Multicultural Tauranga's Czech and Slovak Living in Harmony night was presented by members of the local Czech and Slovak Club. MC of the evening was Klara Luxford Rulisek, who teaches the children at the club's playgroup and school.

As always, the program comprised of some information on the countries, a presentation of dance and song performed by a group of children, and of course typical food. "If you expect fat-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, you will be disappointed. This wouldn't be Czech or Slovak", cautioned Klara Luxford Rulisek with a smile.

The highlight of the evening was singer Linda Foukalova performing three folk songs - a capella, with a strong, crystal clear voice.  

Featuring China and its multifaceted culture September's Living in Harmony evening proved a real hit. With a crowd of more than 120 visitors it exceeded the expectations of both Multicultural Tauranga and the Tauranga Chinese Language School, whose head teacher, Li Feng, had put together the evening's programme.

A particular highlight was the work of Chinese calligrapher Cheng De Yu, who painted irises as people watched. His works also provided an authentic backdrop on the walls of the Village Hall.

Multicultural Tauranga's Past President, Ewa Fenn, received an award for services to migrants at a special ceremony at Western Bay of Plenty District Council's Community Committee meeting on 3 September.
Click on the newspaper clipping to read the online article in the Bay of Plenty Times.
Click here to see the award certificate.

August’s Living in Harmony evening provided a platform for the local Solomon Islands community to share their culture with Kiwis and other ethnic groups from the Tauranga region.

The evening had been prepared under the guidance of Beverly Vokia-Scarlett, herself a Solomon Islander. She was also the MC and presented a slide show on her home country. It included aspects such as the history, the political system and educational options of the island nation as well as some interesting customs, for example marriage ceremonies. Visitors were encouraged to ask questions and did so, thus making the event a true cultural exchange.

A Solomon Islands dance group from Katikati performed a number of ceremonial dances. Some visitors joined the performers, who had put on an impressive décor of white chalk body paintings and symbols, many of which drew on motifs from nature, such as birds and fish.

A display of Solomon Islands artifacts and samples of local dishes were also part of the programme.

“I found it an extraordinarily warm and welcoming evening with lots of happy and friendly people from the Solomon Islands. And last but not least: I learned a lot about the country I had not been aware of before”, says Nina Payne, Multicultural Tauranga’s Justice of the Peace and regular visitor of Living in Harmony nights.

On 13 and 14 August 2015 a two-day national migrant centres forum was organised by Multicultural New Zealand with support from the Settling-In fund managed by the Office of Ethnic Communities. Attending from Tauranga was Centre Coordinator Janet Smith.

One of the points on the agenda was the launch of the report “Our Multicultural Future”. It was commissioned by Multicultural New Zealand with funding support from the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO.

Earlier in the year former Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres had organised 34 workshops throughout New Zealand with 581 participants. The aim was to establish the vision people had for a successful multicultural society and what they saw as the barriers to achieving it. Its purpose is to provide a starting point for developing a national action plan for multiculturalism and multilingualism in dialogue with government and community organisations.

The full 60-page report is available here. Summaries of the two Tauranga workshops are on pages 26 and 27.

The New Zealand Red Cross says Thank You for donations made or facilitated by Multicultural Tauranga and has presented us with a certificate of appreciation.

The May Living in Harmony movie night yielded very generous donations amounting to $272, which were topped up by Multicultural Tauranga to $500. The proceeds had been earmarked to be given to the New Zealand Red Cross for Nepal earthquake relief efforts.

On 3 July Secretary Margarete Kraemer handed over a cheque to local Red Cross Programmes and Events Coordinator Heather Dabrowski in Greerton.

Previously, proceeds collected at this year's Multicultural Festival to help the victims of cyclone Pam in Vanuatu had also been paid to the Red Cross. They amounted to another $274.

On 24 June 2015 Multicultural Tauranga held its first Volunteer Awards Night to recognise the contribution of people who have gone the extra mile to help provide the services the organisation offers. The date was chosen to coincide with New Zealand National Volunteer Week, i.e. the last week in June.

President Barry Reid acknowledged each person's individual efforts and handed them a small gift.

The event took place at the TECT Theatre, a venue that would have lent itself perfectly for a red carpet to be rolled out for the volunteers to receive their award. However, as no roll of red carpet was to be found, a small, symbolic patch of red carpet for each person to stand on had been provided. Everybody was also given a glow stick to be made into a wrist band because it was their night to glow and shine.

An interesting icebreaker game was guessing Who's Who from baby photos. Some faces were easy to identify, others proved rather challenging. Yet all caused a lot of fun, and so was the entire event.

On 14 June 2015 Multicultural Tauranga held its Annual General Meeting. The nominees for the 2015 - 2016 term were confirmed and the Committee now consists of:

Executive Committee:
Barry Reid, President; Ann Kerewaro, Treasurer; Margarete Kraemer, Secretary.

General Committee:
Mark Bils, Sue Burger, Maria Burns, Colin Capill, Inderjit Chadda, Kutu Mukherjee, Margareth Ruffell, John Sinteur, Beverly Vokia-Scarlett.

Immediate Past President Ewa Fenn and Multicultural Tauranga member Alessandra Tilby were awarded life membership, with only Ewa Fenn present to receive the award in person as Alessandra Tilby is currently overseas.

This year's guest speaker was Brendon Gardner, Relationship Manager - Migrant Skills Retention, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment / Settlement Unit Immigration NZ. He explained his new dedicated relationship manager role within the government's new migrant settlement and integration strategy, and gave an overview of migration trends in the Bay of Plenty.

This year's Race Unity Speech winner is Kimberly D'Mello, a 16-year old teen from Tauranga's Aquinas College. She is the daughter of Premila D'Mello, who helped as a volunteer with this year's Multicultural Festival.

Kimberly, a Year 12 student, previously won the Bay of Plenty regional competition and impressed judges with her "Do It Yourself" approach to race relations.

More than 170 secondary students nationwide competed in this year's competition open to year 11-13 students.