Festival shines a light on our multiculturalism
Palmerston North’s Festival of Cultures is a celebration of the diverse nationalities that live in our region. Carly Thomas speaks to some of those involved.
Multiculturalism is on the rise in Palmerston North and getting to know your metaphorical neighbour dissuades ignorance.
Knowing people dilutes fear, and understanding where they are from disarms intolerance.
Having a mix of cultures also makes your city way more interesting and the Festival of Cultures is an event set to do exactly that with food, craft and music – the things that make a culture really hum, the stuff that fleshes out the skeleton of who we are.
For organiser and participant Rana Naser, president of the Manawatu¯ Multicultural Council, it is a highlight of her year. It’s a chance to see the people she helps support on a daily basis sharing what is important to them and also doing a bit of cultural showing off herself.
‘‘It’s really important to us. We anticipate it. You see the smiles on people’s faces and the pride. The pride is a big thing and when other people want to know about where you are from that is a wonderful thing.’’
Naser’s family is from Palestine and she was born in Kuwait, where she lived until 1990. Her family then moved to Jordan when the Kuwait-iraq crisis arose.
‘‘I finished university there, got married and then we moved to New Zealand. I love Kuwait. It is my childhood, my most beautiful memories.
‘‘This is home now, but where I am from is who I am.’’
Naser has been a part of the Muslim Association stall for the past 10 years and serving food for people brings her a huge amount of joy. She smiles widely, saying: ‘‘People come back year after year for more’’.
She also supports others in setting up performances and stalls and enthuses about a point of difference this year, with the inclusion of a former refugee Palestinian family from Syria. Nadia Tamim came with her family to New Zealand two years ago after their house was bombed and they were forced to flee to Damascus and then later to Bangkok, where they lived for 31⁄2 years.
Her sons have a good grasp of English, but for Tamim and her husband, the language is a constant struggle. They left everything behind – houses, a farm, a business – but they still have their family around them, their determination and as Nadia’s son, Alaa Tamim, says: ‘‘We have our mum’s food’’.
Tamim cooks the traditional food that she always has for her family. ‘‘Food is the way to the heart,’’ she says. And now she cooks it for others too, selling it at the Albert St Market, Hokowhitu Market and the Feilding Farmers’ Market. Her food, which she sells under the banner Nadia’s Kitchen, will be there at Festival of Cultures, as will her quick-to-laugh personality.
Food is her way of communicating when words are a barrier. Her cheese she makes herself and her baklava is rich with pistachios and honey. At her stall people step into her world by trying her food, giving Tamim a chance to practise her English and to be a part of her new community.
‘‘We have to find our way,’’ says Alaa, ‘‘and my mum, we are proud of her for what she is doing. She works hard and we all want to make a life here.’’
Hearing stories of displacement is a part of the Festival of Cultures and Nadia’s son, Tammam Tamim, will be talking at the Palmerston North City Library in the What’s Happening at
Home event. It will host speakers who are migrants and former refugees outlining the political and social upheaval in their home nations.
Sadaf Nakash has a story to tell too and her stall at the festival will be a place where she will gladly tell it. She is proud to call herself a Kashmiri and says that in New Zealand people often don’t know about her region, which has been ensnared in a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947.
Statistically, Kashmir is one of the world’s most militarised zones, which for Nakash meant a childhood among guns and fear. She grew up knowing what an AK-47 is and what shoot on sight means, and she moved to New Zealand so her children would not.
‘‘When I was young it was when things were really bad. We didn’t go to school for three months. We lived in the heart of the city and we were the lucky ones.’’
Nakash says she chose to come to New Zealand and she feels privileged but she is a minority here – in Palmerston North her little family of three and two other Kashmiris who have recently arrived are the only ones. The rest of her family are in Kashmir. ‘‘And I worry constantly.
‘‘If something happens they cut the phone lines, the internet goes down and I can’t get in touch with anyone. That has happened many, many times and it was once for 10 days. It was excruciating not knowing what was happening.’’
Being a part of the Palmerston North community helps, being able to fly her flag at the festival brings great pride and when people stop and listen, it means a lot.
Naser says coming to a new country is hard, with many challenges and hurdles, but by sharing with others and having your culture recognised, ‘‘refugees and migrants can feel they belong’’.
Who we are is important and when you are not from ‘‘here’’, sharing and understanding is crucial. The Festival of Cultures may be a fun day out to experience new food and traditions, but it is also a time to acknowledge deeprooted pride in a homeland far away, sometimes the unspeakable pain of the journey to get here and also the beauty and strength of difference.
The Festival of Cultures runs until March 23.
‘‘Where I am from is who I am.’’
Rana Naser, president of the Manawatu¯ Multicultural Council