In Their Own Words: Akiva McBirney-Griffin
Jordan Kehoe
11/15/2022
I was born and raised in Hamilton, New Zealand about 10 thousand kilometers away from here. My mother is one of 11 siblings in a blended family, she is of Samoan descent. My father is one of six children in a blended family, he has Cook Island Maori descent. I am one of nine siblings in a blended family. Pacific Islanders are big on family, the bigger the better. My family is proof of that. Many Pacific Island people migrated to New Zealand to fill the labour shortage in the 70's and 80's. Both sides of my family were part of that wave of immigration, venturing to New Zealand for the dream of 'milk and honey'. They wanted to earn money, educate their children, and wanted their families to flourish in their new found land.
My mother got pregnant with me in her last year of high school. She was 16. I was born a month after her final exams. She refused to become another statistic, a brown teenage mum living on social welfare. She wanted to provide me and eventually my siblings with a better life. She worked extremely hard to balance the demands of being a single mother whilst ensuring that she gained a tertiary education with a Bachelor of Social Sciences and then a Masters in Indigenous Leadership. She worked hard to provide food for us, clothe us, put us through good schooling, and pay for all our extra-curricular activities.
There were definitely times where it was hard to put food on the table, where we only had a crust of stale bread left until next pay day, or where we ate noodles for two weeks straight. There were times she would have to borrow money to make sure that our utilities wouldn’t get disconnected. There were times where she would work four jobs just to get by. As the eldest of the family, I had to take on a lot of responsibility. I did a lot of babysitting so she could go away and work, I learned to drive really young so I could take my siblings to school and sports, and learned at a young age how to run a household (cook, clean, care for children, etc.) just so I could help my mum out.
As kids we were sheltered from how dire the struggle really was. Our home was always full of laughter (also a Pacific Island trait!) and people. I was fortunate to have such a supportive basketball whanau (family). Through my school and rep basketball community I was always fed, families always helped transport me to games and tournaments when my mum was working, people would buy me basketball shoes so that I could play, and my school contributed to my New Zealand representative costs. I am forever grateful to the 43, St Johns College, Waikato, HoopNation and New Zealand basketball families for always having my back.
Coming to UCI was a dream come true. I am the first of my siblings to begin tertiary study. I am the fruits of my great grandparent's labour, I am the example of the ‘milk and honey’ dream. I get to play elite basketball, and there is no financial strain on my family for me to get a degree. I am setting an example for my younger siblings, that if you do the mahi (hard work) you get the treats, and hopefully I inspire young Pacific Island ballers, children of single parents and those in lower socio-economic areas that their dreams can come true. They can live their dream just like I am.
