As part of Welcoming Week 2024, various organisations hosted culture-centric events to celebrate all who now call Timaru home, whether they be migrants, former refugees or international students.
It was the second time the Timaru district had taken part in the international initiative.
The first two events were hosted by Multicultural Aoraki — a quiz night on Friday, September 6 and an indoor bowls day on Wednesday last week.
Multicultural Aoraki events co-ordinator Maturo Siaosi was pleased with how both events were received.
"The quiz night went really well. We raised almost $2000, which was really good.
"We’ve used our coffee group to celebrate and welcome, so I reached out to Jess [Hurst] at the Timaru council who organises the Welcoming Week events and offered to take part.
"It’s important to celebrate all the different people who come to our groups and it’s great to have seen some new people join us."
"It’s been great to have Nigel here, not as the mayor but just as a person to play alongside everyone."
Mr Bowen said Welcoming Week was a very special initiative.
"For me, I’ve been able to meet people that I hadn’t met before from all different countries which is really cool.
"It’s so important now with the way the community has changed from when I was growing up a little lad to now. It’s just so diverse and that brings so much vibrancy.
"It’s pretty cool to be able to celebrate with all the newcomers to our region and show them what makes our district such a great place to to be."
On Thursday, South Canterbury Plunket hosted a special edition of its weekly multicultural music and movement session.
Plunket community services manager Jane Denley said it was great to have been invited to take part in Welcoming Week.
"We decided to extend our existing multicultural music and movement session to include these wonderful performances.
"It’s a way of celebrating our culturally diverse community really, which is fun to be a part of."
She said Plunket was always looking to celebrate culture and diversity.
"It’s part of our business as usual. At work we see lots of families from lots of different cultures so it’s just a way of participating with them and celebrating the week.
"We have our multicultural music and movement every week here at the Timaru Plunket Hub, so we would encourage everyone who has a child under 5 to come to that as well."
Community services co-ordinator Louise Haley said she was very impressed by the various performances.
On Friday a community potluck lunch was held, and the Timaru District Library held Syrian Storytime.
Several children’s stories were read in both Arabic and English.
Timaru District Library youth services leader Anita Dawson said it was an amazing initiative to be involved with.
"Last year we also hosted the Syrian Storytime as part of Welcoming Week — it’s important for us to be holding these events and to be hearing different languages so that we can show the library is a place for everybody."
Presbyterian Support South Canterbury cultural adviser Esraa Al-Hoot said Welcoming Week was a good way for the new families to meet other locals and share their culture.
"It’s a good way for them to show they belong to the community here.
"It gives them a self-confidence and encourages them to feel proud of their language and culture.
"I know a lot of people might not have understood the stories, but it is sometimes nice to hear different voices and languages."
The week concluded with a pool party at CBay on Saturday.
