Warm welcome for newest NZ citizens
At the recent New Zealand Citizenship Ceremony for South Taranaki, Mayor Ross Dunlop acknowledged the significance of the day.
‘‘I know this is an important event in your life and it’s nice to be sharing it with your friends and family,’’ he said.
A family of five were part of the 13 who were awarded New Zealand Citizenship on the day.
The Smythes, who have lived in Taranaki for more than seven years, shook Dunlop’s hand at the quarterly ceremony to signify their ability to ‘‘put roots down’’.
Matthew Smythe, along his wife Ingleborg and three children Benjamin, Rebecca and Eden, had moved between a few countries in the past, and were ready to settle.
‘‘I guess when you’ve moved a lot, and you’ve left your home country, you see citizenship as something that says ‘hey you can really put roots down here and settle’,’’ Smythe said. ‘‘So for us, that’s what it was, to be able to say ‘right, we can finally put some roots down and settle and make somewhere home’.’’
Smythe said it was nice to move to a country and be able to make ‘‘big steps’’ fairly quickly.
‘‘It’s a great place, and we really appreciate being able to feel safe again, since Zimbabwe, and we appreciate being able to buy a house,’’ he said.
Smythe moved to Taranaki as a dairy farmer from the United Kingdom. He has since re-trained as a diesel mechanic and his wife works at St Joseph’s School in Hawera.
Dunlop acknowledged the time and effort that goes into getting citizenship.
‘‘I know that you’ve been on a very long journey to get to this point. A whole lot of work, a whole lot of bits of paper and a bit of money as well,’’ he said.
Smythe agreed. ‘‘It’s a culmination of lots and lots of work, there’s three-o-clock in the morning getting up to milk cows, all with the end goal of getting to New Zealand citizenship,’’ Smythe said.
Dunlop gave each family who was awarded citizenship a kowhai tree, ‘‘to remind you of this day’’, he said.
‘‘Just looking around the room, I think our community is going to be much stronger and a better place because you’ve decided to live here.’’
The South Taranaki citizenship ceremonies take place quarterly.