Five generations of one family together for an afternoon tea

Athena Caroline Hammerich, sleeping through at an afternoon tea with her mother, grandfather, great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother.

Athena Caroline Hammerich didn't seem to care what all the fuss was about.

The 2-week-old baby was blissfully unaware she was the centre of attention at a family get-together of five generations at Koputaroa, near Levin, last week.

She soundly slept as photographs were taken in the arms of her mother Jayde Hammerich, 20, and alongside grandfather Jason Wither, 44, great-grandmother Cheryal Wither, 63, and great-great-grandmother Sylvia Pyle, 80.

Athena weighed a healthy 4.2kg when she arrived at Palmerston North Hospital on July 14 and was proving to be a content baby.

She was the first of the family to be born in New Zealand, the rest of the family having originally come from Zimbabwe.

An afternoon tea for five generations ... Sylvia Pyle, 80, Cheryal Wither, 63, Jason Wither, 44, Jayde Hammerich, 20, and baby Athena, 2 weeks.

Jason Wither was the first of the family to leave their home country, replying to a call 20 years ago to fill a shortage of farmworkers in New Zealand.

He arrived two weeks later, Jayde was just a baby, and had worked and lived in New Zealand ever since.

The fact the family were all able to be together to celebrate special occasions was not lost on them, as Jason's parents were driven off the family farm in Zimbabwe at gunpoint under a controversial land reform programme launched by former president Robert Mugabe.

Mugabe argued it would redress colonial-era land grabs. Under the programme, most of the country's 4000 white farmers - then the backbone of Zimbabwe's agricultural economy - were forced from the land.

Sylvia Pyle still harbours fond memories of her home country, and couldn't help but still call it Rhodesia.

Athena Caroline Hammerich, sleeping through at an afternoon tea with her mother, grandfather, great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother.

"I still call it Rhodesia. It really was the most beautiful country," she said.