Humans Of The Islands - David Cordtz

Basically I grew up in Otara, my Mum and Dad didn't really get on so Mum raised me and my brother and my sister. Both our fathers left us and it was pretty tough. Mum was working a couple of jobs just to put food on the table. The big bro Reubs (Reuben Wiki) was having to play Daddy when Mum wasn't home. So it was really tough but I think it's made us who we are today.

Tough times. We saw it all, the abuse - my father beating up my mum, seeing all the violence, the partying...you know as a kid you can't do nothing. You're just stuck amongst it. You get dragged to this party and that party. I don't know how we survived to be honest. There was a lot of insecurity for us as well because we could never keep a home - I'm sure a lot of people in New Zealand can relate right now. We could never stay in one place, always going from one relative to the next. You know, sleeping in Aunty's garage. There was no stability in our home and not having a father figure was hard too because there was no authority in the home.

I've always been an active kid growing up but obviously didn't really get the opportunities because we didn't have the money. I started gymnastics and made the Nationals in my first year and represented Auckland, I was placed 7th in the country in my age group (11-years-old) but then Mum had to pull me out because she couldn't afford to carry on paying. I was upset a lot after that because that was like the best thing I ever did so it was really hard for me to accept as a child, not being able to do something you love but you just have to get over it.

I joined a local gym club in Otara and yeah that's the thing, even over there, there very few. In the team they were all palagi or chinese. I was the only Island boy. 

I was looking for life and some sort of leadership so I got involved in a Tongan gang and things went from bad to worse. I flunked school and luckily for me, my brother picked up a contract with the Canberra Raiders and my mum asked Tim Sheen from the Raiders if my brother could take me with him. So that was a lifeline for me to go there and finish school and tidy up my life. 

I started playing league up there and made a couple of rep teams. But it was hard trying to fill his shoes, trying to be something that wasn't me. It didn't work for me. I started getting into a singing group over there and started gigging in a few of the night clubs. I moved back to New Zealand and in May 1997 I went to church and turned my life around.

 Yeah it was because I was doing drugs and partying and one of my old mates who I used to play league with in Otahuhu, invited me to his fellowship youth night and that was it. I've never been back to a club since. I stopped the drinking and the drugs. And then I met my wife in the church, we started talking to eachother at church and then got married a couple of years later. And it's been 16 years now and we've got four children. Without my faith, I'd be all over the place. It grounds me.

At the end of 2013 I was watching some videos on social media and it kind of took me back to gymnastics and I thought 'Man, I want to get into this'. So I did a google search and 'Brothers NZ' came up and they met at One Tree Hill on Saturdays. So I went down there, met the guys and it just clicked straight away for me. Then I started training with them every weekend. Calisthenics is a very community based street workout so it really helps bring people together.

 With Calisthenics there's Frank Medrano who is a Vegan bar athlete - I saw an interview where a bodybuilder was asking him what he ate on a daily basis and I noticed he didn't really mention meat or dairy or eggs. I didn't even know what Vegan was at the time. So I started following his page and did one of his 30 day challenges and I felt really good and then I learnt stuff about animal cruelty and then it really started putting me off meat. I felt so strong, so energetic. It was amazing and by day 20 I made up my mind...and 2 and a half years later, I've teamed up with a company called High Carb Health and we run our own 30day challenge here in NZ.

(laughs) Yeah, the hardest thing for me was the social aspect - I mean, you go to church and you go to dinners. You're at home and everyone's eating KFC or McDonalds and it's really hard. But once you learn what you can and can't eat it's actually quite easy. Obviously they mock you and have a laugh but in the end you just eat what's there for e.g. palusami without the meat, taro, yam, kasava...you know, just eat all the plantation food that you can. You don't really miss out on eating island food.

By Indira Stewart