You're a Kiwi, if you want to be

Mothla Majeed, 24, grew up in Hamilton. But every day, someone will ask where she’s from.

Her mother, who is Algerian, and her father, who is Iraqi, moved here from England, when she was four.

Though Mothla says she has many homes, she’s always looked back to New Zealand. Since graduating, she could have moved overseas, like many of her university friends have done – but she hasn’t wanted to.

I remember September 11, like, ‘Are you related to Osama bin Laden?’ on the very first day, just because people knew my Dad was from Iraq. 

Mothla used to be embarrassed about where she was from.

“When people asked me, say, at high school, where I was from, I’d say ‘Algeria’, and that was it – because saying I was from Iraq would invite a lot of shit.” 

Now, shes’s proud of her heritage. She likes to challenge people’s idea of what a ‘New Zealander’ is. “I like to ask people where they’re from – ‘Oh, your great-grandparents came here on a boat? How does that feel, not being tangata whenua?’”

Mothla says if people go away realising they’ve said something offensive, they  might start to realise being a New Zealander means different things to different people.  

“I think a New Zealander is someone who just wants to be a New Zealander, who wants to make this place their home, and I think that’s probably it. I don’t think you have to have grown up here, or have had your family live here for a long time. But in day-to-day life, it almost seems as if that’s what the definition of Kiwi is.”