Haitelenisia Manu in her garden on Pilkington Road in Tamaki Photo: RNZ
Haitelenisia Manu is tackling the cost of living crisis in New Zealand in her own way.
Manu has been living in Auckland's Tamaki suburb since she arrived from Tonga a decade ago.
But with the high cost of living, she decided to create her own edible garden.
"With the rise in price of produce and meat, it's a lot especially with the [small] income that we have," she said.
"So the only other option to help with our living situation was to do my own gardening, grow my own veges so that we wouldn't be spending a lot of money on things that I can grow."
For Pililolo Sili-Sikulu, who was raised in Tamaki, gardening enabled her to further support and care for her grandmother.
"A lot of her meals that we were prepping actually required a lot of different veggies," she said.
Members of the Me'a'ofa Fungani Methodist Church in Tamaki have followed Manu and Sili-Sikulu's lead, planting their own crops and forming a gardening club.
Club members will grow a variety of fruit and vegetables to be shared with the wider community in Tamaki.
Horticulturalist Therese Mangos said gardening has brought the community closer together.
"We've realised that what we need to do is to just go back to basics," she said.
"In this current state, with the high cost of living, that's definitely been essential. But just beyond that, I think it's when we go back to gardening, because we were all once gardeners.
"So that kind of brings back our connections, not only to the family who were living with, but to the community around us."
Tools, water tanks, soils, seeds and other essential equipment are needed for the community gardens and with limited funding available this could become a stumbling block.
Another barrier looming over these garden fences is intensified housing in East Auckland.
Over 2000 old state houses were demolished making way for over 10,000 mixed tenure buldings to be built across Tamaki.
The development had been fiercely opposed by the community from the start, and Auckland Council community advisor Petelo Esekielu admitted there was still some bitterness.
He said accessing suitable land for the gardens would be a challenge.
"So what we need is more collaborative funding, central government needs to come and play as well with the local government bodies," Esekielu said.
"At the moment, there's a ad hoc approach where some councils are funding, but there's not actually a regional focus on community gardens."
Auckland Council Community Advisor Petelo Esekielu Photo: RNZ
Tamaki is a low socio-economic suburb and at the local shops there's no shortage of fast-food outlets.
There are 17 outlets in the area with a Burger King currently under construction.
Although gardening requires a lot of time and effort, Manu said it kept her and her family grounded to their Tongan values.
"Because this is how I was raised, it's good exercise and it's also good for my family so that it teaches us how to grow and how to survive and in this country money is always a requirement to get everything that we need.
"It's very important for all families to have their own gardens."
