Here Now

Canterbury-based botanists Dr Julie Barcelona and Pieter Pelser met in the US in the mid 2000s and it was their shared love for plants in tropical jungles that brought them together. What ensued has been years of botanical discovery and adventure - and some peculiar romantic gestures. WATCH A VIDEO ON THIS STORY Canterbury-based botanists Dr Julie Barcelona and Pieter Pelser met in the US and in t...

Leandro Vasquez of Abada Capoeira Auckland joins Kadambari Raghukumar in this episode to talk about celebrating the sense of community, art and camaraderie born out of this art. WATCH A SHORT VIDEO ON THIS EPISODE At a stadium in Auckland, close to a hundred people including a large number from the Brazilian community, have gathered to celebrate a Batizado, a graduation of sorts, of new capoeirist...

For many years, Rohingya Muslims have been fleeing their homes in Myanmar to find refuge here in New Zealand. Rashid Ansorali is one of them. He tells Liz Garton about his journey and why he now helps organise events that bring the Auckland Rohingya community together. Rashid Ansorali arrived in New Zealand as a teenager, fresh from fleeing his home in Myanmar. He's now secretary of the Burme...

Drawing from her Zimbabwean background, mental health nurse Sandra Szvenyika talks about navigating a career in her new adopted home. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

From being a cultural producer and advocate, to a doctoral candidate- Makanaka Tuve has been a bit of an icon in Auckland's African diaspora for several years now. In this third part of the series, she chats about what that journey's been like. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Social constructs, race and identity are topics that are perpetually on Dr Camille Nakhid's radar and in this episode of Here Now, she chats about her lengthy career in New Zealand with research and activism for minority communities. As an indigenous Trinidadian with Lebanese, African and Indian roots, AUT's Dr Camille Nakhid has been a leading voice in studies on Aotearoa's multicultura...

In part one of four conversations, four black women in New Zealand share their experiences of carving out careers for themselves in New Zealand to becoming leaders in their own fields - from medicine to mental health. In this four part series of conversations, Kadambari Raghukumar talks to four black women in Aotearoa New Zealand about their experiences across different lines of work from medicine...

Nalini Singh is a best-selling author of a very particular genre - paranormal romance - and she's now finding a creative reset in writing murder mysteries set in New Zealand. It's been quite the adventure for Nalini Singh who decided to give up a career in law in the early 2000s to become a romance writer, with what's now a worldwide cult-like following. Fiji-born Auckland-based Nalini S...

Bringing the best of Pan African cinema to New Zealand each year, the African Film Festival returns this month. From 18 to 26 July at Auckland's Capitol Cinema, the African Film Festival New Zealand deep dives into cinema from across the continent. Boubacar Coulibaly has been part of the team for the past nine years and joins Here Now in this episode to talk about his favourite picks and why...

Zurkhaneh - an ancient Persian system of athletics combines martial arts, music, strength and spiritual devotion and is picking up serious momentum in Canterbury. Zurkhaneh translates to "house of strength" in Persian and is a system of exercise based on combat using equipment that mimic weapons from centuries ago - from wooden clubs and maces, to shields and strips of metal that mimic t...

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...