Jamie Searle17:10, Jul 18 2021
Jamie Searle/Stuff
Dianelby Gutierrez, left, Mary Sulay Sanchez and Andrea Murrell display some of the Colombian food served at the country s Independence Day celebrations in Invercargill on Saturday.
Colombian Independence Day is on Tuesday, but celebrations have already started in Invercargill at the weekend. More than 200 former Colombian refugees live in Southland and a lot of them were celebrating at the Southern Institute of Technology’s Hansen Hall on Saturday. The event was organised by the MAR Colombia Charity Trust, which is for Colombian immigrants in Southland, and the Southland Multicultural Council. Trust president Andrea Murrell said Saturday’s event was important to the Colombian community in Southland.
He was at a Christchurch backpackers wondering what to do next. Little did he know at the time that his journey to Southland 18 years ago he would become part of a wave of Filipino workers that have changed the south and farming industry. Tolentino is believed to be the second Filipino dairy worker to arrive in Southland (2003) and the first was his friend Mark Taguiam who started working on a farm in 2002. Today, Southland is home to about 2000 Filipinos who have predominantly worked in the dairy, nursing and rest home industries. When in Christchurch, not knowing what to do, Tolentino was given a lifeline by former farmers the Carpenters. The couple employed Taguiam at the time.