Here Now

From having to start afresh as a refugee in New Zealand to adjusting to a whole new life as a new amputee - Naeem Hashemi's life is a remarkable story of grit and faith. Starting life afresh in New Zealand as an Afghan refugee wasn't easy for Naeem Hashemi but within a month of arriving, he was dealt an added challenge - the amputation of his arm. Listen to his remarkable story of grit in thi...

Twenty-five years ago when the Kosovo war ended, nearly 800,000 Kosavar Albanians were left displaced. Some went to Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and a small number arrived in New Zealand as refugees. https://players.brightcove.net/6093072280001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6354975186112 In March 1999 a brutal war in Kosovo exploded into an international crisis as NATO commenced an air camp...

What's it like for a new refugee to arrive in New Zealand, get resettled and start a new life here? This month we are marking World Refugee Day with 3-part series on stories on refugee resettlement in New Zealand. WATCH this to find out more. Each year, New Zealand accepts about 1500 refugees in about seven intakes. In part one of the three-part series - what determines the makeup of these intakes...

The Pacific and Nordic regions couldn't be further from each other but in this episode Phil Vine's out to find discover some uncanny similarities between NZ and Iceland, and where we really are poles apart. Iceeland and Aotearoa - are they twins? Two nations separated at birth? Well, that's the impression you might get from reading travel blogs about our two countries. And true, there are som...

A year into the civil war, millions of Sudanese have been forcibly displaced while diaspora here are desperately holding on to hope for their family members directly impacted. The conflict in Sudan has caused the forced displacement of over 8 million people and over 15,000 have been killed in fighting across the country. While the world remains focussed on Gaza and Ukraine, Sudan is on the brink o...

Tucked away in west Auckland, a bird rescue centre has been attracting people with experience from around the world keen to help rescue injured NZ avians. WATCH BIRDS IN CARE Perched on a hill in West Auckland, BirdCare Aotearoa receives and treats nearly 6000 birds every year - native and non-native species. Of late, the talent BirdCare has been attracting has been increasingly international - fr...

Brain, brawn and technique comes together seamlessly in Kabaddi and Punjabi fans in New Zealand are more hyped than ever for what some call their 'origin sport'. WATCH KABADDI HERE At the Takanini Sikh temple where an intense Kabaddi match is underway, the teams are tussling it out one final time after six weeks of playing matches all around the country. The stands behind the temple are filling up...

The beautiful game became an expression for solidarity through World of Cultures' Football Fest this month bringing players together from several diaspora communities in Auckland. Kadambari Raghukumar spoke to some about their memories of Gaza. Football players from over 26 teams found solidarity through sport at the Football Fest as part of the annual World of Cultures event in Auckland's Wa...

Indian classical music is alive and well in Auckland and Ruwani Perera gets to discover how the people behind Migrant Heritage Trust keep the tradition thriving in the diaspora. In today's episode of Here Now we meet the couple behind the charity that has been helping new immigrants settle in New Zealand and cushion the culture shock. The Migrant Heritage Trust, run by Prashant Belwalker and...

Chef and food creative Sam Low talks about finding virtuosity and his life before and after winning Masterchef 2022. Sam Low was a shy 8-year-old when he arrived from Fiji to Auckland. After winning Masterchef 2022 and challenging cliched notions of Asian-inspired cooking, he's now a household name in Aotearoa. In this episode of Here Now, the food creative and author of Modern Chinese takes...

Extolling the virtues of his home country in this episode, Jamaican Honorary Consul Dave Phillips talks about his love for his island in this episode. When Dave Phillips first came to the South Island it was a lack of limes for his rum punch that essentially set him on a journey to become a purveyor of all things critically Jamaican, hot sauce included. In this episode of Here Now, he chats with K...

Singers from across the world found common ground through their journeys, convening at WOMAD this month. Kadambari Raghukumar speaks to Lady Shaka and Pongo in this episode of Here Now. In this episode of the podcast Kadambari Raghukumar goes behind the scenes at WOMAD to talk to two performers about pushing their craft and cultures through their music - DJ Lady Shaka of Pasikifa, Maori and Cape V...

Tarik Rahim grew up drawing from a rich pool of cultures and finding expression through surf and music. In this episode, Kadambari Raghukumar talks to him about calling NZ home, for a short while. Tarik Rahim's 26 and he's been in Mount Maunganui for about a year now - mainly going between the surf, studios, making the the odd surfboard once in a while thanks to learning tricks from his...

Artham Dance Company want to shake up both an ancient text and a revered dance tradition. The company founders tell Justin Gregory they are not afraid of a challenge. Auckland's Artham Dance Company are promising a revolution in their new show, Yānum - Fragments of Femininity. Founded by choreographer and dancer Dr Bhuvana Kannan and creative producer Padma Akula, Artham offer a contemporary...

The latest Outward Bound programme saw a whole cross-section of New Zealanders take part and this week we're featuring some of them on Here Now. Luis Perez left Colombia with his family as a 10 year as refugees, and made it to New Zealand as a 19-year old, exactly 10 years ago. A chance to participate in the challenging 21-day Outward Bound Southern Cross programme this year came at a time when he...

Earlier this month, Here Now went live in front of an audience at the Podfest at Q. Producer and host Kadambari Raghukumar spoke to thespians Jacob Rajan and Pedro Ilgenfritz all about the magic of masks. In the first ever live podcast Here Now had a live audience at Q Theatre earlier this month as part of Podfest at Q. This week Here Now features excerpts from the conversation with incredible the...

MIXIT in Tāmaki Makarau uses drama and dance to help young refugees gain confidence and in this Here Now episode, Phil Vine talks to former graduate Izadine Ahmed Abdallah about his story. Izadine Ahmed Abdallah was 13 and in a refugee camp in Chad when he learnt that his family had been offered a refugee placement in New Zealand, a country he'd never heard of. Now 24, Izzy has found purpose...

In this third part of the conversation around stereotypes, we're chatting about Mexico. Here Now is produced and presented by Kadambari Raghukumar. This week on Here Now, we're continuing the conversation around cultural cliches - this time, with Mexico. What do Auckland-based Mexicans make of the stereotypes they're faced with here in New Zealand? From tacos to mariachi, to tropes aroun...

In part two of a series around cultural stereotypes, Kadambari Raghukumar talks South America through the eyes Auckland-based Colombians. Not everything in Colombia ends and begins with salsa. In part two of our conversations around cultural stereotypes, Kadambari Raghukumar unpacks some of those classic Colombian cliches with Ana Ruiz and Marlon Ortiz. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more det...

Here Now's first episode for 2024 is all about creatives drawing from or away from cultural stereotypes. Join Kadambari Raghukumar as she talks about some Indian tropes around Mumbai and Delhi. In this episode we're talking to Auckland-based filmmaker Shreya Bhagwat and theatre director Sananda Chatterjee about the classic old cliches around India, and how as diaspora creatives they draw or d...

Djs Banty and Nadine talk to Kadambari Raghukumar in this latest Voices episode on bringing African music to the club scene in Auckland. In this episode, we're talking to DJs Banty and Nadine about their journeys to New Zealand to make a life for themselves that revolves around advocating for music from Africa. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Breaking down the background to the idea of 'wokeness' are Ira Munn and Andreea Calude, in this episode of Voices. With its roots in African-American Vernacular English (AAVE), the phrase 'staying woke' was born out of racial justice and popped up around 1938 as part of a song by a protest blues singer Lead Belly in which he refers to the need to 'stay woke' in the light of rac...

Voices this week looks at some December events to look forward to from the south Asian and African diaspora in Auckland. This month, Prayas Theatre puts on their rendition of Mricchakatika, The Little Claycart, a Sanskrit play written in 5th century BC. We're talking to people behind the theatre production by Prayas. Also in this episode, Kadambari talks to Thabani Gapara, music director of J...

In this episode of Voices, producer Karthic SS talks to Siddharth Nambiar, a wildlife filmmaker based in Dunedin. In this episode of Voices we talk to Siddharth Nambiar, an wildlife filmmaker based in Dunedin. Over the years he's gathered an impressive list of credits having worked on documentaries for broadcasters like National Geographic, Animal Planet, and Discovery. In this podcast Sid sh...

A fire gutted an Auckland sports club and took with it all the instruments of a Caribbean steelpan orchestra that also used the space. In this episode we chat to Camille Nakhid about what next for the 18-year-old cultural group? The Caribbean Southern Stars, a steelpan orchestra that used the Marist Rugby league clubrooms in Mt Albert as a rehearsal space and to store their instruments, have lost...