Akanuanua Podcast: Recent Episodes
Tikilounge Productions
Akanuanua is a series exploring the lived realities of our MVPFAFF Queer Pasifika community. We take an up-close and personal look into the lives of 5 extraordinary Queer Pasifika people. Experiencing the ofa (love) they create, the mafana (warmth) they exude, the malie (humor) they share, and the faka'apa'apa they deserve. All of these elements are woven together to create moving 21st-century stories jumping out to be told, Akanuanua does just that! This year commemorates 50 years of Pride in Tāmaki Makaurau. 50 years on from the start of the Gay Liberation Movement in 1972. Akanuanua is about celebrating how far we have come as a community and where our young people wish to take us.
Welcome to the Akanuanua Podcast! A space to unpack what its like being a part of the ever-evolving MVPFAFF Queer Pasifika community.
The Talanoa is guided by our host, Doron Semu. He is an ‘afakasi Samoan siapo maker, acupuncturist and community advocate raised in Tamaki Makaurau, Aotearoa. His most recent interview with Tagata Pasifika on conversion therapy has opened conversations within the pasifika religious community about the treatment of the LGBTQIA+ community. He has been a guest on podcasts such as ‘A thoughtful faith’ and ‘Malaga’. Over summer, he held community workshops with support with from Rainbow Youth for the queer Pasifika and Maori community.
(Disclaimer: This episode may not be appropriate for younger audiences)
In this episode of Akanuanua our host Doran sits down today with Geoff Ruaine. They talk about living with HIV, sex work, grinder and much more!
In this episode of Akanuanua our host Doran sits down today with Bianca Hope Dawson Puia.
She is a trans woman who, with the support of her family, is undertaking gender-affirming surgery. While at High School, Bianca challenged her school and principal by working with her local MP to allow her and other gender diverse students to wear the school uniform that best reflects their identity. Bianca is breathtaking, bold and brave. She is unapologetically her.
The two talk about Biancas fight to wear the girls uniform in High School, transitioning and so much more!
Meet Kitty Wasasala.
She is a Lesbian actor, activist, florist, and freelancer. Kitty works at the Auckland Central Green Party office and is actively trying to make political spaces Rainbow and POC friendly, as historically, there hasn’t been space for our communities. She is also involved with FILTH, particularly around making the space safe.
Katrina Malisha Aho also known as Hurricane Katrina by her fellow Divas, is a young, brown, trans registered nurse strutting the wards of Auckland City Hospital. Before this, she attended De La Salle College and for all of her years there was part of the school’s legendary fa’afafine collective ‘The Divas’. As confident as a Tongan aunty dancing along to a tau’olunga, Kat’s trans identity forms her success.