The first citizenship ceremony for 2022 was held at Rotorua Lakes Council on Wednesday.
It was a special atmosphere as 28 people became Kiwi citizens at the first citizenship ceremony since July 2021.
The first citizenship ceremony for 2022 was held at Rotorua Lakes Council on Wednesday, and was also a special one for Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick and deputy mayor Dave Donaldson, as this was their last ceremony before leaving council duties.
The 28 new Kiwis have come from countries including United States of America, United Kingdom, India, Republic of Korea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Latvia.
Rotorua Lakes Council staff performed welcoming items for the candidates.
During the ceremony Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick said it was exciting to be there face-to-face once again.
"It's also deputy mayor Dave Donaldson and my last citizenship ceremony for our term on council. It's very special for us to be here with you today for one more citizenship ceremony."
Image 1 of 15: Citizenship Ceremony Casper, Abigail, Marike and Joshua Van Der Merwe from South Africa. 07 September 2022 The Daily Post Photo/Andrew Warner
Those becoming New Zealand citizens received a book and a plant to take home, with the trees given out being titoki and kapuka.
Steve said, "These are to take away and plant somewhere so that one day you can bring your children back and say, 'this was from the day we became New Zealand citizens' ... it is about you putting your roots in the soil here."
Each candidate had an opportunity to share a bit about themselves and their stories, and a recurring sentiment shared by those receiving their New Zealand citizenship was that they were grateful to be in Rotorua and Aotearoa.
Jae Ill Kim from Republic of Korea said he and his wife love New Zealand, and especially love Rotorua.
"We've been here for a long time and decided to become citizens because New Zealand welcomed us as a family, and now it is time to embrace New Zealand as our family. We are very grateful for this opportunity."
Angelo Santos from the Philippines said he and his wife came to New Zealand six years ago, and chose to do so so their kids could have a better future.
"Now we have two kids, and New Zealand has been very welcoming and nice to us. We've met a lot of people here and are really grateful to be here."
Sini Joseph from India said they had been in New Zealand for nearly 10 years and were thankful for this opportunity to become New Zealand citizens.
She said it had been a great opportunity to explore a better life.
Ceryn Hutin from the United Kingdom said they had come to New Zealand about 12 years ago to travel extensively and they fell in love with the country, so two years later they moved here.
She said it had been an opportunity for their children to grow as part of a community, to appreciate what it is to be part of a community, and for that to help define them as a person.
