Sense of perseverance and community: Hispanics and Latinos in Hamilton

New Zealand is made up of more than 213 cultures and ethnicities that live together and give great multicultural value to the small country.

Many of these ethnic groups either originate in the country or in Europe following colonisation in the 19th Century (70.2 percent identify as European, 16.5 percent as Māori). But there are also ethnic groups from different backgrounds that have immigrated in recent decades (15.1 percent as Asian, 8.1 percent as Pacific people, and 1.2 percent as Middle-Eastern, Latin American, and African).

The Latin Americans and Hispanics have never represented a significant part of the NZ population. However, in the Waikato  region, there is a big community that has been growing for the last few years as many of them have found comfort in the quiet city of Hamilton. 

Despite this, For Kiwis the Latin American cultures  still seem far away  as these people come from territories on the other side of the Pacific. For this reason, there are still many doubts around the Hispanic and Latin American representations.  Many Kiwis  believe everyone from central and south America is part of the same community when in reality, it is a little more complicated.

Can Latinos be Hispanic? Can Hispanic be Latinos? First of all, what is the difference? 

Latin America comprises 33 countries and all of them speak romance languages that come from Latin such as Spanish, Portuguese, and French. The majority of the countries speak Spanish but there are also countries such as Brazil (Portuguese) and Guyana (French).  

Hispanic is the term that refers only to Spanish speakers whose countries were colonised and influenced by Spain which is also considered as a Hispanic country. 

However, even when the definitions are different, culturally speaking, Latinos and Hispanics identify as one. People with colourful personalities, passionate about music, dance, and respect for traditions that are born from their ancestors. They come to New Zealand to get good opportunities, start again, and hopefully get to share a little bit of their culture.

Emigrating to an unknown country has never been an easy task. Many people who are looking for a better life have to face many difficulties before they pave their way to settle in a new country.

The Settlement Centre Waikato in Hamilton has been helping newcomers (immigrants and refugees) including Latinos and Hispanics since 2005, providing them with services such as legal advice, getting a driving licence, translating, employment solutions, police advisories, English language education, and a lot of other services, some free of charge.

This place is considered as a multicultural house where Latin Americans  feel the warmth of the community and  inclusion in times of unknown experiences. Everyone is welcome and all the staff are willing to help with any problem.

We talked to the operation manager of the centre, Ellie Wilkinson, who told us a little bit of the usual and the most difficult struggles immigrants face in Hamilton, and how they get the help of the centre to succeed in their goals. She said two of the biggest hurdles were the language barrier, and finding a job.

Ellie also talked about her experience working  with Latino and Hispanic immigrants. She said she found these culture very different from her own Kiwi culture.

The way Ellie has known many Latinos and Hispanics working in the centre is due to the different cultural groups they collaborate with. These groups have been created along the years while the community has been growing.

The “Grupo Hispano Latino” is one of the groups that works with the centre and it is a fusion between the Latin American and Hispanic communities, basically, Spaniards and Latinos together in order to share their culture and support.

The Grupo Hispano Latino was legally recognized by the city council in 2005 and the community has been growing since then, creating important events such as the  annual Spring Festival in Hamilton Gardens where people can enjoy watching dance performances from South American and Spain, live flamenco guitarists, Andina music, traditional food stalls and many more activities for the whole family.

Pepa Torre is a spanish photographer and traveller who came to New Zealand  in the middle of the economic crisis in her country many years ago.

Pepa explains that she kind of wanted to run away from the Spanish culture as she was looking for something different. But she never thought it would take six months until she could hear someone else speaking Spanish to her, something that she found surprisingly great and made her realise how important it  is to feel close to her own culture.

After that experience, Pepa started to meet more and more people that were either Latinos or Hispanics, and this lead her to become part of the Grupo Hispano Latino, which she explains as an organization with the purpose of the cultural maintenance of immigrants for Latin Americans and Hispanics here in Waikato 

After settling in Cambridge, she formed a beautiful family with her husband and her two lovely daughters. She has been trying to introduce the Spanish culture to her daughters to remind them to never forget where they come from.

Pepa being such a creative and energetic person, decided to dedicate her heart and passion to Flamenco dance. Flamenco is a musical genre with gypsy influences that was born in Spain and is characterized by having a strong rhythm and many movements with the hands almost like performance.

She teaches free Flamenco classes to anyone who is interested, no matter the age or where they are from, everyone is welcome. She persuades her students to feel the music and perform whatever comes from the heart. 

Pepa is fully committed with the community and she recognizes the massive growth in the number of people nowadays compared to when she just arrived in NZ. For this reason, Latinos and Hispanics have had more notice and it gives the chance to break with stereotypes that in the past were very strong.

The diversity of a country like New Zealand is always a good thing to show, and for Hispanic Latinos getting together and share the traditions to other cultures is a great honor.