A big thank you to Amelia’s mum, Caroline for helping us celebrate Amelia’s Indian heritage. We learnt that Amelia’s great great grandfather (Jivla Ravji)first came to New Zealand in 1919 and Amelia’s other great grandfather (Unkabhai Kanji Dhanjee) features in a book titled Indian Settlers:The story of a New Zealand South Asian Community by Jacqueline Leckie. We can only imagine how strange New Zealand must have been to them and the kind of adjustments they must have made.

Our celebrations involved traditional dress, music and food. We made daal and raita with the children and later Caroline showed us how to make roti bread. Caroline kindly contributed vegetable samosas, onion bhaji, bread balls filled with saag and gantiya ( a chick pea flour snack). Caroline’s friend Medla helped too and described growing up in England.

This was a great opportunity for the children to experience a culture that many would be unfamiliar with, the music, the tastes and the language to enrich their experiences of different cultures. It expresses to Amelia that the Indian part of her heritage is important to us as well and it is fun to celebrate it.