#56 Dr Timoti Te Moke: From Gangs & Prison to Becoming a Doctor at 56
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
From gangs, prison, childhood trauma, to becoming a doctor at 56. Dr. Timothy Temoke. By the time I turn 14, I am broken, man. I've stopped going to school. I'm hanging out on the streets. This is just a crazy story that is so inspiring and so important. South Auckland needs to see brown-skinned doctors, bro. They need to see Māori and Pasifika doctors. I mean, the story had so many... It was like this, you know. And all these, I like the way he shared it, all these little things that happened gained this momentum and all ended up to where he is today.
All my traits that helped me thrive and survive today have come from a very, very dark place.
I think what this story is a great reminder of, no matter what you've been through, all of the struggles, all of the trials and tribulations, all of the times you've been knocked down, you can use all of those things as fuel and as tools to push you through to help you to become successful. But hey, I've survived this childhood. I can survive anything. A truly inspiring story that must be heard by everyone. Please don't forget to like, share and subscribe. Dr Timothy Temoke. Enjoy. This podcast is made by the amazing team at Fanaticals. They put up with me, so they're pretty epic. Dr. Timothy Temoke. Kia ora. How's it going, my brother? Yeah, pretty good, my bro. How about you? Yeah, good, man. It's funny how we need to start sitting in this chair as soon as we arrive, because as soon as we arrive, we start talking, but now it's all off camera.
You're a really inspiring story, bro. Thank you, bro. Can you talk about growing up for you, bro?
I was born in Whakatane Hospital in part Māori, part Tongan. I don't know my dad. My father was Tongan. My mother was Māori. They separated before I was born. Now, my mum, she was part of the urban push for Māori as they were pushed to come up to the cities to work. Yeah. And so she come up here and she got caught up in the bright lights in the far city and that. She got happy. She got pregnant. She come home. Now, she wasn't ready to be a mum, and so she gave me to my grandparents. It's called whāngai. Very, very common in Māori cultures for one family member to raise another as their own. So I was whāngai to my koro, and I was born with the name Te Moke. That's my koro's name. And I was born with Timothy Te Moke.
And I was raised by my grandparents, man. They were amazing, bro. They were amazing. The love and support they gave me was unbelievable. I 100% believe my ability to show compassion today is a direct result of their input, yeah? Yeah. But then when I turned six, my mum decided to take me back. And by this time, she'd married this guy by the name of Morrison. But because I'm born Te Moke, bro, I'm legally my grandfather's son. So she took my kōra to court, said that this guy Morrison was my real dad, stuck his name on the birth certificate, and I went from Tim Te Moke to Timothy Morrison to Tim Morrison. And then they uplifted me. And here's where the problems happened, bro. Like they, both of them were very dysfunctional.
And we were living up here in Tamaki in very impoverished areas. And they were just abusing substances, you know. My stepfather just hated me, bro. Yeah. He just couldn't handle me. Every time he saw me, he saw another man and just couldn't handle it. And so he used to beat the shit out of me, bro. I remember, man, I'm eight years old, right? And I'm at home, and I'd hear the car rolling up. Bro, and I'm shaking, man. I'm shaking because I know what's going to happen. He's going to get out of the car, off his face, come into the room, just pull me out of the bed, and just stomp the living shit out of me, bro, and go to sleep. Sometimes, by then, it happened to me three times a week. Who does that to an 18-year-old, right?
The thing is, with that happening, and I'm living in this life of poverty, when I started going to Market Intermediate, for the first six months, my breakfast and lunch depended on whether or not I could pinch a packet of biscuits from the Wickman Way shops.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–5:52
2
How did Timoti's early family situation and whāngai upbringing shape his childhood?
5:52–10:44
3
What forms of childhood abuse and poverty pushed Timoti onto the streets and into gangs?
10:44–15:55
4
How did solvents, peer groups and community conditions drive gang membership in South Auckland?
15:55–21:03
5
What was Timoti's first experience with juvenile institutions and how did it affect him?
21:03–26:59
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Unfiltered with Dave Letele
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