Finalist in the 2024 NZ Radio & Podcast Awards, join us in amplifying the unheard voices from our communities. Liya, the Coordinator, lead host, producer & creator of The Blackhouse 106.1 FM, launched the project in June 2020. She works alongside a very fluid group of young African heritage people based in Wellington, who contribute when and where they can. Born in Hunterville, in the 60s in Aot
earoa, to a Tanzanian father and Pakeha mother, she was a single mother at 21, has two sons, & is also an empath & neurodiverse, discovered only after decades of misdiagnoses. Bullet Points:
Liya's father was among the first Africans to come to New Zealand in 1961, under the Special Commonwealth African Assistance Plan (SCAAP) which ran from 1960 to the early 1970s. That was a time there were hundreds of African students in NZ universities up and down the country. Due to the racial attitudes & policies in NZ in at that time, her father was deported when Liya was around 1-2 years old. However, an educator himself, always maintained regular contact through letters, to maternal grandparents where she she resided till she was 5 years old. Today Liya maintains a close connection with her paternal side of the family and has travelled to Tanzania, and remained there for sometime. Liya’s earliest activism in 1988 involved organizing a container shipment of books for her father’s school library project in Tanzania. Which reached its destination posthumously. Growing up mainly around Pasifika and Māori communities. She secured a part time role in 1989 at the New Plymouth Woman's Center and learnt & practiced youth counselling, and got more involved with Maori community in Taranaki. In 1995 she moved to Wellington region, & in 1997 she served as secretary of the African Association of NZ and organised the African Association Newsletter. She was pivotal in establishing the first African Children's Playgroup 1997, recognized as a pioneering initiative by the government. She also held an executive position on the African Communities Council of Wellington 2021. She was the first person of African heritage to address the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historic Abuse in State Care, highlighting her experiences of an unsupported childhood in NZ. She also experienced extreme neglect and homelessness as a child. From 1996 to 2006, she supported and advocated on behalf of individuals facing legal challenges, difficulties with government departments, health services, and often provided temporary accommodation. An alumnus of Victoria University with a BA in Anthropology and Sociology, Liya combines her academic background, activism, experience in broadcasting, journalism, (a published Broadsheet writer). The Blackhouse was also finalist in the NZ Radio & Podcast Awards 2024 which is a testament to the great flexible team & people who have gotten involved over the last 4 years. As one of the oldest SCAAP scholar children in Aotearoa, she advocates for the inclusion of African SCAAP students to be recognised as part of the story of African peoples in Aotearoa, also the recognition of African NZ/African Heritage People of Aotearoa on the NZ census to counteract the marginalization here. She plans to author a book of her journey one day. Liya and The Blackhouse also are proud to support Africa Connection Aotearoa and the Kiswahili Language Workshop created by Wanjiku Kiarie.
