CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
South Auckland may just be the most dangerous place on planet earth.
That’s according to guys from South Auckland.
Otahuhu local, Desmond (25), is one of those guys.
As a man born and raised in the geographical region that makes up the Southern half of the largest city in New Zealand, Desmond has a different perspective.
He says you have to see South Auckland to believe how dangerous it is. And that will probably never happen, because anyone who is not from there wouldn’t go there, because the only reason you’d go there is if you were from there.
“Bro” he says.
“Like it wus rilly bed when we were young. And, like, it usn’t much bitter now bro”
Much like Western Sydney and Brisbane’s Logan City, South Auckland was largely a farming area until the 1950s – before the famous southern motorway to Wiri encouraged industry and low-cost housing to start popping up in the region.
And like most low-socio-economic industrial suburbs, South Auckland has had it’s own problems with gangs and street violence.
But according to Desmond, and anyone else who ever ‘got out’ of South Auckland – their idea of a ‘problem’ is way worse than anyone else could ever know.
In fact, judging by this warts-and-all description of the life and times of South Auckland, it sounds like their economic disadvantaged multicultural community might even be more worse than the coastline that runs alongside the Gulf of Aden in North-East Somalia – an autonomous zone that is most commonly accepted as the most dangerous place in the world.
With daily kidnappings, terrorism, and car bombs – commercial aircrafts cannot fly above the Bari region of Somalia. Freight ships also avoid the nearby waters due to extreme levels of ultraviolent piracy.
Des says this just sounds like your average day on Atkinson Avenue, in that treacherous parcel of land between Manukau Harbour and the Tāmaki River.
“Aussies ispishually don’t git it bro” he says
“It’s diffirint beck home”
