While we know that most Asians who come to New Zealand want to live in the bigger cities, especially Auckland, many are also choosing to live in smaller cities around New Zealand. What brings them to these cities are jobs but also study opportunities at local polytechnics. Tourism is becoming an important industry which attracts young people on working holiday visas. A University of Auckland lecturer, Wardlow Friesen, has written a report for Asia New Zealand Foundation on Asians in six small cities around New Zealand. To read the full report, click here.
Although the numbers of Asians in these cities may appear small, their numbers have increased rapidly in the last few years. Along with the increase have come changes to cater for the newcomers such as Asian mini-markets, restaurants, takeaways, places of worship, celebrations of festivals and support agencies like Multicultural Associations. While there were a few racist incidents at first, on the whole, local people have welcomed the newcomers.
Invercargill and surrounding districts have attracted workers to the dairy farming industry, especially Filipinos. They are usually very well qualified, about half becoming managers on a farm. In fact, they are sometimes over-qualified – one example is a vet who is now a farm worker. Isolation can be a problem for newcomers because of the distance to travel for social contacts and the need to drive. SIT, Southland Institute of Technology had about 600 international students in three years. SIT is proud of their pastoral care of students and their claim to help students find employment.
The Asian population in Queenstown has grown at twice the rate of the total population in the last 12 years. Japanese continue to be the biggest number. They are mostly involved in the tourist industry – restaurants, hotels and shops for tourists. Queenstown is popular with Indians also. Many Bollywood movies have been made in Queenstown. The local high school has 36 different ethnicities. This diversity is probably similar in other small cities.
Rotorua is a tourist city, like Queenstown. Indians make up the biggest number of Asians, with Chinese second and then Filipino. The latter work mostly in the health sector, especially taking care of old people. The Newcomers Network has set up ‘buddy families’ to help new arrivals. Waiariki Institute of Technology has about 1,000 international students, 95% of them Asians. One interesting difference in this city is the focus on Chinese language and culture in primary and secondary schools.
Next time, Napier / Hastings, Nelson and Tauranga.
Vocabulary
• cater for – provide for their needs
• places of worship – churches, temples
• pastoral care – looking after students e.g. finding accommodation, dealing with problems
• buddy – friend