New Zealand as a country has a strong legacy as being a culturally pluralistic and socially unified society.
And when we talk about the multiculturalism of NZ, it won’t be an exaggeration to say that the Kiwi-Indian diaspora has played an integral part in NZ's cultural ethos.
The Kiwi-Indians have been maintaining their identity in NZ primarily through numerous ethnic associations.
Among Kiwi-Indians, the Indian-Tamil diaspora (about 10,000), which has been increasing steadily, is one of the most active Indian ethnic groups in NZ. The fact that there are around 15 official Tamil associations across NZ bears testimony to it.
In the twenty-second part of our series on cultural Indian associations in NZ, we profile the Tamil Association of New Zealand Inc (TANZI), which started in 2018 to serve new Tamil immigrants from all over the world to settle here. When asked to describe TANZI, its President Sowndra Rajan Palanisamy says, “TANZI is a group of people who have come together to help Tamil people from all over the world, particularly from Tamil Nadu, to settle down smoothly in NZ. Our vision is to uphold Tamil and Aotearoa culture and values in NZ. We aim to help Tamil people adopt Aotearoa values and settle in NZ while maintaining their cultural heritage.”
Talking about the story behind its formation in 2018, Sowndra says, “TANZI was started in 2018 officially. But, as a group, we worked with students, helping in the initial arrival and settling process before that in an informal setting. We used to and continue to help people to find accommodation and jobs, and diverting them to the right people for help regarding IRD, immigration, accounting, taxation, real estate, and any other govt related information.
“These services are free of cost. It was well received and led us to make it a registered, not-for-profit organisation in 2018. Associations like us are critical in upholding and passing our cultural values to future generations.”
Interestingly, TANZI has been serving the Indian-Tamil community members through Whatsapp groups. Giving more details, Sowndra says, “We have people from all over NZ in our contact list. We maintain three WhatsApp groups for information interchange and to help the community. “
TANZI has 15 core members, 73 members and 1000-plus group participants associated with the free services rendered.
TANZI regularly organise social events and participates in events conducted by the Tamil and Indian diaspora.
“We promote cultural festivals like Pongal, Diwali and Tamil New Year, among others. We were instrumental in petitioning and participating in organising the celebrations of Pongal celebration in NZ parliament,” reveals a proud Sowndra.
Sowndra reveals that as a plan for TANZI, they would like to do more workshops for students and work visa holders and even planning to do Pongal in Marae.
“We would love to have increased support and collaboration of New Zealanders to expand the scope further to reach the community. We envision having our wings in all major cities in the near future,” he signs off.
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