Speaker 1: The Flavor Podcast Network Island Roots Auckland Ways. This one's
Speaker 1: for the Brown brothers and sisters who want to be
Speaker 1: one with themselves, their culture, their identity, their roots.
Speaker 2: This is Island Roots Auckland Ways.
Speaker 3: What's up everyone, and welcome back to Island Roots Auckland Ways.
Speaker 3: Hey girl, Hey.
Speaker 2: Girl, how are you today?
Speaker 3: I'm feeling good. We have a pretty good cord at
Speaker 3: all today. It's a very special one because this month, November,
Speaker 3: it's Diabetes Action Month and the thing for this year
Speaker 3: is don't sugarcoat diabetes. Let's face it. We are Maudi
Speaker 3: basifica and the stats don't look good for us in
Speaker 3: the diabetes department. But we're all about breaking the the
Speaker 3: fuck ama around diabetes because it's actually not a bad thing.
Speaker 3: And if you do have diabetes, or you have some
Speaker 3: suspicions that you might be living with diabetes, we want
Speaker 3: you to know that it's all good.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: So this episode's all about educating ourselves on the truth
Speaker 1: about diabetes, to dispel myths and break stigmas.
Speaker 2: I didn't know much.
Speaker 1: About diabetes before we had this chat, I will be
Speaker 1: perfectly honest. I knew a bit from my Level two
Speaker 1: biology I don't even know if it's biology. Must be
Speaker 1: a level two NCAA Level two biology classes that I
Speaker 1: had at school, but I feel like when we talk
Speaker 1: about them without a person who has a lived experience,
Speaker 1: it's just kind of like, oh, okay, and what am
Speaker 1: I going to do with this information? But being able
Speaker 1: to understand the real life ramifications and impacts was really
Speaker 1: powerful in this cordy door. Yeah, so this week we
Speaker 1: were very lucky to be joined by Iliana Fussuur from
Speaker 1: Diabetes Auckland. Now she's a diabetes educator working on a
Speaker 1: few different programs that help prevent diabetes and educate people
Speaker 1: on lifestyle changes or the risk factors and the preventatives
Speaker 1: two diabetes type one, type two, and she gave us
Speaker 1: a little bit of a rundown gestational diabetes as well.
Speaker 1: But then we were also very blessed to be joined
Speaker 1: by Milan Mula, who is a young person living with
Speaker 1: type one diabetes. And a big fun fact that I
Speaker 1: learned was that you're not just born with type one diabetes.
Speaker 1: I feel like I grew up reading at the Girls
Speaker 1: Know the Babysitters Club and in the Babysits Club. Stacey
Speaker 1: has type one diabetes, and I believe she was born
Speaker 1: with it, so I thought that all type one diabetics
Speaker 1: were born. But no, you actually can develop it over
Speaker 1: time and it's not something that can be prevented like
Speaker 1: type two can. But Milan has this like lovely positive
Speaker 1: disposition on life. But then gave us the most incredible
Speaker 1: hearty bass, badass important slam poem about his experience with
Speaker 1: diabetes and the kinds of myths that he's had to
Speaker 1: bust down in his life.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's no shegar Hoding. This episode of Island Roots
Speaker 3: Auckland Way is starting right now.
Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, welcome back to another episode of Island Roots,
Speaker 1: Auckland Ways. It is November. It is Diabetes Action Month
Speaker 1: and we are so so so grateful to be partnering
Speaker 1: with diabetes in New Zealand this month as a part
Speaker 1: of Diabetes Action Month and the theme for this month
Speaker 1: is don't sugarcoat Diabetes. So today on the episode, we're
Speaker 1: going to be busting myths, learning about lived experiences, but
Speaker 1: also dismissing what discussing dismissing myths, discussing what diabetes really is.
Speaker 1: And to do so, we have the amazing Ileana Fossitur
Speaker 1: from diabetes Auckland, and Milan Walla, who lives with type
Speaker 1: one diabetes, joining us in the studio Todayla.
Speaker 3: Welcome on into the studio. How are we feeling today?
Speaker 3: A little bit fine? You're a super slight and how
Speaker 3: about you, Milan? How are we feeling good and shy?
Speaker 1: This is both of your first times doing a podcast.
Speaker 3: What podcast were you on before?
Speaker 4: I don't know the name, but poetry call it all.
Speaker 3: And speaking on poetry. We'll have a little bit to
Speaker 3: share on that later on in the podcast, won't we.
Speaker 1: Yes, we absolutely will hopefully if you're feeling less shy.
Speaker 2: Later on.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you two know, but every episode
Speaker 1: we start our episodes with our guests with a little
Speaker 1: game called what we love about Home? So home can
Speaker 1: be whatever you like. It can be your physical home,
Speaker 1: the four walls you live with them. It can be
Speaker 1: your home I don't know, back in the Islands, or
Speaker 1: it could be the suburb that you're from. We just
Speaker 1: want to know what you love about home and where
Speaker 1: home is for you. For me, home is Auckland and
Speaker 1: what I'm loving about home at the moment is walks
Speaker 1: around the viaduct in the city. It's just something so
Speaker 1: nice about it, especially now that it's getting close to
Speaker 1: the summer. Yeah, it's lighter later at night, it's lovely and.
Speaker 3: It's a little bit hot at the time of recording.
Speaker 3: Do you feel warm?
Speaker 2: I feel warm today and I like it. I'm here
Speaker 2: for I'm here for it.
Speaker 3: I'm here for putting on some sunglasses and having a
Speaker 3: cold beverage. Yeah, regino in my hands. What I love
Speaker 3: about home this week? I will say what I love
Speaker 3: about home back on the Islands is the slow pace
Speaker 3: of life. Especially on a Sunday. Everything is closed in
Speaker 3: the Islands because that's when you go to church with
Speaker 3: your families and you are supposed to rest on the
Speaker 3: Sabbath day. So yeah, that's what I love about home,
Speaker 3: the slow pace of life. I feel like sometimes when
Speaker 3: we're here in New Zealand it can be like always
Speaker 3: changing and moving. But back on the Islands, definitely, I
Speaker 3: love how we have a dedicated day to stop and
Speaker 3: take a rest. That's when I love home about this week.
Speaker 3: How about you, Milan, what do you love about home?
Speaker 4: What do I love about home? I think home is
Speaker 4: at my nance house down south. She livesten no, we
Speaker 4: went down there recently. That are bonfard during the day
Speaker 4: and at night. But it was nice fun, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 3: How often are you able to go back to your
Speaker 3: NaN's house?
Speaker 4: Not that often, but when we do go back, it's fun.
Speaker 3: It's always a good time. And Ileana, what do you
Speaker 3: love about her?
Speaker 5: What I love about home this week is home for
Speaker 5: me is I live in South Walkland and my sister,
Speaker 5: younger sister and her family came yesterday from Brisbane, Australia.
Speaker 6: So yeah, a lot of kids running around it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, sharing stories and feasting and yes, that's what I
Speaker 5: love about home this week.
Speaker 2: It's so lovely beautiful.
Speaker 3: Thank you for sharing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you so much for sharing, both of you.
Speaker 1: As we know, we're here to talk about diabetes and
Speaker 1: we kind of wanted to start off with a little
Speaker 1: bit about your work, Ileana and how you got involved
Speaker 1: with Diabetes New Zealand, the kind of work you do
Speaker 1: with Diabetes New Zealand slash Diabetes Auckland, and yeah, a
Speaker 1: little bit of how you found yourself on this line
Speaker 1: of work.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 5: So I have been with Diabetes New Zealand since twenty thirteen. Wow,
Speaker 5: over ten years.
Speaker 2: Were a good girl.
Speaker 5: I'm heavily involved with the health promotion programs and activities
Speaker 5: out in the community. In our health promotion activities, we
Speaker 5: focus on diabetes prevention, especially type two diabetes, which is
Speaker 5: a type.
Speaker 6: That can be prevented. We have a program called Hope.
Speaker 5: And it's a community based diabetes prevention program. So I
Speaker 5: coordinate and call facilitate our whole program raising awareness and
Speaker 5: educating our especially at risk community, which is our Maori
Speaker 5: Pacific in South Asian to learn about how to prevent
Speaker 5: type two diabetes through healthy eating and exercise. I also
Speaker 5: do workplace educations and just diabetes education and awareness in
Speaker 5: different community groups. And I also assist on our mobile
Speaker 5: band when we're going around different community groups, workplaces, rec centers,
Speaker 5: community events, and do our HbA one C testing just
Speaker 5: diabetes testing.
Speaker 6: So yeah, so that's pretty much what I do.
Speaker 2: My gosh, you do so.
Speaker 3: Queen of Diabetes. First of all, can you heire to
Speaker 3: educate us please on the different types of diabetes that
Speaker 3: there are, because for me, I know that there's many
Speaker 3: people in my life who live with diabetes, but I'm
Speaker 3: actually not sure of what diabetes is and that there
Speaker 3: is different types.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so yeah, I was just gonna say it is
Speaker 5: important to first know what diabetes A is. So diabetes
Speaker 5: as a chronic disease, and it's a condition that develops
Speaker 5: when blood glucose levels are too high because insulin is
Speaker 5: absent or not working correctly in your body, so in
Speaker 5: other words, too much sugar in the blood. So there
Speaker 5: are three main types to answer your question about the
Speaker 5: types of diabetes. There is gestational diabetes, which as women
Speaker 5: who have diabetes during pregnancy, so it only occurs during pregnancy,
Speaker 5: but once they are given birth it goes away, but
Speaker 5: that increases once they're diagnosed with gestational diabetes. It increases
Speaker 5: the risk of developing type two diabetes later on in
Speaker 5: life if they don't look after themselves well after birth.
Speaker 5: So that's gestational diabetes. Type one diabetes, I'm sure Milan
Speaker 5: will talk more about it, but type one diabetes, it's
Speaker 5: the type that cannot be prevented, very common among young children.
Speaker 5: It can be genetic, but it's an autoimmune condition. So
Speaker 5: what I mean by autoimmune is that our body owned
Speaker 5: immune system destroys the cells that produces insulin and our body.
Speaker 5: So once you're diagnosed with type one diabetes, you are
Speaker 5: insulin dependent for life. Anything can cause type one diabetes,
Speaker 5: and as as I've said before, it cannot be prevented.
Speaker 5: And yeah, it can be trickered by like an infection
Speaker 5: or changing the enroun. But yeah, once they are diagnosed
Speaker 5: with type one, they are the insulin inculin dependent. And
Speaker 5: then we have type two diabetes, which is the type
Speaker 5: that can be prevented. And as I've mentioned before on
Speaker 5: my introduction, the way that we do through our health
Speaker 5: promotion programs and activities, we focus on type two diabetes.
Speaker 5: So type two diabetes can be genetic as well, but
Speaker 5: it's mainly due to unhealthy lifestyle. And there are other
Speaker 5: factors that contribute to the development of type two diabetes,
Speaker 5: but yeah, it's mainly due to unhealthy lifestyle.
Speaker 6: So those other, yeah, different types of diabetes.
Speaker 3: Thank you for sharing a little bit about what diabetes is, Ileana,
Speaker 3: and we'll come back to you as to the fukama
Speaker 3: around all the embarrassment around having and living with diabetes.
Speaker 3: But Milan, we want to bring you in now. Tell
Speaker 3: us about your story with diabetes. So you have type one.
Speaker 4: Yep, type one diabetes. I was diagnosed ah how long
Speaker 4: ago in year eight so that would be like three
Speaker 4: years ago. Now, okay, yeah, COVID hit then after before
Speaker 4: you know, when we're like going into live or was
Speaker 4: it there were three or level two? Back to school?
Speaker 4: I got diagnosed with diabetes, so I couldn't go back
Speaker 4: to school, so it was all good.
Speaker 3: Nah, yeah, so tell us your story. So you're diagnosed
Speaker 3: with it. Did you know anything about diabetes beforehand? Or nah?
Speaker 4: Not really but my cousin had it. Didn't really talk
Speaker 4: to her much, But yeah, I didn't know what it was,
Speaker 4: so coming into it, it's like, you know that like idea,
Speaker 4: like that falsehood of it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's you.
Speaker 4: You're the reason though for it. And then like other
Speaker 4: things like that was hard going into it. Besides that,
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 3: That's pretty buzzy, like what were the symptoms? Like how
Speaker 3: did you even know that there was something to diagnose?
Speaker 4: I was drinking heaps of water, peeing heaps. I kept
Speaker 4: on getting real bad headaches, always felt thirsty, like dehydrated,
Speaker 4: other things like that.
Speaker 3: And so did mom, who is sitting actually in the
Speaker 3: producer booth right now. Did Mom take notice off there
Speaker 3: and think, oh, I think we've got to thought I
Speaker 3: was over exagged and then eventually you reach a point
Speaker 3: you get to the doctors and they are telling you
Speaker 3: you you live with type one diabetes. What does life
Speaker 3: look like for you? Now?
Speaker 4: Me learn a lot different. You gotta change old food
Speaker 4: habits and stuff. Not just like we were just unehealthy
Speaker 4: in general. But I feel like diabetes was that awakening
Speaker 4: or you know, when you like realize that something you
Speaker 4: need to change the way you do things, and it's Yeah,
Speaker 4: it's really changed the way I think about food in general.
Speaker 1: Yeah, would you say that's been the biggest challenge since
Speaker 1: getting diagnosed or if there've been other things we were like, Wow,
Speaker 1: I would never had to consider this before getting diagnosed
Speaker 1: with type one.
Speaker 4: Now, But like, just assumptions around diabetes as well just hard.
Speaker 4: You just people don't know, but they don't know, but
Speaker 4: they know them as much as you knew before something.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what have been some of those assumptions.
Speaker 4: That I cause it?
Speaker 1: How do you like REBUTTAL like talk back to those
Speaker 1: people who have those misconceptions.
Speaker 4: I just kind of joke about it, but I don't really. Yeah,
Speaker 4: people take it really seriously, but I just it just
Speaker 4: does what it is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I love it. You're talking about it with
Speaker 2: a smell.
Speaker 3: So, what what does life look like for you now?
Speaker 3: So how do you monitor your blood sugar levels? Like, well,
Speaker 3: what goes into your life as a person living with
Speaker 3: type one diabetes? You know?
Speaker 4: So, I'm on a dix com G seven sounds cool
Speaker 4: type things, continuous glucose monitor. It continually test my blood
Speaker 4: sugar and then it talks to my pump and I
Speaker 4: have a pump. It's a tea slim and it does
Speaker 4: the calculations and stuff cool boluses for me. And then
Speaker 4: whenever I put the numbers in on how much cabs
Speaker 4: I'm eating and then yo.
Speaker 3: Wow, so much management. Yea, I am too immature to
Speaker 3: dealing with.
Speaker 1: We've heard kind of some of the misconceptions even about
Speaker 1: type one being something that you can prevent now, but
Speaker 1: we know now thanks to that you can it cannot
Speaker 1: be printed. What are some of the other myths that
Speaker 1: maybe you've come across, especially in your type two diabetes education,
Speaker 1: that you would like to bust now.
Speaker 6: So, one of the.
Speaker 5: Things that I have heard most from the people in
Speaker 5: the community when I'm up there is that it's a
Speaker 5: fit person disease. You know, you're fat and lazy, you
Speaker 5: you know you have diabetes. Yeah, and it's one of
Speaker 5: the things that I wanted to say now that it's
Speaker 5: not a fat person disease.
Speaker 6: Anyone can get type two type one diabetes.
Speaker 5: Yeah, no one chooses. No one chooses to have diabetes.
Speaker 5: And weight as just being overweight is just one of
Speaker 5: the risk factors. There's more to it than you know,
Speaker 5: just being overweight. So yeah, so that's one of the
Speaker 5: things that I wanted to say here. It's not a
Speaker 5: fat person disease. Even active in slim people, they develop
Speaker 5: diabetes too, so yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. And also what type one diabetes. The most
Speaker 1: that I've heard about it is that it's not preventable,
Speaker 1: but also is there is it true that you're not
Speaker 1: you don't necessarily have to be born with it, like
Speaker 1: you could develop it later in life.
Speaker 5: Yes, it can develop at any ages. Some people they
Speaker 5: are born with it. It can develop at any ages.
Speaker 5: So yeah. And as I've said before, anything in course,
Speaker 5: think intriguer type one diabetes.
Speaker 1: And are the symptoms between type one and type two
Speaker 1: the same or.
Speaker 5: Are they very very similar? So for type two diabetes,
Speaker 5: as Milan was saying, peeing a lot is one of
Speaker 5: the common symptoms, feeling thirsty most of the time, blood vision,
Speaker 5: if you have a wound on your body or sore,
Speaker 5: it's hard to heal. So that's also one of the
Speaker 5: common symptoms. Unexplainable weight loss for type one diabetes. People
Speaker 5: just losing weight without drying.
Speaker 4: Can you relate to that, Oh no, I just got them, friend,
Speaker 4: they got super skinny and then they got diagnosed.
Speaker 5: So unexplainable weight loss as one of the common symptoms
Speaker 5: for type one diabetes.
Speaker 6: But those other symptoms, wow.
Speaker 3: So a point that we raised earlier there is that misconception, ay,
Speaker 3: that type one diabetes, you didn't cause it, that type
Speaker 3: two diabetes over eight adulge to your fault. It's are
Speaker 3: your fault not moving around enough? But when clearly in
Speaker 3: the sullen one that we're having right now, the symptoms
Speaker 3: are quite similar and it's just quite hard to tell.
Speaker 3: Like there are, as you say, Ileana, a lot of
Speaker 3: risk factors associated with all types of diabetes.
Speaker 6: That so risk factors it would be your family history.
Speaker 5: So if you have someone in your family or a
Speaker 5: plant relative with the condition, it increases your risk. Often
Speaker 5: people when I'm out in the community doing education, they're like,
Speaker 5: who guess I'm going to have it because Nana has
Speaker 5: got it.
Speaker 6: Yeah, well mom has got.
Speaker 1: It, almost like it's inevitable.
Speaker 5: Yeah yeah, But I say to them, that's just one
Speaker 5: of the risk factors. You can there are other things
Speaker 5: that you know and you can you can prevent. You
Speaker 5: can do something to prevent it or do something to
Speaker 5: delay it's development. So yeah, so family history, unhealthy as
Speaker 5: I've said four, type two diabetes, unhealthy weight, unhealthy eating,
Speaker 5: and being not being physically active. Those are the risk
Speaker 5: factors that you can change. But the ones that you
Speaker 5: can't change as your family history, the ethnic group that
Speaker 5: you belong to, So if you belong to Mali specific
Speaker 5: or South Asian especially India, it increases your risk. And
Speaker 5: I guess it's to do with the lifestyle that we
Speaker 5: are in the food that we eat to So the
Speaker 5: ethnic group that you belong to, your age, so your
Speaker 5: risk of developing diabetes, especially type two diabetes increases as
Speaker 5: you are getting older. And also if you've had diabetes
Speaker 5: during pregnancy or women who have delivered a big baby
Speaker 5: over four cages or nine pounds, wow, they also increases
Speaker 5: their risk of developing type two diabetes and high blood
Speaker 5: pressure a high cholesterol. If they have those two conditions,
Speaker 5: they're most likely to develop it. But as I've said,
Speaker 5: you know you can still you still can do something
Speaker 5: to prevent it or delay it's development.
Speaker 3: Okay, I mean I want to bring you back and
Speaker 3: now how have your final come into total care or
Speaker 3: support you now that you've had this diabetes diagnosis.
Speaker 4: Ah. So I had a lot of family. They're freaked
Speaker 4: out when I got a diagnosis Dad, mom, my aunties
Speaker 4: and uncles. It was a surprise. It was actually funny
Speaker 4: because my my younger brother got type one as well
Speaker 4: a few months later. It's not common, but yeah, we
Speaker 4: had to change a lot of food things, just having
Speaker 4: sweet things in the house, isn't you know, high sugar things,
Speaker 4: because it's hard to manage those things, especially when you
Speaker 4: got two teenagers apparently. Ye oh yeah yeah. Food's changed also,
Speaker 4: like awareness as well, especially with like whenever I go
Speaker 4: to my aunties or my cousin's houses, they were like
Speaker 4: making sure that the food is good in this low
Speaker 4: carp lower cap then.
Speaker 3: But yeah, what are the discussions like between you and
Speaker 3: your little brother?
Speaker 4: Ah nah, we talk to be honest, there's a joke
Speaker 4: between us it's like, gee, if you've done your insolent
Speaker 4: your number now, it's just it's yeah, it's it's kind
Speaker 4: of funny, it's nice.
Speaker 3: Oh, it's great that you guys have each other to
Speaker 3: support through the journey.
Speaker 4: A yeah, it helps.
Speaker 3: And I assume now that you're a few years into
Speaker 3: your diagnosis state, everything's all good. You've adjusted to this
Speaker 3: way of living. It's just small little adjustments that you
Speaker 3: make here and there.
Speaker 4: Right, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's yeah c GM, random
Speaker 4: stuff like that, but yeah, small changes.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: How long did it take you to get used to
Speaker 2: your gx.
Speaker 3: ME.
Speaker 4: I don't know, a few months, because once it becomes life,
Speaker 4: it just becomes.
Speaker 3: Like absolutely worries for the rest of your days.
Speaker 1: And what about you, eleanor what are some of the
Speaker 1: ways that you have heard have been helpful to those who.
Speaker 6: Have been diagnosed with diabetes? I kids for.
Speaker 5: Uh people with diabetes, they need love, they need confession
Speaker 5: less judgment, and they need the support. It's already hard
Speaker 5: enough living with condition, let alone being blamed and shamed
Speaker 5: for something that they didn't choose to have.
Speaker 6: So yeah, to support.
Speaker 5: I think it is important that people out there, if
Speaker 5: they know someone who live with diabetes, show love and
Speaker 5: kindness and learn about diabetes, really learn about diabetes, and yeah,
Speaker 5: just show support.
Speaker 3: Yeah, those are great words of advice. Eleiana. And because
Speaker 3: you know this podcast is Maldi pacific Focus, I want
Speaker 3: to encourage you fans, if you're listening right now, go
Speaker 3: and get yourself checked. And you know the stats aren't
Speaker 3: good for Maldi and Pacifica and we know that the
Speaker 3: scene as it stands, there's a lot of judgment around
Speaker 3: and you know, we have been trying to debunk these
Speaker 3: myths and for you to go out and just have
Speaker 3: an awareness of what's happening. If you have diabetic family members,
Speaker 3: have a talk to them, what's life like for them,
Speaker 3: Try and learn from the way that they live, and
Speaker 3: then maybe that can inform your own understanding of how
Speaker 3: diabetes works. And the main copappa is we're trying to
Speaker 3: prevent this. We're not trying to come in at an
Speaker 3: intervention stage. We're trying to come and wait before anything happens,
Speaker 3: so you have a happier, longer and a bit of
Speaker 3: fulfilling life.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, so where can people go and get tested?
Speaker 5: So we have a mobile vein and talked to you
Speaker 5: guys about but they can just go and talk to
Speaker 5: their family doctor and they can get a blood test
Speaker 5: done at laid Test. But if they don't want to
Speaker 5: go and see the doctor, we have our mobile win
Speaker 5: calendar on our Diabetes New Zealand websites for every month,
Speaker 5: so they will find out the locations that our vein
Speaker 5: will be that particular week and they can just come
Speaker 5: and visit us. It's free, free, and then we can
Speaker 5: do the HBO test, which is the test that they
Speaker 5: used to diagnose people with diabetes and it measures the
Speaker 5: average of their bloochica level over the last three months.
Speaker 1: And how long would a test like that take?
Speaker 6: Seven to ten minutes in your result right there very first?
Speaker 3: Yeah, easy, Yeah. My papa has type two diabetes, so
Speaker 3: he's always chicking his blood sugar and he always has
Speaker 3: fruit handy around the house, like a banana or an apple,
Speaker 3: and like he waits until a certain time to teste
Speaker 3: himself and then I'll see him like on a night
Speaker 3: that the blood sugar hasn't looked so well, and then
Speaker 3: he's got like a banana peal and then there is
Speaker 3: like a ton of corn beer and like having a
Speaker 3: whole feast for himself to try and get that those
Speaker 3: levels up. And I always used to buzz out at
Speaker 3: the testing device that he uses, because you need to
Speaker 3: prick yourself to take a blood sample, and then you
Speaker 3: put it in this little machine and this man with age,
Speaker 3: you know, you just lose a weirdness of what's happening.
Speaker 3: And so you'll see those little you know, those little
Speaker 3: things that you put the blood on. Yes, you just
Speaker 3: see them all over the house. Yes, so.
Speaker 2: That's that's your experience of Yes.
Speaker 3: But we loved. What are your words of advice for
Speaker 3: any Malori Pacific young people, because that's who we're talking
Speaker 3: to on island roots upland ways, what are your words
Speaker 3: of advice for our final out there who might be
Speaker 3: dealing with any type.
Speaker 4: Wow, this is personally. I put everything in a poem
Speaker 4: and I just write it out and then when I
Speaker 4: performed that poem, it gives me like a feeling of relief,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean. Just get that that feeling.
Speaker 4: Don't pile it up inside, just get it.
Speaker 3: Out, you know.
Speaker 1: Nice, So creative out lits really important. How did you
Speaker 1: find poetry as like your creative out lit?
Speaker 4: So? I did this thing called many cord it or
Speaker 4: I did money spoke for my school and it was
Speaker 4: all restricted and I was just like the way they
Speaker 4: you couldn't write what you wanted to write. So then
Speaker 4: our school, I found we also had a spoken word program,
Speaker 4: So I just showed up. And then you just write
Speaker 4: what you write and it's it's not hate speech, but
Speaker 4: you just put everything on into a doc you know,
Speaker 4: or like a notes or like a piece of paper,
Speaker 4: and then you perform that. And when you perform and
Speaker 4: it gives you like like you know, like you have
Speaker 4: a thing you want to get out of that poem
Speaker 4: and poetry helped you get out of it. Did you
Speaker 4: get out of the idea of this?
Speaker 1: Mayors used to be a slam poet?
Speaker 3: Can you that's what we do in poetry?
Speaker 2: Can you speak to that experience?
Speaker 3: Did you do with the front Line?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Last year? What year did you last year? Well we
Speaker 3: didn't take we got to the series of with the
Speaker 3: front Line, But you did win one, right I wan? Oh? Yes,
Speaker 3: I won another composition. It's called Storytellers and that year thirteen,
Speaker 3: and my piece was on bully. Oh this is taking
Speaker 3: me back to high school, like creative out money? Did
Speaker 3: you do thet did they still do that?
Speaker 4: Yeah, we did that. We did our treat. I'm not
Speaker 4: it's not called the retreat. It's got something else, but
Speaker 4: yeah we did it.
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, it'scored something along those lines. And yeah, I
Speaker 3: love poetry as a creative outlets. So I understand me
Speaker 3: Land that you have a slam one that you want
Speaker 3: to share right now, diabetes. I reckon, we're really I
Speaker 3: think we're really the radio some that we can't say
Speaker 3: on a Sunday, but when you're ready, you can take away.
Speaker 3: We'd love to hear it.
Speaker 4: I've always been a Pacific Maldi boy. My culture, just
Speaker 4: like my thoughts, spread out in all different directions, connected
Speaker 4: by the ocean. People like me. I won't even lie
Speaker 4: like raw fish and Rugby League, but Netflix with R
Speaker 4: and B blasting in the background. If my life was
Speaker 4: an R and B record, if my life is, my
Speaker 4: life is like an R and B record on repeat.
Speaker 4: The only thing I love more is Oh, that's right. Food.
Speaker 4: From the very first moment when Nest taking cheese pie,
Speaker 4: h's my taste buds, the flavor swirling on my tongue
Speaker 4: and chanced by the textures and the aromas of every bite.
Speaker 4: Man I love food, and you know what, that wouldn't
Speaker 4: be a problem if I didn't have a non functional
Speaker 4: pancreas unable to cope with the sweetness that courses through
Speaker 4: these veins. So most days I have to do it myself.
Speaker 4: So why am I always being slot in with the
Speaker 4: people who sit at home doing nothing? Is it because
Speaker 4: I'm a little bigger than others? This stereotype that since
Speaker 4: I'm fat and round, this is more likely to be
Speaker 4: self inflicted? Self inflicted even if it wasn't. I don't
Speaker 4: need your opinion the freedom we lose when that doctor
Speaker 4: walks in diagnosing our condition. Nah, problems we have to
Speaker 4: live with to the day we draw that last breath.
Speaker 4: When I was diagnosed, I was told that everything would
Speaker 4: be the same besides a few injections, and how where
Speaker 4: we are we need to be of my body. I
Speaker 4: was never told about all the assumptions that will be
Speaker 4: placed on me by faceless people that surround me. Media
Speaker 4: stereotype in my condition, forming false opinions of these issues.
Speaker 4: Every diabetic must be fat the fault they're in this mess. Well, actually,
Speaker 4: scuff you. This crap is hereditary, like the color of
Speaker 4: your eyes or your skins. How is this any different
Speaker 4: than your receding hairline or you're in large nose looking
Speaker 4: it tough into other people's businesses. But since I'm like
Speaker 4: this brown skin, long hair with the deep past, it
Speaker 4: leads to your misconception that I have always been a diabetic.
Speaker 4: But see, because I was never born like this. So
Speaker 4: when being told that these issues may have been my
Speaker 4: fault makes me feel less of the man I once
Speaker 4: was or never got to be, because when all you
Speaker 4: know is that takeout is bad and that vegetables are good,
Speaker 4: it's how to process. The genetics have an effect on
Speaker 4: the way your life is going to turn out, sprawling
Speaker 4: out out of control around this roundabout we call adolescence,
Speaker 4: calling it a burnt out, burned out, ran out of wax,
Speaker 4: or really time before my pancage shut down. So maybe
Speaker 4: sometimes it's enough to make a boy lose his appetite,
Speaker 4: second guessing all the foods he finds enjoyable. Somethink that
Speaker 4: we was to stain my hunger no longer reliable, a
Speaker 4: burden I carry everywhere I go. So do you know
Speaker 4: what it's like to food down your throat with tears
Speaker 4: forming it your eyes to wash away. The pain. Only
Speaker 4: problem is tears or wash away, the pain of needles
Speaker 4: being latched onto your stomach, tea sipped into your pancreas,
Speaker 4: and every bite only ever eat away. Myself thought of
Speaker 4: unfulfilled rummage to what my kid wishing it was all
Speaker 4: a dream, restless nights from waking up so weak, unable
Speaker 4: to move, hoping that someone will save me from my coma.
Speaker 4: Grateful that someone did, but still wondering whatever better, just
Speaker 4: to let myself go. And when that starts, you begin
Speaker 4: to ask yourself, when will this pain start? When will
Speaker 4: I be able to stop lying to myself and accept
Speaker 4: the burden. So sticks and stones may break my bones,
Speaker 4: but your words will forever scar me, and I'll wear
Speaker 4: those scars and bruises like a patch eternally etched into
Speaker 4: my back, reminding me of the life I live. Diabetic, Sorry,
Speaker 4: I am not a diabetic. I have diabetes.
Speaker 3: It is not who I am.
Speaker 4: It is a part of me. It does not define
Speaker 4: the quality of my character. So next time you want
Speaker 4: to binge Netflix or smash down some raw fish, hollor
Speaker 4: be lave you all those conceptions at the door, because
Speaker 4: there ain't no room in this group chat for this
Speaker 4: respect sorry, wow.
Speaker 3: Wow wow wow.
Speaker 1: What now I see is this beautiful happy disposition where
Speaker 1: you can put.
Speaker 2: All his feelings.
Speaker 3: So we're going to check that up on our Instagram.
Speaker 3: So you can go to Island Roots Auckland Ways on
Speaker 3: Instagram and TikTok if you want to peep there. So
Speaker 3: we're going to move on now, Milan Eleana to a
Speaker 3: little rapid Fire, a little rapid fire game to wrap
Speaker 3: up the episode. Someone's coming up, as we mentioned at
Speaker 3: the start, and we just want to ask you what
Speaker 3: is your ideal summer? So in a dream universe, what
Speaker 3: would you be doing the summer? Coming up? Alyssa, it's
Speaker 3: see someone summer girl herself.
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, that is what I'm doing. I'm going to
Speaker 1: some More for a good part of summer. Will be
Speaker 1: my first time back home in over fifteen years, so
Speaker 1: I'm so excited to spend basically a whole month, and
Speaker 1: I'm taking my dad with me, probably his final trip
Speaker 1: back home, so it'd be really special. We're planning to
Speaker 1: go to all the places he grew he grew up in,
Speaker 1: go to all the villagers, maybe.
Speaker 2: Get a what's dot with? But I'm so excited. I
Speaker 2: think that's my ideal summer.
Speaker 3: Oh, you can't be an island summer, I'm sorry. Apart
Speaker 3: from the whole typhoon season, maybe not during the that's okay.
Speaker 3: My dream summer is one spent not working. Actually, so
Speaker 3: I can't wait to spend three weeks just out of office.
Speaker 3: My favorite part of taking a holiday is when you
Speaker 3: go into Microsoft Outlook and turn on your I love
Speaker 3: writing that. I'm like, I hope this email finds you. Well,
Speaker 3: I am unfortunately not working until I won't have access
Speaker 3: to my emails during this time.
Speaker 1: That's my favorite thing to see.
Speaker 3: So that's my dream summer, one way out of office
Speaker 3: emails off. How about you guys.
Speaker 6: So this summer for me, I'll be heading to Fiji.
Speaker 6: Yeah I am.
Speaker 5: Well, I'm tongueing it, but I'm called a Fijian. So
Speaker 5: my date's mum is Fijian and we have a family
Speaker 5: reunion and it's a village called in the Loo Lou group.
Speaker 5: So yeah, so I'll be there for in Fiji for
Speaker 5: three weeks.
Speaker 1: Sonny. Yeah, when was the last time you went to Fiji?
Speaker 6: February this year?
Speaker 2: Okay?
Speaker 3: Oh, yes, how timely that record? This podcast on Fijian
Speaker 3: language at the top of So, how about you, Milan,
Speaker 3: what's your ideal summer school holidays?
Speaker 4: So my ideal holidays was staying at home and going swimming.
Speaker 4: But the summer I'll be training for nationals. What come
Speaker 4: with friends?
Speaker 3: I also did. I feel like there's so many parallels
Speaker 3: in our journey and that's what I'm releasing as we pedalful.
Speaker 4: Pedelful toma o CC. This is gonna be fun. We're
Speaker 4: gonna train. Wow.
Speaker 3: With that said me, lan Iliana, thank you so much
Speaker 3: for joining us on Island Roots, upland Ways this week.
Speaker 3: And we're all about debunking the myths that come with diabetes.
Speaker 3: And you can uh take a quiz. It's all about
Speaker 3: learning the risk of diabetes. It's called the Know You're Quiz.
Speaker 3: You can take that diabetes dot org, dot inz slash
Speaker 3: no dash your dash risk as nice.
Speaker 1: We will be heading over online to take that. Thank
Speaker 1: you guys so much for joining us, for your beautiful slam, poetry, sunning,
Speaker 1: and for your amazing knowledge. We're so grateful.
Speaker 3: Bye, Thank you cheer and that is iral for this week.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 2: Thank you guys so much for joining us.
Speaker 1: Are we allowed to announce that this is our second
Speaker 1: to last episode? I think we are girls second to
Speaker 1: last episode, So you've got a week to prepare for
Speaker 1: our last episode now gives your tissues ready, get your own,
Speaker 1: I don't know, get your blankets, and you're ready for
Speaker 1: next week. We ne're gonna cozy up with us for
Speaker 1: the last time.
Speaker 2: But thank you so much to me Lan.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much to Iliana for your time today,
Speaker 1: for your corded Orf, for your male tooldunger and as always,
Speaker 1: you can find us on the socials, Instagram, TikTok at
Speaker 1: Island Roots, orkand ways. I'd love for you to come
Speaker 1: and say hi to me because it is me running
Speaker 1: the socials, and I will be honest, I've been slacking
Speaker 1: on the TikTok, so if you could come say hi
Speaker 1: to me on TikTok, maybe I'll be more motivated to
Speaker 1: post on there.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much, we are to hear.
Speaker 3: Bye bye,