At a ceremony last week, cultures and communities from across South Canterbury came together to bid farewell to Nils Macfarlane as he stepped down from his role as general manager at Multicultural Aoraki.
Mr Macfarlane took over the role after Katy Houstoun departed from the organisation in 2024.
He said he had very much enjoyed his time at Multicultural Aoraki.
“I’ve really enjoyed this position and working with the team.
“It’s been an amazing privilege to be able to experience and share so many different cultures, be part of the welcoming communities here and just celebrate South Canterbury and all the diverse cultures we have.
Mr Macfarlane said the biggest takeaway from his time in the role was learning just how similar everyone really was.
“We all love to celebrate, especially over food and with family and friends. Those types of things are all such an important part of everyone’s culture.
“I’m really thankful to the communities who have embraced me into their little cultural groups when I’ve had the chance to be there, and I really love the work that Multicultural Aoraki do.
“It’s all about trying to take away that isolation from people and make sure that we have a welcoming, safe place for everyone here.”
He was moving on to take up a role as an immigration adviser for Black Sands Immigration Consulting, he said.
“I was really lucky that I got approached by Black Sands Immigration, and I’ve worked with Carmi [Sanico] and Jamee [Zohs] in the past. They’re really awesome employers to work for.
“I thought I’d better not miss that opportunity, and it’s also a great chance for a new look for Multicultural Aoraki as well, a new direction.
“We’ve got so big, and we got big at a time that some agencies probably weren’t doing what they could have been doing. But now I’ve got full confidence in the amazing community agencies we do have around and we probably don’t need to be that social service provider that we once were.
“It is a chance for us to downsize a little bit and to just focus on what we are here for, which is celebration, events and bringing people together.”
Mr Macfarlane officially departed last week, and former Volunteering Mid and South Canterbury general manager Haidee Woods has been appointed as the organisation’s new service manager.
One of his last acts as general manager was to hand over the money the organisation had raised to support families in the Solomon Islands who had been affected by Cyclone Maila.
It collaborated with Pasifika O Aoraki to sell chop suey (sapasui) lunchboxes for $10 each after former Solomon Island resident Gloria Anisi, who now resides in Timaru, asked if it could help.
The fundraiser raised $1000 and Ms Anisi said she was very grateful to the two organisations.
“This donation will be going to my community to help the churches back home. The cyclone was hitting all parts of the Solomon Islands, but my province Simbo was one of the most affected.
“I’m very thankful to Multicultural Aoraki and Pasifika O Aoraki. A thousand dollars in New Zealand is like $5000 in the Solomon Islands, so it’s a lot of money and the people in the community will be very appreciative of this donation.”
