1 Copyright Able 2016 PEACEFUL MUSIC The Hurunui District, north of Christchurch, once had the distinction of being among the whitest places in NZ, with more than 95% of the population Pakeha. But recent years have seen an influx of new migrants to come and work in agriculture and service industries ` people such as myself. I was born in the Philippines, although most of my family moved to America in search of opportunity. I chose NZ. My family still can't believe that I didn't join them, but I had to go somewhere and I had to succeed all on my own. And when I moved to Hurunui, I became part of a community that is becoming more diverse and accepting by the day. In this episode of Neighbourhood, we'll meet a UK woman who's made it her mission to welcome new arrivals to the area. The local community committee had met and said, you know, 'There's a lot of diverse cultures moving into the area. 'Let's have a look at how we can welcome them to this area and how we can ease them into our community 'and make it a much more pleasurable initiation to NZ.' A young Sikh woman settles into her new life here. We had to make butter chicken and chapatis for the school to let them know as in India what we eat. I still get people coming to me, 'I love your mum's butter chicken. She should make some more.' A local man recalls the encouragement he got to let his imagination run wild. My first gift I ever got was a paint set, and it was just red, white and black. It was supposed to be for Halloween. But I just did lipstick and eyeliner and eyebrows and` Did that and I was, um` Yeah, my grandmother said it was very pretty, so I thought, 'Oh, if she says it's pretty, I'm allowed to do it.' And a Swiss couple shares their deep connection to their adopted home. We travelled in NZ to Auckland. I didn't like it. I didn't like Auckland at all. I have a friend down here in Waikari. He rang and said, 'Come down here.' And he had a wool press, and that literally was our start in NZ. I am Leo Fernandez, and this is my neighbourhood. I come from a family of farmers, but being a farmer isn't held in very high regard back in the Philippines, where success is measured by having a flash white-collar job. But I'm really proud of the hardships my parents went through to send me to university and enable me to become a qualified vet. I was always passionate about travelling, and some friends told me that NZ had good opportunities in the dairy sector and welcomed immigrants. Unfortunately, to practice as a vet here would have meant another four years of full-time study, and so I started out working as a stockman. Now I'm a pig farmer and a MasterChef runner-up. Funny how life leads you into the most unexpected places. My name is Ursula Frenkel. And mine is Urs Frenkel. And that means 'bear' and 'female bear' in Latin, so I was lucky that I actually did find a bear ` a female bear. BOTH CHUCKLE We were born in Switzerland. I did live on the southern side of the hill, and she did live on the northern side of the hill. We travelled in NZ to Auckland. I didn't like it. I didn't like Auckland at all. Our friend down here in Waikari, he rang and said, 'Come down here.' And he had a wool press, and that literally was our start in NZ. I wouldn't live in a city. I would be like an animal in a cage. I love the freedom. I love the vastness of the country. That's something you cannot really have in Switzerland. You cannot afford land. (CLICKS TONGUE) We have got just under 11ha. We grow our own fruit. Looks delicious. We grow our own garlic, we grow our own rosemary. It's paradise. (LAUGHS) It is. You can go into the orchard and pick whatever you want to, you know? CLOCK TICKS That clock was my grandma's. It was given to her as a wedding present. It was at the turn of the 19th century, so the clock would be about 120 years old. It was given to Ursula and me as we got married, and we had it ever since in our living room and decided there was no question that we wouldn't pack it, so we brought it. It's a walnut casing. Walnut was a highly valued timber. In early days, a couple got married, they would be given a walnut tree and a quince tree. They had all the symbols of fertility, wealth. I did spend a lot of time in Grandma's living room, so the clock was always there and actually ticked away and gave us the rhythm. Maybe it's a wee bit a connection with the spirit of my grandma. Grandma had a lot of knowledge about herbs and general farming, and I got given quite a bit from her knowledge, just` even into my childhood. It's probably a clock you can buy more or less in every second-hand shop that has got clocks. But items what you actually cling sentimentally to it, they're only as much worth as you give them the value to, and I think that's what all counts. I have the best memories of my childhood. During summer, when the rice paddies were dry, we'd run and chase each other, flew kites, played baseball. And during rainy season we helped the grown-ups plant rice, played in the mud and gathered crabs in the rice paddy dykes. GENTLE MUSIC It's obviously a different landscape, but the memory of growing up in a rural community helped me to feel at home here. The memories that we remember from our childhood really do have a profound impact on the choices we make as adults. When I was 5, Uncle used to come for a walk, and that tree would be somewhere where I'd always see and I'd know that I was here at the Maori rock drawings. Where is it? Yeah, there. So remember` You need to remember that tree. My name is Warren Dion Smith. When I moved to Waikari, I was 5 years old. I felt very lonely as a child, cos I was an only child for many years. I was always looking for something to do, and that was always escaping. One of my favourite places to go in Waikari would be the Maori rock drawings, and it's the place where we went as a child. All I can see is forks ` a fork man. Oh, well, that might be a hunter. Because people came through here and hunted back in the days, didn't they? Yeah, yeah! Uh, deer. For me, I spend a lot of time with my nephews. Where I notice a lot of different kids, they'll just look at me and know something's different, but they've never ever asked, 'Uncle, why do you do that?' The best childhood memory for me, one of them would be being able to play dress-ups. My first gift I ever got was a paint set, and it was just red, white and black. It was supposed to be for Halloween, but I just did lipstick and eyeliner and eyebrows and` I did that, and I was, um` Yeah, my grandmother said it was very pretty, so I thought, 'Oh, well, if she says it's pretty I'm allowed to do it.' I did that at the back of the shed, and just dress` put some mascara on, and I just put my mother or my grandparents' clothes on. Yeah, no one really picked on me for it. It was just what I did. I was cutting hair at the age of 5 and 6. So all the cousins' hair and the fringes and the Barbie dolls would be cut, and I` That's what I learnt to do. I work for Weta Workshop. It's in Wellington and, um, I'm always proud to` to be part of such a movement that has captivated audiences all over the world. I always wanted to be a celebrity hair and make-up artist, no matter if it was gay` For me those are just words that describe something that somebody made up. I don't` I don't class myself gay just for the sake of having to put myself in a category. I class myself as an artist. And that's` Yeah. That's me. At the moment I'm` we're dressing an Erebor dwarf, from` Basically, the concept is from our The Hobbit movie, which Brae Toia and I both worked on as make-up artists. When I was very young I used to dream about goblins. And, you know, we didn't watch a lot of those shows, but I would dream about the sort of things that` Like, for instance, an example would be being on the set of The Hobbit, looking at all the goblins that I created, all the hair for` and then looking at them and thinking, 'I've done this before. I've been there.' And it was those creatures running around ` exactly ` in my dream. I've done King Kong and Narnia and, um, Elysium, and I've just finished an Australian television show which comes out this year, and also a Michael Fassbender movie which comes out this year as well, and also Warcraft, which everyone's sorta` you know, they're sorta interested about. And, um` Just to name a few of them. So these are wigs that I personally hand-make myself by one` not at a time, but you can go right through and see that through that fine mesh is one hair at a time. When I'm not doing movies, I'm travelling the world with pop culture conventions throughout America and Asia and Europe. Now I'm` Basically, what you see here is what I do out there in the` the different parts of the world. Unreal. If someone told me five years ago this is what I'd be doing, I'd say, 'No way.' Do you feel beautiful, Tim? We have to find you a` (LAUGHS) He does have a bottom lip in there. (LAUGHS) We haven't glued his mouth shut. I moved back to Waikari two years ago. I decided that I wanted to come home and spend time with my family, because I do believe that even when I'm away, that's where my heart is. The future for me is going to be about inspiring other people. When I'm out there, my work seems to touch people's lives, and that's pretty powerful. Waikari ` where I live ` is the last stop of the scenic Weka Pass Railway, and I think it is a great way for people to see just how beautiful the Hurunui District is. TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS When I arrived here in 2008, I felt people stereotype me as an uneducated and annoying Asian. There were only 10 Filipinos in the area before, but now there are more than 100, including wives and children. I am the president of the Hurunui Filipino Community. When Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines, the district supported our fundraising to the tune of $12,000. I felt then that I am part of the neighbourhood, and I think now that people are more aware now of making new migrants feel welcome here. I couldn't live anywhere else now. This is home for me. I would really struggle to even move away from this district, so there's no question that this is home. My name is Alex Thompson and I was born in Wiltshire, England. My husband and I came on holiday just 11 years ago, and we were, um, so impressed with the country. Kevin had worked out here before, um, after he left university, so we had a look around, toured around for three weeks, loved it. Went home, packed up, emigrated. I need to get them in there. Oh! Don't get an electric shock. When we first arrived in NZ, we found it a really different culture. There's a whole` much more relaxed way of life. There's a real feel of community here. There's not so much rush. There's not so much hustle. There's far less traffic. It's a great place to live and a great place to have children. If I'd stayed living in England, I don't think it would've been a great lifestyle for them. It's all about work, and they would've been in daycare from a very young age, and that wasn't what we wanted for our family. Do you think you could pop those in there for me? OK. We'll make the welcome pack up. There's a large volume of migrant workers now. The culture of the district has changed immensely. It's a real multicultural area. I think the culture shock is quite immense. The local community committee had met and said, you know, 'There's a lot of diverse cultures moving into the area. 'Let's have a look at how we can welcome them to this area and how we can ease them into our community 'and make it a much more pleasurable initiation to NZ,' and that's why we started on developing a welcome pack for this particular area. So all the leaflets for the local services. Playcentre. There's a magnet there with the details of the Amuri Medical Centre on. Mum, what does this say? That's a wee bookmark. Enrolment forms for the local school. So this will go with us tonight. We're going to the mini welcome event that we're holding at the Red Post. We will be able to give that out to members of the community. Lots of people in this community that really care about the people that live here and that are moving here, so that's a mini welcome event. Now, if you're new to the area, these are available for you to take home, have a look through. So do you know that there's an ambulance station here? Me too. > I haven't been to anything yet. You haven't been to anything? Well, it's a good job you haven't been on the ambulance station, but did you know there was one here? No? Or` Or fire station. There's a fire station too. A police station? And a police station! I don't need it. And all the contact numbers are all in here. Employers are fantastic around here. They will take their workers, they will get them geared up with all the waterproof wet weather gear that they need. It's a really good team effort. But sometimes if they haven't got a great deal of, you know, warm jumpers and thermal leggings and stuff that they need when they arrive, and it's sometimes in June and it's minus-6 and, uh, there's snow on the ground, then it's a real shock. So, yeah, we can point them in directions for those kind of things. When I arrived, it was spring` still spring, and it was very cold, so` (LAUGHS) There was one time that I told my husband, 'I wanna go back to the Philippines cos it's really really cold.' (LAUGHS) Yeah. But eight years later, I'm still here. The number of cows in` Huge amount of cows in NZ. We work in leased cow farm in Sri Lanka, so totally different. Everything is exciting when I come to NZ. The thing that I feel most proud of is that it is about community. It is about nurturing and caring, and to me, that's NZ. That's the Kiwi way. And it just highlights that you can move to a new community from thousands of miles overseas ` different climate, different working practices ` but you can still belong. My grandmother loves cooking, and she would even force us to watch her cook, whether we like it or not. But I realise now that it is her way of passing on the knowledge and of course the passion for food for the next generation ` and it worked. When MasterChef came along, I took that opportunity to shine light on the cuisine that I grew up with. I came in second, and my granny was so proud of me. The love of food is what connects me, my family back in the Philippines and all over the world every time. My name is Ashna Kaur and I was born in Jagraon, Punjab, India. I go to Amuri Area School and I'm in Year 12. I was nine when I came to NZ. We live in Culverden in a dairy farm. Dad works as a farmer at the farm, and Mum works in Hanmer Springs and helps out during winter with the calf season. Dad's always been into farming. In India, he worked as a farmer as well. Then, as they wanted a better lifestyle for us, he decided to explore what it's like farming here. When I first started school, it was really hard. I didn't know much English at all, and so many new faces, and the whole school was so different to India. I think it took me at least a year and a half to actually get comfortable speaking English and talking. At the moment I'm a student rep for the Board of Trustees at school, so what I basically do is I'm, like, the student voice of the whole school. I am the first international student that has gotten the student rep, which is a very proud moment. Our religion is Sikhism. Most people just assume if you're from India you're, like, Hindu, but it's actually a quite big difference. Like, they have different gods and we believe in different gods and all gods have done different things. We still maintain it, but we can't do our prayers if we've eaten meat. We have to be clean. Like, we have to have a shower and brush our teeth if we've eaten meat. Then we can carry on. The food we eat at home ` we do eat our Indian food. Mum and Dad are so used to eating that kind of food, so they still eat it, and Mum doesn't really like eating meat. My mum's assisting me today with cooking the dal. She's definitely an expert. I can never be good as her. Put some turmeric powder, some salt and some chilli powder. And now we're gonna leave it. 10 minutes. Then we fry the onions, then we put the lid on. We had to make butter chicken and chapatis for the school to let them know as in India what we eat. Oh, they loved the butter chicken. I still get people coming to me, 'I love your mum's butter chicken. She should make some more.' Leave it for... 10 minutes. Until the whistle blows. Then it'll be done. It's easy to make once you know what to do and you know how to get the spices right and everything. After that, the stove does the job. And mum helping me. I wouldn't be able to do that by myself. I'd probably add too much salt and too much chilli and... Chapati is definitely a Punjab food. Whereas rice is more into the South Indian, we at home in Punjab always cook chapatis. That` You have to have chapatis every day. It's like` It's like a tradition, you could say. My mum taught me how to make chapatis. I still can't make them round, but I'll get there one day. We're inviting Doris and Josh as guests to come and eat. Hello, Doris. Hello. How are you guys? I'm good. How are you? Good. Doris and Josh are the people we work for, and they own the farm. We'll just close our eyes. Satnam waheguru, satnam waheguru, satnam waheguru, satnam waheguru, satnam waheguru. What I do miss about India is probably my` Some of my family and my cousins are still there, and my grandparents. What I like about NZ is probably` I like the country life. It's good. It's quiet and it's peaceful. Schools are smaller, which is great, and you know everyone and you` it's lovely. So NZ's a nice country. It's nice. How does it taste, Mum? The dal? It's a very good taste. I did a good job? Yeah. (CHUCKLES) You did. It's very nice. > To the cook ` very nice. I love it. My favourite. Thank you. GENTLE MUSIC I am proud of my ethnicity and heritage because I think it is beautiful and unique ` worth sharing to NZ. I think Filipinos have a lot of things to contribute ` resiliency and love of life. That even if life is harsh, there is always something to laugh about. I am very proud of my work with Filipino migrants in Hurunui. I think it's very satisfying to work towards integrating our small community to the wider community. It feels like home to me now. Captioned by Catherine de Chalain. Edited by Tracey Dawson. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2016