Kia ora. Anei te mihi o te Kaihautu Whakawhanaunga a Iwi, mo nga mahi nui, mahi whakamana i te tangata i roto i nga kaupapa Whakawhanaunga a Iwi i Aotearoa.
Here are this month's acknowledgements from the Race Relations Commissioner for positive contributions to cultural diversity and race relations in New Zealand.
For earthquake support, September 2010. There are many stories of community solidarity after the quake in Christchurch, and one brought to our attention was that of members of the Canterbury Refugee Council, who went door-knocking the day the earthquake and personally checked on almost 350 refugee families to see if they were alright. Fortunately and miraculously, only one family (of 9) had their house damaged beyond repair. The Council has since then sought to support refugee families in the aftermath.
The Canterbury Refugee Council's aim is to positively influence outcomes for former refugee communities in Canterbury by providing a strong representative voice and by:
* Advocating on behalf of our communities;
* Facilitating research projects (needs and aspirations);
* Supporting community development;
* Providing an information and data brokerage service;
* Building effective relationships;
* Ensuring effective communication; and
* Enhancing cross cultural acknowledgment and awareness.
They are a constituent of the New Zealand National Refugee Network and recently hosted a forum on challenges facing refugee communities at the New Zealand Diversity Forum in Christchurch.
For more information visit their Facebook page.
For 40 years of community service. The first Citizens Advice Bureau was established at the initiative of Auckland City Council Community Adviser Peter Harwood at the Ponsonby Community Centre in 1970. The now familiar manaia logo was carved by artist Don Solomon.
The centre received early support from then City Councillor Cath Tizard. Voluntary legal services were provided by young Auckland lawyer Anand Satyanand. They both became Governors General and Peter Harwood became a Professor of Social Work, and they were all there (including Don Solomon with the original carved manaia) on 21 September at the Grey Lynn Community Centre to mark the 40th anniversary of CABNZ and to launch a refreshed brand, a new Māori name, a new website and a national electronic database.
The launch of the database followed three years development and training of over 2000 CAB volunteers, and the website enables people to search for advice electronically as well as by contacting their local bureau. Microsoft New Zealand donated over $6 million worth of software licenses to the project, and Westpac New Zealand donated $600,000 worth of computer equipment.
Today, CABNZ operates in over 90 locations, and deals with over 600,000 enquiries a year.
For local fishing guidelines for migrants. Earlier this year the Nelson Multicultural Council approached the local office of the Ministry of Fisheries suggesting they produce local fishing guidelines that would be easy for new migrants to understand. The Ministry responded positively, and put together a simple guide complete with illustrations which has been posted on the Multicultural Council’s website and is now being translated into seven other languages.
Says Nelson Multicultural Council co-ordinator, Evey Mc Auliffe: "Educating our newcomers and visitors in regard to sustainable use of our natural resources is vital for building positive relationships with the locals". "We voiced our concern to the Ministry of Fisheries, they listened and acted upon it, so they deserve recognition for this." We agree.
You can view or download the fishing guidelines online.
For the Inaugural South Canterbury International Festival, September 2010. This festival, held on Sunday 26 September in Timaru, was described by the organisers as “a fusion of ideas” from Pod Fusion (a collective including Volunteer Mid-South Canterbury, the Asthma Society, Women’s Wellness, Literacy South Canterbury and Canterbury Multiple Sclerosis), the Aoraki Multicultural Council, Mountainview High School, Aoraki Polytechnic and the Mountainview Pavillion Trust.
An all day combination of food, dance, art, sports and games, as well as exhibits from participating organisations, the festival represented a unique cooperative venture between a very diverse group of organisations. It celebrated the vibrant cultures of South Canterbury through different "cultural houses" as well as performances, with tickets in the form of "passports" to "see the world on a shoestring". The festival was opened by local MP Jo Goodhew who also sponsored 50 members of the Christchurch refugee community to attend.
Plans are to make the festival an annual event. It just goes to show how New Zealanders in rural and provincial communities are responding creatively and positively to the increased diversity of their communities to the benefit of all.
For “Taste of Japan”, September 2010. The New Zealand Japan Society of Auckland celebrated their 50th anniversary with their biggest ever annual “Taste of Japan” festival at the ASB Show grounds in Greenlane on Saturday 25 September.
The Society was founded in 1960 for the promotion of understanding and goodwill between the people of Japan and New Zealand, the study of Japanese culture, the promotion of relationships and exchanges, extending hospitality to Japanese visitors and providing information for members and others proposing to visit Japan.
Today the society organizes a wide range of activities for its members, including Japanese language classes, conversation nights, social and sporting activities, the Haere Mai Taiko drummers group, a tea ceremony club and the annual Taste of Japan festival. Starting from small beginnings at much smaller venues in earlier years, this year's festival attracted thousands of Aucklanders who enjoyed the cultural performances, art exhibition, tea ceremonies, sake tasting, sushi cooking, and hands-on workshops on origami, shodo, chigiri and kanji as well as a range of very popular Japanese food stalls.
For more information about the Society visit their website.
For the Mangere Refugee Centre garden, 2010. Students from Kristin, an independent and nondenominational Christian school recently designed and built a beautiful new garden at Mangere Refugee Reception Centre as their 2010 Prefect Project.
Every year the Kristin Prefects develop a project that will allow them to give back to the community. The students first held a "Trivia Night" fundraiser called "Around the World in 80 Questions", raising $17,000 for the project.
The new garden includes plaques with the names of all the countries from which New Zealand's refugees have come and the United Nations definition of refugees.
Says Head Boy Lewis Fry, in the latest newsletter from Refugee Services Aotearoa New Zealand, ""The Prefect Project completes a full circle. Excitement and hope of planning, give way to the stress and pressure of creating. Stress and pressure lead to a sense of achievement and fulfilment of finishing. But at the end, personal feelings matter little when you see that the precious commodity of your time and hard work transform into excitement and hope on the faces of those whose lives you made a difference in."
For Pacific Island children homework club. New Coasters was formed to help newcomers settle into the community and support them as they begin their new lives. This can be in the form of introductions, provision of resources and information and also by promoting the multi cultural aspects of our community.
As a result of their engagement with the Pacific Island community regarding ESOL needs, the "homework club" for Pacific Island children was born.
Concerns were raised that children are struggling to keep up with work while learning English due to limited resources. Ireen Manuel, a qualified teacher from the Pacific Island community volunteered her time to teach the children but there were no venue and even resources to help them.
New Coasters approached Cobden School and the result was a free use of classroom. Resources were also provided by New Coasters with the help of Take Note in Greymouth. Over 20 children attend the group at present.
For the Chorus-Kids advertisement, August 2010. Chorus is a part of Telecom New Zealand, but has been established as a completely separate business unit. Its job is to build and maintain Telecom’s copper and fibre network and to make it available to other telecommunications providers.
As part of promoting their role they have been running a series of television advertisements on the theme of "humming along". One of these, Chorus - Kids, promotes the rollout of fibre-optic cable to schools. It was launched in Māori Language Week and ran for several weeks in August. It begins with a powerful whakatauki in te reo Māori.
Aranui High School principal John Rohs commended the advertisement in a column reflecting on Māori Language Week in the Christchurch Press on September 16, noting that it was remarkable because the message is delivered first in te reo Māori, in the rich voice of Temuera Morrison, before its English rendition.
"What is clearly happening is a shift in the thinking of big business, which has the vision to grasp that te reo Maori is an integral part of our New Zealand identity. I've now watched this advertisement four or five times and am enjoying watching and hearing it, knowing it's more than a special effort to acknowledge te reo Maori once a year. Well done to the communications team at Chorus!
"The more we can embrace bilingualism as a country, the greater our cultural richness, our potential for racial harmony and inclusiveness. This is what makes us distinctive as a nation and gives us all something that is uniquely ours, to be proud of. The Chorus advertisement is a wonderful example of an important message that deserves to be conveyed in te reo Maori and in English. Let's hope other business leaders will follow suit."
For Social Justice Week 2010, “Creating Inclusive and Connected Communities”. Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand is the Catholic Church’s agency for justice, peace and development; it is mandated by the New Zealand Bishop’s Conference to work on issues of social justice within New Zealand, as well as internationally.
In September each year, Caritas organises Social Justice Week, during which Catholic schools and parishes focus on a current social issue. For this year's Social Justice Week (from September 12-18) the theme was "creating inclusive and connected communities", and church members were challenged to reflect on how welcoming and inclusive parish communities are.
Resources developed for the week included a "formation booklet" on the theme from the Catholic bishops, a Social Justice Series booklet on "Your People will be My People", a poster, liturgical resources, children's liturgy material, parish youth group material and newsletter notices. School resources were built around a CD-Rom for Years 1-13 called No longer strangers: recognising our cultural diversity.
For Computers in Homes – 100,000 challenge. The 2020 Communications Trust is a registered Charitable Trust established in 1996, initially to fulfill a variety of digital literacy projects and obligations set out under the Wellington City Council’s InfoCity project.
Since then, the Trust's reach has expanded nationally via a number of initiatives - each has a focus on empowering people to use ICT as a pathway to engage more fully in the communities. The programme works via low decile schools, to help families in greatest need to use the internet, email and basic computer skills in their everyday lives, to enhance their performance at school and at work.
'Computers in Homes' is an initiative of the 2020 Communications Trust with support from the Ministry of Education and Department of Internal Affairs. The Trust continually seeks to expand Computers in Homes to all communities where children do not have access to computers and the Internet in their homes.
Since the programme started in 2000 it has supported over 5,000 New Zealand families nationwide with refurbished computers, six months of free internet access, computer training and technical support via their local school. Newly arrived refugee families receive 12 months internet, interpreters, transport and family visitors in recognition of their need for extra support.
There are still an estimated 100,000 New Zealand families with school-aged children who do not have a computer and the Internet at home. In 2009 Computers in Homes launched the '100,000 Challenge' which aims to connect the remaining families without a computer in their homes and encourage digital literacy and competence.
"The announcement in the Government's 2010 budget for 1000 families a year to 2013 has boosted our challenge by allowing us to reach a further 3000 New Zealand families. We applaud the Government for this funding so we can support communities in need to improve their digital literacy and raise their aspirations," says Di Das, National Coordinator CIH, "New areas we can now expand into are Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Opotiki, Ruapehu/King Country and Wairarapa. Our team is eager to begin the rollout immediately."
For the round the world move-a-thon, September 2010. Russley Primary School, established in 1963, is a full primary school in the north-west of Christchurch. On 3 September, the day before the Christchurch earthquake, the school organised a round the world “move-a-thon”. The children walked a 1km circuit and had to get their “passports” stamped along the way.
Classes made flags for each of the ten countries that marked the route. They were also encouraged to wear their national dress, and there were kids dressed in costumes from Thailand, Korea, China, Pakistan and Wales.
When the school reopened after the quake, the celebration of cultural diversity continued with the previously planned promotion of an International Language Week from 13-17 September that culminated in a school assembly at which students performed songs and dances of their country.
For the Diversity Issues website. CACR has recently launched a new website to promote discussion of diversity issues, particularly the report they have produced for the Human Rights Commission on discrimination against Asian New Zealanders. The report, co-authored by CACR graduate student Adrienne Girling and Centre directors Professors James Liu and Colleen Ward, was presented at the New Zealand Diversity Forum in Christchurch in August.
The report was also covered in a two page feature on race relations in the Dominion Post Weekender on 25 September. The website has a link to the report and to videos of speakers at the forum, and invites public discussion on the issues. New material will continue to be added, and people can subscribe to email updates from the site. The pages are hosted by www.issues.co.nz , which is a new website dedicated to the promotion of issues campaigns of any type; social, political, environmental, agricultural, and business.
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