Rupert has compiled 10 insightful and at time’s confronting stories that take us up the driveways and behinds doors of those on the famed Great South Road.
*Watch the full story in the video player below*
When Rupert Mackenzie met Pastor Nela Fifita of the Potter’s house church in Papatoetoe he was about to lead his mostly Pasifika and Māori flock across Great South Road.
The teens, their walk unfolding into a swagger as they congregated in a carpark ready to spread the Potter’s house gospel.
The youth of Potter’s house church took to Great South Road using hip-hop as their weapon to spread their faith, their life experiences in helping them stay the right side of the line in a part of Auckland where the wrong side is only a decision away.
The incredible musicality, the passion, the sheer talent in conveying their message was nothing short of arresting, concert-like, and at times confronting, Mackenzie says.
Great South Road is New Zealand’s longest road, starting in Auckland’s swanky shopping quarter of Newmarket and ending in Ohaupo, Waikato Dairy country.
Used by or home to car dealers, churches, residences, food outlets, farmers, the homeless, street rappers, volunteers, and schools, it is a road that intersects and connects our past, the present, and future.
