Every year the 21st of March is observed around the globe as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The date recalls the tragic loss of life at Sharpeville in South Africa in 1960, and is dedicated by the United Nations to the achievement of the goals of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. New Zealand signed the convention on 25 October 1966 and ratified it on 22 November 1972.
Community groups, councils, schools, workplaces, marae and places of worship are encouraged to celebrate the value of cultural diversity and the need to support harmonious race relations. Wellington City Libraries is celebrating in many different ways, and we’d love for you to join us!
What’s happening at our libraries to mark this day?
Mervyn Kemp Library (in Tawa) has — in partnership with school children from St Francis de Xavier and the Human Rights Commission — collected family stories describing whakapapa and settlement in Aotearoa. These stories will be collected into a book which will be part of our lending collection.
Newtown library has a special multilingual storytime today at 10.30 followed by a shared morning tea (bring a plate!)
Johnsonville library has activities planned with class visits. Make sure also to check out their special bilingual picture book displays! (Miramar Library will also be having special bilingual picture book displays.)
Come along to Karori library after school today from 3.30-4.30 for a special treat with Chinese music, belly dancing and kapa haka!
And last but certainly not least – we will be having a Russian Morning Tea at Cummings Park Library (in Ngaio), at 11am on Thursday 22 March. We’ll be drinking Russian tea made in a samovar and exploring the fantastic collection of translated Russian material available at Wellington City Libraries!
Everyone is welcome to these free events. Come along – we’d love to see you there!
If you want to contribute by sharing your family story, please have a look at our Community Stories page. We look forward to hearing from you!
International Mother Language Day was proclaimed by the General Conference of UNESCO in November 1999. It has been celebrated since 2000 to promote all the languages of the world. In NZ, Mother Language Day is an opportunity to promote linguistic diversity and multilingualism and celebrate the hundreds of community languages spoken here.
Did you know that Wellington City Libraries has books in over 40 community languages? Most of the adult books are located at Central Library on the first floor but we also have Chinese language collections in Newtown, Karori and Johnsonville libraries, and Ruth Gotlieb library (Kilbirnie) has an extensive Arabic language collection including biographies, cooking and health books.
We also have a large collection of bilingual picture books including board books. We have Dear Zoo in English and Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Persian, Punjabi, Russian and Somali! If you are not sure where to find these books or how to search our catalogue for them, please ask, we are here to help.
We are fortunate in Aotearoa to be exposed to so many community languages and be living in a country which has 3 official languages! Te reo Maori, sign language and English.
New Zealanders are the first in the world to mark this day with a service at Makara cemetery followed by a function at Parliament. Six million Jews perished amongst them many children. Never forget.
It is a day I remember observing in my native country the Netherlands. At the start of WWII 144000 Jews lived in the Netherlands and only 32.000 survived. My mother was only a child during the war years but she often spoke about the horrors of seeing neighbours being deported or wondering what happened to some of her school friends.
Terezín : voices from the Holocaust / Ruth Thomson.
“Through inmates’ own voices–from secret diary entries and artwork to excerpts from memoirs and recordings narrated after the war–”Terezin” explores the lives of Jewish people in one of the most infamous of the Nazi transit camps.” (Syndetics)
The violinist : Clare Galambos Winter, Holocaust survivor / Sarah Gaitanos.
“Klara Galambos was a twenty-year-old violin student in Budapest in March 1944. Arrested and thrown into jail in the first days after the German occupation, she later managed to get home to Szombathely, was in the ghetto there and transported with the Jews of Szombathely to Auschwitz Birkenau. After five weeks she and her aunt were among the thousand Hungarian women selected for slave labour at Allendorf. They returned to Hungary after the war, and in 1948 they both left Hungary for New Zealand, where Clare joined the fledgling national orchestra. As a long-serving member of the NZSO, she made a significant contribution to the musical life of this country, and is now retired in Wellington. The Violinist draws on memoir, interviews and historical research to tell a compelling story.” (Global Books)
Some new books were added to our Adult Learning collection, something for everyone! Remember, we want your feedback!
Arman’s journey / Philip Prowse.
Look for this moving story about a young man, Arman, who flees his home country as he does not want to fight and become a soldier. Via Turkey, Albania and Italy he finally enters England as an illegal immigrant, finds low paid work and love. I like how at the beginning there is a short summary of “who is who” and a map of Europe showing the countries mentioned in the book. Every page has beautiful illustrations. I think this story will appeal to many. Total word count of this starter/beginner level book is 2,454. This is another great read from Cambridge English Readers and comes with a audio CD. Visit their website for free resources, including a worksheet for this title: Cambridge English Readers
Social English sessions
Wondering what’s happening with social English? Come along to our free English conversation sessions!
“We are the champions!” That’s how I was greeted this morning by several ESOL students who are regular visitors to Newtown library. This group of students from Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Myanmar and China are helped by librarians with reading every Wednesday morning. They have enjoyed our Rugby World Cup display and learned about the game and the countries participating. Several students texted their teacher Kim when the All Blacks won the final! Being involved in New Zealand culture has given them a sense of belonging and it is wonderful to see them bringing their families to the library. Over the years, many students have helped with cultural celebrations and displays and are avid users of our Learning English and Foreign Language collections.
Another way of being involved in the library is to pass your feedback on to us. You can also fill in a yellow card at the library (ask a librarian for one if you do not see one) and suggest a book, CD or DVD that you think would be good to have in our collection. (Or, if you prefer, you can also suggest a book online.)
Some ESOL students have indicated they would like to learn more about New Zealand culture and history. Here are a few items that may be of interest on this topic. Most readers come with a CD so you can read and listen to the story at the same time!
starts Wednesday 1 June! The Samoan language is the third most commonly spoken language in New Zealand after English and Maori. The week is an opportunity to celebrate the language and the culture of Samoan New Zealanders. The theme this year is Samoa Ola – Samoa Active, focusing on language, sport and healthy living and linking to the visit of Manu Samoa to New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup.
Wellington City Libraries has many resources about Samoan culture. Here are some recent purchases:
Samoan tattooing, or tatau is an ancient Polynesian art tradition and rite of passage that reaches its most powerful expression in the full body male tattoo, the pe’a. Building on the internationally touring exhibition Tatau, this extraordinary series of images by leading photographer Mark Adams documents the story of tatau in the Pacific and its remarkable globalisation.
Tusi`upu Sāmoa is a long-awaited dictionary of Sāmoan, the first comprehensive work of its sort written by a Sāmoan, papaāli`i Dr Semisi Ma`ia`i. Volume One contains the Sāmoan to English text. Volume Two contains the English to Sāmoan text.
This picture book is the story of Talia who is visiting her relatives in Samoa for the very first time!
So far we have had Gongfu Cha at Johnsonville library, English morning tea time with Ruth Gotlieb and last Thursday night we had Masala tea with Shani and Joji of Ispice at Karori library. I had the pleasure of listening to Shani’s presentation and tasting their wonderful Masala tea, and it was excellent! If you missed out it is not too late, the demonstration will be repeated in Mervyn Kemp (Tawa) library next Thursday from 7-8pm. All welcome!
Friday night (April 1) at Newtown Library, Matt from People’s Coffee will talk about fair trade coffee growers’ traditions, and you will have an opportunity to sample some of their delicious coffee. And last but certainly not least Oromia – Ethiopian coffee ceremony with Taitu Lemessa at Cummings Park Tuesday 5 April at 11 am.
Share your family traditions and experience coffee and tea drinking ceremonies from around the world at your local library!
Wellington City Libraries are also recording stories of cultural family traditions. We would love to hear you tell us about traditions that have been passed from generation to generation in your family, and record them to share with others. If you, or anyone you know, would like to talk to us please contact Ada Nally by phone 3892824 or email ada.nally@wcc.govt.nz
The sign outside says : Kom d’r in! koffie en stroopwafels!
Dutch seniors have been meeting on Wednesday mornings at the Island Bay Community Centre for many years, the coffee is good and although there were no stroopwafels *, plenty of other Dutch delicacies were on offer.
When I asked what the coffee was like when they first arrived in Wellington in the 1950’s the answer was unanimously: “There was none!”
How things have changed now in Wellington, apparently there are more coffee places to go to per head of the population than in New York!
A big thank you to the Dutch coffee group for letting us eavesdrop on their recent session talking about their memories and customs. Check out this videoclip!
* a stroopwafel is a waffle made from two thin layers of baked batter with a caramel-like syrup filling in the middle. They were first made in Gouda in the Netherlands, in 1784. Large versions are sold in the streets as a snack.
We have the recently published Suzy’s: a coffee house history, by Susette Goldsmith which describes the local cafe mentioned in the video clip. Hope to you see at one or all of our “put the kettle on” events, all welcome!
Learn about different traditions and share your own!
Experience Gongfu Cha – Chinese tea ceremony at Johnsonville library: Wednesday 23 March (11am)
High tea – English tea tradition at Kilbirnie library: Thursday 24 March (10.15am)
Masala tea – Indian tea tradition at Karori Library: Thursday 24 March (7pm) and Tawa Library: Thursday 31 March, (7pm)
Fair Trade coffee growers’ traditions at Newtown library: Friday 1 April (6pm)
Oromia – Ethiopian coffee ceremony at Cummings Park (Ngaio) Library: Tuesday 5 April (11am)
Further details can be found on the Wellington City Libraries’ event calendar
Update:
A big thank you to the Dutch coffee group for letting us eavesdrop on their recent session talking about their memories and customs. Check out this videoclip!
Come along and meet some of the authors of the new book Beyond the Dark Journey. In this book eight young people, all former refugees, share their stories not just about their journey here but also their experiences of settling into Aotearoa New Zealand. A special and extra feature is the addition of poems composed by the same writers. This book is dedicated to the courage of all refugees who live in New Zealand – for their suffering and displacement from their homeland.
After the reading, there will be copies available to borrow from our library collection, and order forms if you want to purchase your own copy ($25).
Did you know that Wellington City Libraries has books in over 40 community languages? Most of the adult books are located at Central Library on the first floor but we also have Chinese language collections in Newtown, Karori and Johnsonville libraries, and Ruth Gotlieb library (Kilbirnie) has an extensive Arabic language collection including biographies, cooking and health books.
Wondering what’s happening with social English? Come along to our free English conversation sessions!
So far we have had Gongfu Cha at Johnsonville library, English morning tea time with Ruth Gotlieb and last Thursday night we had Masala tea with Shani and Joji of Ispice at Karori library. I had the pleasure of listening to Shani’s presentation and tasting their wonderful Masala tea, and it was excellent! If you missed out it is not too late, the demonstration will be repeated in Mervyn Kemp (Tawa) library next Thursday from 7-8pm. All welcome!
Come along and meet some of the authors of the new book 
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