Migrant stories sought for new book

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Residents belonging to diverse migrant families are being invited to submit their personal stories of immigration for a new book called Diversity Out East.

The 50-page photo book is being produced by the Tairāwhiti Multicultural Council (TMC), which plans to document the journey of first and second-generation migrants and their children.

“We want to show that their contribution to Tairāwhiti is more than the dairy shop or Chinese takeaways,” council president Arish Naresh said.

He said former race relations commissioner Meng Foon was a fine example of how someone growing up in a migrant family  turned out to be one of the longest-serving mayors in the country.

“What’s unique is that he was ably succeeded by current mayor Rehette Stoltz who is a migrant from South Africa.”

Mr Naresh said the council had already taken steps to collect several stories, one of which would be a special feature on TMC secretary Meredith Stewart (JasNoor Kaur Khalsa) telling how she found her way into Sikhism.

The idea to publish a book originated from a conversation he had with Ms Stewart earlier this year.

“We had this discussion about a book called Feast: Our Food Out East which is basically a collection of recipes from several Gisborne people.

“Gradually we shifted our topic to how different families were trying to cope with the effects of recent storms and trying to help each other out. That’s when it hit us that why not document how our migrants have contributed to the region,” he said.