Humans Of The Islands - Ernestina Maro

Ernestina Maro

African / Cook Islands

Miss Pukapuka & Miss Cook Islands Maine Tepaeru 

I know I'm a pretty weird mix. 'How did my parents meet?' is a question I always get asked (laughs). My Dad migrated here back in the days from Africa and my mum migrated here too from the Cook Islands and they pretty much fell in love in Auckland. My Dad's from Ghana, the west side of Africa. I'm planning to go back there with Dad at the end of this year and just visit my grandmother who I've never met, but I'm named after her. So this will be an epic trip for me to visit the family and meet everyone there and experience the culture because I've never been there before. I have one younger brother and an older sister. My Dad has now remarried to a Samoan woman - so now I have two beautiful half-siblings who are half Samoan. He likes his island girls! (laughs).

What are the common misconceptions about you?

I'm pretty much around my Cook Island side all the time. I live, eat and breathe the Cook Island Pukapukan way but the features I have are NOT Cook Island (laughs). Like, people look at me and think "oh yep, she's african" and then I start talking and they're like "what??" There are a lot of misconceptions. Like even going to Pak'N'Save supermarket, my mum will be talking to me in Cook Islands language and then I'll reply to her in Cook Island and you can tell people's reactions are like "what??" People see a black girl and braids and you know, that's about it. I think when you're brought up with it, you just kind of get used to it. My mum's just taught us to embrace the differences in who we are. 

How exactly do you embrace your cultural make-up?

The older I get, the more I learn about my culture and who I am as a person. But growing up when I was younger, I used to always embrace, one side - which was the Cook Island side because I was around it a lot. But once I started getting older I started treasuring both cultures. And now I embrace it so much - it's who I am and it empowers me to do better in life. You can't really run away from who you are - your identity, you've got to embrace it. 

Are there any similarities between Pacific and African culture?

Oh yes! The food! You know Islanders, they love to eat a lot and the African cultures, they love to eat a lot as well!. I suppose the differences are just - the Africans, they love their spices. Sometimes when Dad cooks some food I'm like "woooh!" haha You know, I'm used to like Poke, Maniota, pork. When I started eating Dad's African food - I was like wow, it is just full of spices.

Where did you grow up and can you tell me about your upbringing?

I had the best upbringing ever. Growing up it was always you know, that big pacific family you're continously surrounded by. I was always around my cousins and even though my parents later separated, my Dad was always around as well. I had a really family-oriented upbringing.

What are you doing with your life right now?

I'm currently working for Mangere - Otahuhu arts and contributing for 275 times. I finished my degree in Journalism. So am now just trying to get out there in terms of getting involved in Media, getting our pacific voices out there. I love writing, I love telling stories about my community and I hope to bring more positive stories out there. I'm currently a part of a Pacific group called SPLICE. We try and be an example for Pacific females in the tertiary sector. There aren't really many groups around the teritary sector that provide that sisterly bond for pacific females so we're really enjoying what we're doing right now.

What do you love most about your Pacific culture?

I love that we can laugh as loud as we can, where we want, how we want. We can eat what we want. We have our passion our unique culture which is different. And we take that to other countries, people are amazed by what we do and how we do things. It's unique - we've got a unique culture and I love to embrace that.

Ernestina with her brother and Mother.
What's your proudest achievement to date?

Playing netball for the Cook Islands last year at the PNG South Pacific Games. I was brought up in Mangere and played for Revelation - the home club. I had amazing coaches who helped me realize you can be good at anything if you just put your hard into it and give it your best.

As a young woman, what are the most challenging things you've had to overcome in your life?

Taking control of who you are and embracing that in public instead of being insecure about it. That was kind of a challenge for me growing up. But now that I've accepted that, I feel so much more secure in conquering anything that comes my way. It kind of was about having two different races in me and finally accepting both instead of trying to act like it wasn't me. I was always brought up with islanders and the pacific race and then there are the pakehas' and i often saw the islanders looking up to them and being like "oh yeah, that's the right way" rather than looking within our own cultures and our own unique ways - we have our own special culture which can empower us.

By Indira Moala