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trinitystudioblog3 · 2 years

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Publication write up

Daneesha Pitolou - lese

HIIII, Im Daneesha (Neesha) “Social butterfly”

I am 20 but turn 21 in December so that's fun! I'm a full blooded Samoan. I was born and raised in Aotearoa, New Zealand with my family of 7, me being the middle child. Oh and we have a dog too his name's Titan who we love and spoil him constantly even though he eats my blankets or whateverrr. I am fortunate to have been surrounded with lots of family growing up as my grandparents were the first to migrate to New Zealand.

After studying music for two years at the University of Auckland I realised that it just wasn't for me but I really wanted to carry on studying. After reflecting on my strengths I came to the conclusion that you know what, I loved Physical education at highschool. This year is my first year of studying a Bachelor of health and sports science and I have loved every moment of it!. With my degree I am wanting to go back to Mcauley High School and teach P.E. The Catholic secondary school for girls, McAuley High School is located in Otahuhu, New Zealand. The Sisters of Mercy established the school in 1962, and they still oversee its operations.

Being samoan there's a lot of things we can't do that are modernised now like crop tops etc . We aren't allowed to wear things that reveal a lot of skin. It's nice to have morals and values to follow but i'm trying to persuade my parents a bit more because of the generation we live in. I love having a culture I can share and teach others with as its nice to be recognised with the beautiful Samoan culture for sure!

Yellow is my colour. I love its brightness and suits my personality being more extraverted and out there. Growing up I always used to wear dark colours but since finding out a bit more about myself it definitely suits me.

Family is EVERYTHING. I grew up with a big family so I'd love to eventually have a big family of my own one day. It's never not quiet in our home and that's something that comforts me. It's always nice to know someones always there. When it comes to my twin it's always nice to always have someone by my side. Naturally we go everywhere together. We are very rarely not together. Sometimes it's weird not having her around. I often don't know what to do.. We are and have been very close with each other. In highschool we were put in the same classes by pure accident. We went to our dean and questioned it to which they replied “we honestly didn’t know you were twins”. We ended up hanging out everyday. Everyone was like “ oh it's the twins” we knew that was gonna stick. Our teachers always used to get us mixed up when talking to us but I guess we were used to it. Then year 11 came around and we were split up in different classes. My twin used to be the quiet and focused one. A lot of the time teachers used to compare us by saying Daneesha why cant you be like your sister. This became demeaning and hurtful. They didn't understand that we are two completely different individuals. Being a twin you realise who you are because of constant comparison. As much as I love my sister, we are different. We have different friends, different personalities and different hearts. If you come to me for advice I will be honest and give a reality check if I have to.

Growing up we shared everything together. Gifts that were the same but different colours and the same with our clothes. When we became older for our birthdays, we were given two separate cards with cash inside. Honestly we both looked at each other in confusion thinking “is this mine or yours?” It definitely became more apparent that as we grew up people understood the importance of giving two separate gifts. Our tacktick is definitely rock paper scissors. Otherwise we end up bickering who gets what. Regardless of what we got we ended up sharing. I think naturally we always just think about each other and look out for one another all the time.

The best thing about being a twin is that constant feeling of having a best friend for life. I really don't know what I'd do without my twin.

Deshaan Pitolou - lese

Undeniably

Hi im Deshaan,

I'm a twin and have a big family who live with me in south Auckland. Family is extremely important to me as growing up they have been my biggest support system and truly don't know what I'd do without them. Growing up in a Samoan family whose traditions and morals that have been installed in us kids has been the best. The culture is beautiful! From our beliefs, morals and traditions there is something so unique about it. Despite not being able to speak the language I try my best to learn as much as I can to not only benefit myself but to teach others and future generations.

I've been studying hard for the past three years completing my bachelors degree in social work in 2023. I honestly can't wait.

I really love to keep myself active and try to work out at home. I've also been going to indoor netball for the past two years which I love! It is super important for me to keep active. I've honestly grown to love it so much.

So my twin and I are polar opposites when it comes to personality. I'm definitely more quiet, whereas my sister is the loud one and super out there. We have different friend groups, yea mutual friends but you can tell when my sisters group is around you can hear them from ages away lol.

Growing up we shared a lot of things from clothes to friends to bedrooms but as we have discovered our identities as individuals, we have found our independence for sure. I am able to express myself menatlly and physically, not being compared like we used to be is a great feeling. I guess due to the stereotypes I used to shield myself away from things my sister used to do at times because I never saw myself doing them as good had impacted me from understanding that it's actually ok to be different from her.

My sister and I will forever and always be super close.Shes my day one. Neesha’s my best friend who I can count on for anything and I wouldn't have it anyother way. She's helped me through so much and for that I'm grateful.

Trinity O’Callaghan

Hey Im Trin!

I have a family of 5, both my parents, an elder brother then my twin and 9 minutes younger ME!

My family is a mix of British, Irish and Welsh but I feel more connected to my Irish roots more than anything. My dad always calls me the little tinker of the family ( devious one) and that I have the Irish crack (humour). I am very proud to be Irish as we appreciate and cherish family a lot. Over the past couple of years I have been trying my best to understand Maori culture. Being a citizen in Aotearoa I feel that its most important that everyone should have knowledge about the country we live in.

I currently study at Auckland University of Technology completing my bachelors of Communications Design. I honestly never saw myself going to uni but here I am and can proudly say this is one of my greatest achievements so far. My love for photography started when my parents bought me a little blue Canon camera for christmas when I was 7 years old. Ever since then, my passion has flourished drastically! My goal in the next 10 years is to be able to work for myself as a professional portrait and people photographer. I love working with people and capturing a story or their story. I definitely do it to make others feel empowered and heard.

I also have a great love and passion for makeup. I've been freelancing since 2016 starting with my friends' ball makeup then progressing into my little side hustle.

So let's talk about my relationship with my twin. Growing up was the best! My dad was a hard worker and provided a lot which meant that my mum was able to look after us kids. We did a lot before school years. Not that I can remember too much but we have old tapes from when we were born. When we started primary my parents were asked whether to split us up into classes which they did so we never really depended on each other in school. We soon found our personalities to which I became extraverted and a bit of a perfectionist whereas my twin was introverted and what goes just goes. We ended up hanging out together in the last years of high school as finding my identity throughout the latter years of school was quite difficult for me. He became the big brother to me and looked after me. One thing I'm very grateful for being a twin is that we always look out for each other no matter what and we are very protective of each other. Since high school he moved out of home and we both have very independent and individual lives but that’s just life. I think being a twin for me is the comfort of someone you can always go too for anything. Someone who has your back no matter what.

Finley O’Callaghan

Hi,

Im Fin,

I've grown up with my family of 5 in a small country pretty much my whole life. Having the freedom to have archers in the backyard to play and explore was what made my childhood. I found a love for the outdoors and getting my hands dirty. These were the days I used to go hunting and fishing with my dad and older brother. My parents house was right by a missive lake which had lots of carp fish. We used to spear hunt these fish as they were a pest to farmland. I honestly feel like we had such a great childhood growing up we just all had lots of freedom. My twin and I never really shared a room which now I think back was a good idea. As we got older it was nice to have our own spaces to relax. Plus I wasn't going to have a pink room. We both just liked our own things. She was a girly girl and I was a boys boy. When it came to birthdays we always shared a party but always separate cakes. That's one thing I'm grateful for as my parents definitely treated us more like individuals than stereotypical twins. They made a big effort in us both when finding our own identities. I think because we are fraternal twins with opposite sex it made it a lot easier for them.

I am now 21 and flatting with my mates. I love the gym and cooking a mean feed. My parents have always said that I just get cooking. For work I am a fencer so its great for fitness and strength. Couldn't be happier in life and how far along ive come since highschool as I felt a bit lost for a while. Something that I think everyone has to go through to make them a better individual.

Where I can see myself in 10 years… I would love to own a decent size lifestyle block with some animals to share with a wife and kids. I'd love to be financially stable with shares in business or have passive income in investment properties.

Being a twin is awesome. To me, I know I have a special connection to someone I love no matter what. It's unique and makes me different to most people.

Lillian Eagan

I'm a 21year old Capricorn with my identical twin Lilly. I was born in South Africa and have lived in Liverpool, England. We moved to New Zealand when we were about 14 and this has been home ever since. I'm currently a student studying a bachelors of nursing and a part time health care assistant in a care home which my mum owns. In my spare time I go to the gym. It took me a little while to get into it but I love it now. Thanks to my sister's motivation. I love being able to maintain and transform my body. Also I love to paint but just because of uni and work i've been so busy i've lost touch with that a bit for sure.

When it comes to culture I'm not as intune with my culture as I'd like. For instance speaking the language is super difficult as we've grown up speaking english. We've kind of forgotten a lot of the Afrikaans language. But we still very much eat south african cuisine. Also I'm grateful we can embrace our hair and create beautiful hairstyles and represent being black in a different country.

I'm definitely very calm and chill compared to my sister. I'm definitely the decision maker. I don't tend to sit and dwell on things. I'm just a doer. I can also be shy or timid when I'm pushed out of my comfort zone but I guess that's pretty normal. One time I didn't want to return something from the tuck shop at school so I used to get Lily to do things like that for me. Social wise or conflict I always had her to do that for me. But now having to work different shifts it pushes me to be my own individual self which is good. Even meeting boys we have different types so it was good to be pushed out of my comfort zone.

In all honesty though, my sister and I are quite alike. We definitely have our differences which is why I can understand why people get us mixed up at times. I guess to sum out my personality now, I'm more understanding, composed and compassionate. I love to help people when I can.

When it came to finding identity, it definitely was a struggle. I think because me and my sister always wore the same outfits it was hard for us both to accept that we came to like different things ie I used to love wearing black and dark colours whereas my sister was the opposite. It took us some time to grasp that we were different as we couldn't understand why she didn't like the same things as me. I think she was a lot more ready to do more things by herself than me for sure!.

We actually receive cards and birthday posts addressed to us both all the time. I don't actually mind though we've had this all our lives. We actually take turns every year who reposts those ones so it's funny to us to be honest.

A little story from when we were born, our mom couldn't tell us apart at all. I have a birthmark on my forehead but at the time it wasnt that visible. I slept all the time while my sister used to cry all the time. My mum didn't realise that so apparently she was only feeding one baby that day! We actually always joke about this now it's become a little family story for the books for sure.

Being a twin means to me is, you have someone who knows every crack, pimple on your body. Someone who understands you more than anyone else. Someone that loves and cares for you endlessly. I wouldn't change it for the world.

Lilly Eagan

I'm 21, born on the 19th of january 2001. I was born and raised with my identical twin by my side. I'm student nurses part time health assistants at our mum's rest home in Hamilton.

It's been quite hard connecting to our culture because we are immigrants who moved to New Zealand when we were 14 and our mom married an irish man, we never really got to speak or learn much about our culture so we don't resonate as much to our culture as we’d probably like. No matter what though, I feel proud to have come from a very different environment to a beautiful country we now call home.

I love going to the gym! I also love to draw portraits, something I haven't found myself doing in a while but I really enjoy doing as it's a relaxation for me. I guess with study and work life we haven't really had much chill time in a while.

My fashion is very much Y2K inspired Love going through my mum's old things and picking up items to wear. I'm like yes I can wear this! Bags, fur jackets, shoes, you name it!

When it comes to personality, me and my sister have a lot in common to be honest. I mean we are best friends. We love a lot of the same things, music, clothes, friends but when it comes to dating boys we are sooo different. I'm a bit of an over-thinker and get frustrated easily whereas she's nicer I guess. It's really nice to meet those people who can tell us apart like that because it's so rare. Even at work they're always just like “Lilly” but dont even bother to really know who is who. We've just gotten so used to it , it doesn't really affect us that much I guess because we both understand that we are so alike and we have so much love for one another.

I think we were ready to be more independent in our teen years. When it came to partying it was nice to go by myself at times because I was recognised as Lilly. I love my sister but I also felt it was nice to experience it by myself. It was because you dont know im a twin or you haven't met her yet.

For me I associate identity with myself right now, at this moment. Also our blackness. When we lived in South Africa, we lived amongst our culture, whereas now living in New Zealand people have made us aware how unique we are. I'm proud of the woman I'm becoming.

My role model in life is definitely my mum. She's such a hard worker and has been through so much. She always gives the best advice whether it is about boys, school or just petty things. She's such an inspiring woman and I'm extremely grateful to be so close to her.

Intro

As we step into life, we learn

from others and the environment around us.

At age of two, we begin to gain a sense of self awareness.

Personalities start to thrive as we take one step at a time to recognise

our own capabilities and individual quirks. We are extremely lucky to have someone to walk into this big wide world with who we call our day ones. This publication is based on the study conducted by myself of individualism within twins. Growing up with a twin, a best friend was the best. We formed an extremely tight bond during the early stages of life. As we started to grow older we often did our own thing and found we were actually quite different. I found coming to terms with the reality of becoming our own self rather difficult when being fed with constant stereotypical judgement. It's been a difficult journey for myself to come to terms and understand the reality of the term twins. From a personal perspective I believe that it should be encouraged more to be self expressive as a twin. To be able to break away from the ‘unit, pair’ fraze and feel empowered that being a twin, yes is part of you but it doesn't define who you are.

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