in the community.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Hi I'm Robyn Fasi

I'm a Deacon with the Northwest Anglican Church, at the top of Moire Road.

Myself and husband and four children moved into Massey twenty-six and a half years ago now.

We moved down from Whangarei and we've lived in Oreil the whole time - Oreil Avenue - the whole time since we've been in Auckland.

I guess when we first were looking to move from Whangarei to Auckland we needed to find somewhere affordable to live. We landed in Massey and very pleased we did!

I was afraid of moving to a big city like Auckland, but Massey very quickly felt like home. It felt like a place I didn't have to pretend to be something I'm not. It has a kind of realness or rawness - an edginess about it which I really enjoy.

I think in Massey we have quite a diversity of ethnicities and socio-economic situations for people. And that mixture - rubbing shoulders against one another. Sometimes that's not always easy, and not always positive, but I love the fact that we have all of that range within one place - within one suburb.

I've been very grateful to the people of Massey, who have trusted me, allowed me to enter their lives - to be part of their lives - who have shown me hospitality, even in their positions of need.

We are living in a time of great change - in our community, in our suburb. I wonder how that will impact on our community.

A lot more people, coming from different backgrounds - will we make space for them? Will we make an effort to connect with them? And get to know them and welcome them - truly welcome them into our community?

A few years ago I joined Facebook, and that's heightened for me - on some of the community pages I follow - local ones - I sometimes notice that we are very quick to put ourselves, our area, our community of Massey down.

I would love to see us talk ourselves up - talk our community up. Be positive about who we are.

I'd really like to see a change in our attitude to ourselves and our own community - and to one another - as we live together, in this place.