Different churches but one religion – basketball

Owairaka, with its bare lawns and brave palms dotting row upon row of state housing, is the closest thing Auckland has to a ghetto, says geographer Ward Friesen.

Not that he uses that word. Friesen prefers to talk aboutethnic "clusters".

In a matter of kilometres stretching between Stoddard Rd and Mt Albert Rd in Owairaka and Mt Roskill, families of Somalis, Afghans and Ethiopians who have escaped civil war co-exist with thousands of Pacific Islanders and Maori.

But it seems that among the youth, at least, people get along.

"One of my best friends is a Somali," volunteers 11-year-old Joseph Mati, who is Samoan.

He's talking about fellow basketball fan Jamal Mohamed. They met in class and think the other is funny. Jamal is Muslim, Joseph is Catholic, they both love the LA Lakers and have little to say about issues of ethnic differences. They don't care about such things; they are simply mates.

But three years ago, the suburb known by some as The Bronx hit the headlines when Tongan man Elikena Inia died after being stabbed during an altercation with a group of Somali men on McGehan Close.

Whispers of tensions between different ethnicities have since tainted the area. But despite its volatile potential, the murder remains a hearteningly lonely statistic in Owairaka's seriouscrime record.

"It was one of those situations where tempers get lost. It was a sudden flare-up," says Senior Sergeant Mike MacDonald, who has policed Mt Roskill for years.

Community worker Nick Tuatasi, who was assigned to the role of ethnic liaison officer in the area after the incident, agrees.

"There is no 'them and us' so much any more."

The African communities are well-behaved, says Tuatasi - he knows of only one boy currently under the watchful eye of the authorities for minor crimes. He is realistic though, wondering whether that just means many are flying under the radar.

He has also sensed a burgeoning power struggle within the African communities themselves.

"I've got a feeling that some of the things they've escaped from are finding their way here."

There will always be the possibility relations between the Polynesians and Africans will bubble over, says Samoan community spokesman Tafa Mulitalo.

He also hears Pacific Islanders grumbling about the number of Asians and Indians. "I think there's a tension building up and there's the potential that this couldhappen again."

Older residents talk of an uneasy tolerance.

"We have different beliefs and different ways. It is better that we keep separate," says a Pacific Islander who only wants to be known as Tasi.

However, Tuatasi believes time will further dilute geographical and cultural barriers. It is already slowly changing, he says.

"Hey, New Zealand is a country of apathy," he jokes. "The [African kids] will be as lax as we are soon."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY