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Kia ora, malo e lelei, talofa lava, namaste, ni hao, mabuhay, anyoung haseyo, and very warm greetings to all.

This month, I was delighted to celebrate Indian Independence Day with so many of our New Zealand Indian families and friends, at Radio Tarana’s event in Auckland. It was very special to have so many of my Cabinet and parliamentary colleagues, as well as major community organisations attend. Well done to everyone who made this celebration a success.

Kia ora, namaste, ni hao, mabuhay, anyoung haseyo, mālō e lelei and very warm greetings to you all.

I began the month by visiting many bright year 7 and 8 students at St John the Evangelist School, in Ōtara. I shared with them my migration journey; from arriving as a Tongan teenager with English as a second language, to becoming a Cabinet Minister. It was a delight to meet such a diverse group of engaged students and future leaders. Many of our students and their families have similar migration journeys in coming to settle in Aotearoa New Zealand. It was a great opportunity to acknowledge their skills, and the ambition of positive changes they wish to bring about in South Auckland.

Each year the Office of Ethnic Communities supports a range of worthy community initiatives through the Ethnic Communities Development Fund.  Last year, we supported Umma Trust to set up a programme to empower refugee Muslim youth to become mentors and role models for refugee children and youth in their local community. This resulted in a number of successful outcomes for youth.

This year marks the 125^th anniversary of the women’s suffrage movement, which succeeded in giving women in Aotearoa the right to vote. In recognition of this achievement, this month feature Nirmala Narasimhan who is a current champion for change for ethnic women.