When Laytee George's children were subjected to calls of "ching chong" while walking in Ngongotaha she knew she had to do something.
Her answer was education - in 2005 the Rotorua branch of the New Zealand Chinese Language Association was set up.
Mrs George moved to Rotorua from Malaysia with
her husband Thomas 22 years ago - it was their city of choice. They married soon after arriving at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church in traditional Indian dress in a congregation that was mostly "elderly New Zealanders".
"The minister introduced us as foreigners who had just arrived and our marriage ceremony was an Indian tradition. There was a lot of assumption that we didn't speak English."
That couldn't have been further from the truth - they had both learned English and had lived in Western cultures before moving here. They didn't encounter any racism until the Ngongotaha incident.
