Luka Horanna Arcanjo Da Silva (right) with family member Ronaldo Neilson celebrate after the afternoon citizenship ceremony. Photo / Judith Lacy
Luka Horanna Arcanjo Da Silva (right) with family member Ronaldo Neilson celebrate after the afternoon citizenship ceremony. Photo / Judith Lacy
As Dave Dobbyn’s anthem Welcome Home played about 160 Palmerston North residents went into the world for the first time as New Zealand citizens.
Palmerston North City Council held two citizenship ceremonies last Thursday at the Conference and Function Centre.
Knowing their citizenship ceremony was coming up, Anu Shinu asked her mother to make her and her daughters Hanna, 9, and Haniyah, 3, pale green dresses.
Shinu purchased shirts in the same colour for her husband Shinu Ulahannan and their son Hanoch, 5, to wear as the family received their citizenship certificates.
The registered nurses moved from Kerala in southern India to New Zealand in 2015.
Anu Shinu (left) and Shinu Ulahannan with their children Hanna, 9, Hanoch, 5, and Haniyah, 3, at a Palmerston North Citizenship Ceremony on February 22. Photo / Judith Lacy
Born in Iran, gastroenterologist Kamran Rostami moved to Palmerston North from England about five years ago. He has also lived in Romania and the Netherlands. His wife, Adele Rostami, was born in South Africa and they met in England.
The couple became New Zealand citizens last Thursday along with their sons Cyrus, 18, and Kinush, 14.
Luka Horanna Arcanjo Da Silva is from the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. He immigrated to Auckland eight years ago and two years later moved to Palmerston North to be near family.
The 24-year-old is a team leader at Foodstuffs dry goods distribution centre on Roberts Line.
At the afternoon ceremony, 24 of the new citizens came from India and 10 from the UK. There were six each from the Philippines and South Africa and four from Syria.
Iran and Thailand had three each, while Afghanistan, Cambodia, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Samoa and Taiwan had two each.
One person each came from Brazil, Fiji, Jordan, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Serbia, the United States and Zimbabwe.
Mayor Grant Smith told the new citizens he hoped they would have many happy and rewarding years as citizens of New Zealand and ambassadors for Palmerston North. The city has one of the most diverse populations in the world.
Speaking in te reo Māori, Wiremeu Te Awe Awe welcomed the new citizens on behalf of Rangitāne. In his trademark jokey style, he told them in English they had chosen the best city to live in. No one wants to live in Auckland and Wellington is too windy.
People who played football needed to get a life and play rugby, Te Awe Awe said.
Welcome home, I bid you welcome, I bid you welcome
Judith Lacy has been the editor of the Manawatū Guardian since December 2020. She graduated from journalism school in 2001 and this is her second role editing a community paper.
