Free admission will give you the opportunity to see three first-rate films at the Japanese Film Festival, which begins at the Charles Luney Auditorium, St Margaret’s College, 12 Winchester Street, Merivale, on Wednesday, March 15.
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New Zealanders have an automatic connection to Nepal through the conquest of_ Mt Everest on May 29, 1953, by Sir Edmund Hillary and a Nepali Sherpa, Tenzing. Many Kiwis are also aware of the Gurkha soldiers of Nepalese nationality whose motto is “Better to die than to be a coward.” “The Ghurka were an integral part of UK military and there are even some in the Indian army,” says Binod Parajuli, who talks about many aspects of Nepalese culture, music and news on the Plains FM96 radio programme, Namaste Nepal, every Monday at 8pm, with a repeats on Thursdays.
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My name is Carina, I am a social and cultural anthropologist and I grew up in a very small town in Austria (Ried in der Riedmark, if you want to google it). I have been volunteering in the Canterbury Migrants Centre (CMC) for the last six months. I know that my experience in New Zealand may differ a lot from the stories usually found on this page. I didn’t come to New Zealand to settle down on a long term or even forever – my intention was to “feel” how it is to live in another country, within different social and cultural contexts.
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As political parties kick off their election campaigns, Labour MP’s Megan Woods and Ruth Dyson, and labour candidates, Anthony Rimell candidate for Ilam, Jo Luxton candidate for Rangitata, Tony Condon candidate for Selwyn and Duncan Webb candidate for Christchurch Central, recently met with representatives of the Canterbury Refugee Council.
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Richard Edmundson, Principal, Linwood College, noted, "This is the first time we are doing this, and with the response we have got, I am sure, the Festival of Nations will now be a permanent fixture in our College's annual calendar. Linwood College is, if not the most, then certainly one of the most multicultural colleges in the City. This is a celebration of that diveristy. If all schools in Christchurch can come together and organise something like this, it would be even better."
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The event had some fantastic latino music, food, arts and crafts; and the vibrancy of colourful hispanic culture. There were latino dance workshops by Latinzone, music being played by DJ Reuben, as well as a bar serving fantastic Latino cocktails.
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Almost six years after suffering extensive damage in the 2011 Earthquake, ISKCON Christchurch opened its door again at a newly-constructed Hare Krishna Centre at 83 Bealey Avenue on March 3. The grand opening ceremony titled Revival was held over three days, and featured fire yajnas, kirtans, aartis, guru pujas, and an initiation ceremony by Indradyumna Swami. Installation of the deities including that of Sri Sri Nitai Gaurachandra was also part of the ceremony.
Read MoreHealth Minister Jonathan Coleman has launched the $6 millionCommunity Resilience Partnership Fund to support the grassroots community projects underway around Christchurch which are helping community wellbeing, resilience, and psychosocial recovery following the earthquakes. "The Government has partnered with Christchurch City Council to each invest $1 million a year for the next three years into the Fund. This initiative was signalled in Budget 2016 and targeted grants are now available," said the Minister. Grants may be one-off, multi-year or graduated investments over three years, with the level of funding decided on a case-by-case basis.
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Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse has announced new measures to stop employers who breach immigration and employment law from recruiting migrant workers, which will come into effect on April 1, 2017. This includes introducing stand-down periods during which time employers who flout the law will be banned from recruiting further migrant workers.
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Mollie Howarth's involvement with CAB is almost a decade old; six years out of which, she has been the Christchurch manager of the organisation. Now, she heads a team of two part-timers, and 105 trained volunteers, all of whom team up to operate three branches and two satellites help desks across the city. “What we do can best be summarised as a personalised information help desk, which is open for anyone in New Zealand. You may be on a work visa, resident, citizen, or just a visitor, our trained volunteers are always at hand to provide the desired information to the best of their abilities,” she says.
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"By 1869, about 2000 Chinese men, many from Guangdong Province, were working the goldfields of Otago and the West Coast. They lived in their own settlements, some of which have been restored in places like Arrowtown. A Poll Tax was introduced in 1881 to discourage Chinese immigration. This was later rescinded along with a formal apology and the establishment of the Poll Tax Heritage Trust."
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The 13th edition of the most-awaited annual sports event for ethnic communities in Christchurch – the Christchurch Global Football Festival – concluded on February 12 with Javidan, a team comprising of expats from Afghanistan, going down to the two-time defending champions Irish Rovers in a nail biting penalty shoot-out. The teams were level at one goal each at the end of the regulation time. The Polish side, Polonez, secured the third spot, Solomon Islands came fourth, while the top six were completed by United Nations (5th), and Canterbury Fiji. Other nationalities represented include Brazil, Argentina, UK, Nepal, Bhutan, South Korea, South Africa, Ethiopia, Samoa, Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, and of course New Zealand.
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E tū, the biggest private sector union in New Zealand, which was created in 2015 from the merger of several unions, and “provides members with services like workplace representation, legal advice, a freephone support centre, education on work-rights and a political voice”; is now aiming to unionise the construction workers who have immigrated from Philippines and have been an integral part of the Christchurch rebuild in the last six years.
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Among other things that are unique about Mtech Games – one of the leading companies in New Zealand exploring the possibilities for virtual reality in the rehabilitation/medical space and beyond - are curse-words-learning-Fridays. “That's another great advantage of having a multicultural and multilingual team. We now know almost all the swear words in Spanish, Hindi, Chinese, Dutch and Danish. Few weeks back, someone from Scandinavia was visiting us. So the team got to learn some Icelandic swearing too,” quipped Brook Waters, CEO and co-founder of the company, which employs 12 employees from eight different nationalities.
Read MoreDr Husaini Abdul Hafiz, a 50-year-old doctor, who had immigrated to New Zealand from Singapore about nine years ago, collapsed and died in Hagley Park while on his way to work on February 13. A founding trustee of the Canterbury Muslim Community Trust (CMCT), Dr Husaini's death is not being treated as suspicious by the New Zealand Police and had been referred to the coroner. "Husaini will be greatly missed by the wider Muslim community of Christchurch for his leadership, enthusiasm and wise council," said CMCY in a social media post.
Read MoreThe Canterbury Police, after completing scene examination of a shed fire on Tankerville Road in the Christchurch suburb of Hoon Hay have confirmed that the person found deceased in the incident that took place on February 9, 2017, was a 51-year-old woman named Savita Devi Naidu. Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Worner informed that the matter has now been referred to the Coroner. “There are no suspicious circumstances and Police are not seeking anyone else in connection with the death,” he added.
Read MoreAt approximately 10:10pm on February 13, Police received a report of an aggravated robbery at the Domino’s on Harewood Road, Bishopdale. Acting Detective Sergeant Simon Keith informed, "Two men who were heavily disguised have entered the store carrying a firearm and a knife. The two staff members working were threatened by these men and despite following the requests of the offenders, both were stabbed. One received serious but non-life-threatening wounds to the stomach and was transported to Christchurch Hospital, the other was treated at the scene. The offenders fled the store with an undisclosed sum of money."
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The Christchurch Multicultural Strategy 2017-2021 “Our Future Together” was adopted by the Christchurch City Council on February 9. Council Community Support Team Manager Claire Phillips noted, "It's a great opportunity to embrace and acknowledge the diversity factor in Christchurch and it shows that as a city we recognise the economic, social and cultural benefits that being a diverse city brings us."
Read MoreThese include penalty for failure to provide written employment agreements, failure to keep holiday and leave records and failure to keep wage and time records. "The respondent is to pay a penalty to the Crown in the sum of $25,000 in respect of three categories of breaches of minimum code requirements, plus $71.56 to the Labour Inspectorate as reimbursement of its Authority lodgement fee," said David Appleton, member of the Employment Relations Authority, in his judgement dated December 16, 2016.
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Justin James, who moved to Christchurch from Kerala in India in 2008, and works as the Supply Chain Manager at Wimpex Ltd, is now one of the hottest property in the music business of India's regional Malayalam film industry. This after, 4 Musics - the music composing team of James and his three childhood friends - won the award for best music direction of 2016 for the regional movie Oppam on January 20, 2017. James, and his friends, are now working on four more confirmed projects, with many more in the pipeline.
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