Indian Association of New Zealand 4.49

Indian Association of New Zealand – AINZ in brief, will welcome Indians from any origin, whether from any part of India – Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kashmir, Bengal, Malayalam, Karnataka or any state, any country – Fiji, England, South Africa, USA, Africa, – say any country of the world. We are all Indians and our doors are open to all. There are no qualifications and conditions based on caste, creed, state, origin or financial commitment.

In the late 1970s, there were a few Indian families living in South Auckland mainly Gujaratis and Punjabis. All these families were scattered all around various suburbs of Mangere, Paptoetoe, Othahuhu, Maurewa, Papakura etc, mainly in south Auckland. A need was felt by these people to get together, for social and community occassions. There was also a compelling sense of teaching mother tongue languages, Gujarati and Punjabi to the Kiwi Indian children.

In 1979, a group of Gujaratis and some Punjabis started to get together to form some sort of closenit community activities and decided to start at least the educational process for the young generation. This prompted the move to hire the class rooms at the Papatoetoe Central Primary school on weekends to start teaching the language and culture to the children.

While the children were in classes, the parents got to know each other closely and a sense of community spirit envoled. “Manukau” name was relatively unknown during that time and the area of current Manukau was bare land without any shopping centres, car yards, and houses.

In 1980 this movement of parents gained momentum and the group registered themselves as “South Auckland Indian Cultural Society Incorporated”. As the name implies, the main purpose of the society was to preserve and promote our culture and heritage and pass onto the new generation.