On the Bright Side - May 2005
On the Bright Side
May/Haratua 2005
Kia ora. Anei te mihi ö te Kaihautu Whakawhanaunga ä Iwi, mo ngä mahi nui, mahi whakamana i te tangata i roto i ngä kaupapa Whakawhanaunga ä Iwi i Aotearoa. Here are this month's acknowledgments from the Race Relations Commissioner for positive contributions to race relations in New Zealand.
The Unknown Swiss Border Guard
For keeping New Zealand tourists on their toes. This award is prompted by a Kiwi traveller's report of her experience at Zurich airport on 9 May: "When I was at Customs in Switzerland coming back from Prague, the man looking at my passport said "Kia ora". His pronunciation was...Teutonic...so I thought he was speaking German and stared blankly at him. Then he started shouting "Kia ora! Kia ora! What? You're from New Zealand and you don't know how to speak Maori?" I was poised delicately somewhere between embarrassment and terror."
To avoid future border incidents, you will be able to brush up on your reo in this year's Maori Language Week from 25-31 July. Following the runaway success of last year's Give it a Go: Korero Maori booklet, the Maori Language Commission, the Human Rights Commission and Te Puni Kokiri will be releasing a further Give it a Go booklet. If you are interested in ordering bulk copies for your organisation, email korero@tetaurawhiri.govt.nz for details. You can also register your proposed activities and be put on the mailing list for information about resources.
Auckland War Memorial Museum
For the Matariki programme, June 2005.
The Auckland Museum (www.aucklandmuseum.com
Canterbury Arts and
Heritage Trust For Snapshots, A New Citizens' View,
May 2005. The Canterbury Arts and Heritage Trust, in a
first for New Zealand, organised a community art event
involving the distribution of fifty black and white
disposable cameras to the Christchurch refugee and migrant
community, asking them to document positive aspects of their
daily lives over a seven-day period. The cameras were
distributed through the PEETO Multicultural Learning Centre
and participants who returned the cameras were eligible for
prizes. All fifty cameras were returned. Twenty five of the
most compelling photos were displayed at the Christchurch
Centre of Community Art in May, along with an album of all
the photos. The project coordinator for the Inaugural
Community Photographic Awards was Ehab El Mohandes.
John Macalister, Wellington For A Dictionary of Maori
Words in New Zealand English. Victoria University linguist
John Macalister this month published the first dictionary of
Maori words in English (Oxford University Press). It
includes a lengthy and excellent introduction on the
relationship between New Zealand's two major languages and
how this has been influenced by the evolving relationship
between its peoples. He concludes that the Maori influence
distinguishes New Zealand English from other kinds of
English and hopes that the dictionary will make that most
distinctive feature of New Zealand English more accessible
both to New Zealanders and to visitors to the country coming
to terms with the language we use. NIU Development
Inc, Auckland For services to the Pacific community.
The NIU Development Trust was established in 1974 as Matakau
Vagahau Niue, a Niuean response to their endangered language
plight. Since then it has grown to include many initiatives
and projects funded by a range of statutory agencies to
assist with its endeavours to maintain and retain the Niuean
language. Recently it has extended its delivery into public
health provision through the National Pacific Gambling
Project, which focuses on reducing and minimising problem
gambling harms amongst Pacific Communities, with teams in
Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The Trust also
assumed a coordinating role for the National Pacific Suicide
Prevention project which saw the launch of Pacific suicide
prevention resources in the first languages of the Cook
Islands, Niue, Samoa and Tongan groups. NIU has worked to
bring together many diverse Pacific peoples working in these
areas of health. For further information, contact 09 529
1492. For
Eurofest May 14 2005, Wellington. The first European Fair
was held in Wellington 12 years ago, but Eurofest came into
being with the celebration last year of the enlargement of
the European Union on May 1. This year's events included an
exhibition of posters at Wellington Central Library, a
European food week at the Duxton Hotel, and a festival at
Queens Wharf on 14 May. Eurofest is now supported by most
European embassies and consulates, with sponsorship from
Wellington Waterfront, Lufthansa and Porsche. Watch out for
this festival to grow further in coming years. Said Maurice
Maxwell, Charge d'Affaires of the European Commission's
Wellington Delegation: "Eurofest helps demonstrate that
being a part of a great project like the creation of Europe
does not mean that we have to give up our national cultures,
languages and traditions". Like New Zealand really.
David Slack, Auckland For Civil War and Other
Optimistic Predictions: Where is New Zealand Going? This is
a sequel to last year's highly successful Bulls**t,
Backlash and Bleeding Hearts. It is equally readable, and
takes as its starting point "some terrible problems and some
quite dire predictions from a variety of concerned New
Zealanders that lie just around the corner if we don't do
something about them". These include civil war and racial
separatism as well as economic and environmental doom. It
reads like a book-length newspaper article, with lots of
quotes from a diverse range of New Zealanders, in his
familiar style of adding some facts to the public rhetoric.
In the end, he is more optimistic than the doomsayers.
Paul Spoonley, Cluny Macpherson and David Pearson For
Tangata Tangata, The Changing Ethnic Contours of New
Zealand. This collection of essays by fifteen leading
social scientists is the fourth in a series begun in 1984 on
race relations in New Zealand. It provides an excellent
overview of developments in the last decade, with sections
on tangata whenua, immigration and settlement, institutional
issues and policies, and reframing citizenship. It draws on
a wealth of research and data, and offers many valuable
insights to into future directions. Framework
Trust For the Muslim Women's Hui, May 2005. As part
of the Like Minds Like Mine destigmatisation programme, the
Framework Trust organised a Muslim Women's hui in Auckland
on 14 May under the motto of He Manu Korerokorero, Noho tahi
mahi tahi: Building Bridges in Our Community. Hosts and
organizers for the day were Tayyaba Khan of the Auckland
Muslim Girls Association and Catherine Ross, the coordinator
of the Like Minds Like Mine project. Alongside keynote
speakers there was a panel of Muslim women presenters on
women, Islam, education, health and cultural adjustment
issues. The Framework Trust (www.framework.org.nz
For the Memorandum of Understanding: Tutohinga
signed with iwi of the district. The Rangitikei District
Council (www.rangdc.govt.nz New Zealand
Historic Places Trust For the Made in New Zealand
concert, May 2005. This celebration of New Zealand music in
the Wellington Town Hall was a joint effort between the New
Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Historic Places Trust, as
the starting point for a year of celebrations marking the
50th anniversary of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust
(www.historic.org.nz Bharat Jamnadas
and Ashok Jeram, Auckland For the Festival of India,
April 16, Auckland. The annual Festival of India, organised
by Aucklanders Bharat Jamnadas and Ashok Jeram celebrated
its 10th anniversary in April at Auckland's Aotea Square.
Large crowds turned out to the festival, which began on a
small scale in 1996. The event featured food and craft
stalls and non-stop entertainment from 10am to 5.30pm,
reflecting the colours, sounds and flavours of India. For
information about race relations visit the Human Rights
Commission website www.hrc.co.nz ENDS
European Forum, Wellington
Rangitikei District
Council