We have a huge population of recent Asian immigrants - there were a huge number of Croatian immigrants in the 1990s - there were thousands of Pacific Islanders in the 1970s - recently the South Africans and Zimbabweans have arrived, but each of these groups has added to our culture, rather than living on the outside and not being considered New Zealanders , although the Zimbabweans have been on the receiving end of some humour, but hey ho, what can I say...
Our language has been added to by the incoming influences, our art has been enhanced by the pacific influence as has our NZ music scene, our food has intensified with the addition of the Asian influence. The city embraces the Diwali festival which the Indian celebration this week, and when it is the Chinese Lantern festival New Zealanders of all shades flock into the city to enjoy the food and music.
And when I talk about the shades of New Zealanders, I mean that literally- all racial groups intermarry producing the most gorgeous mixed blood babies. Mine are Maori New Zealanders, my friend is Italian and her husband is Samoan – my granddaughter is part Niue Islander, another friend is NZ Chinese with a handsome husband from Paris – their children are fluent in all three languages. Another friend is married to a Fijian Indian.. and so it goes on. I love it. Those mixed blood babies are the most beautiful, especially the Maori Croatian ones!
Some groups integrate better than others – some gather in one suburb creating their own replacement community complete with their own churches, speciality food shops and newspapers. Five minutes walk from my house is a community of mainly Chinese – all of the shops cater for the community (and my eating tastes). Five minutes walk in the other direction is an Indian community – the shops cater for the spices, the saris, and the halaal meat. And people like me go there for the divine vegetarian Indian food, the wholesome organic yoghurts.
I’m not suggesting that these people don’t miss their home countries or have moments where they wonder what on earth they are doing here. I especially feel for those people who are used to a more communal lifestyle – there is no riva to gather on for the Croatians, no piazza for the Italians, no corner street stalls for the Thai or Vietnamese. But to a certain extent these needs evolve and are filled by alternatives. The local community hall in the suburb down the road is used each day by the local mothers who gather there to combat the loneliness of their new lives – toys have been purchased by the community and the children play while the mothers fulfil the need for the extended family by chatting to others in the same situation as they are in.
And things evolve in other directions too – there is a community house which has been set up where women are encouraged to meet - there are discussions about the sort of behavior which is appropriate and acceptable in homes in New Zealand. Domestic violence is not acceptable. Some women in some cultures may feel that this is part of life, and perhaps tolerate it because they feel that there is no alternative. The women’s support groups make it clear that there are alternatives and that it is ok to talk about this. And that it is also ok to say that it’s not ok to their husbands. Because it’s not.
From the bottom of my street I can see a mosque and in the other direction the Tongan Christian Church. The Seventh Day Adventist Church is five minutes away, as is the Catholic Church – and the Russian Orthodox Church is hidden in the trees past my back yard. In the evenings I can hear the bells at the Russian Church ringing, with the women praying in their lace mantillas.
I guess because there are so many diversities in our community, everyone gets a bit of air time, and anything goes (nearly). Goodness, what would Makarska think – we have St Mathews in the City, a beautiful Anglican church – with a gay minister and a predominantly gay group of parishioners.
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