celebrate good times, come on!

it's certainly been a week of celebrations.  sunday was eid, celebrating the end of a month of fasting, and i had a lovely day with friends and family.  everything just seemed to go right, and there was a lot of joy and laughter being shared.  i can't believe another ramadan is over already, though it did seem to last forever while it was going.  i guess it's because the shorter days means a lot of rushing around.

monday i went to auckland to celebrate the human rights commission diversity awards.  at the link, you'll find a word document giving details of the recipients.  there's a lot of good work being done by so many organisations, but the one that really resonated with me was migrante aotearoa nz, so i've included part of the background information below:

Migrate Aotearoa is an organisation of Filipino workers and their families with membership around the country. It was formed in 2009 in Auckland in response to cases of agents being unscrupulous in their dealings with migrant workers and reports of unfair labour practices. Migrante Aotearoa is part of Migrante International which has affiliates around the world. Migrante International was formed in 1996.

The group’s programmes are:

Organising and Education which is focussed on empowering Filipino migrants and their families by providing information about settling in New Zealand but also keeping our Filipino heritage alive.

Their Campaigns are focussed on building awareness and concern about the plight of poor and marginalised Filipinos asserting their welfare and promoting their holistic development. In 2010, they gathered in Christchurch to speak out against proposed employment law changes. Migrante also opposed the changes including 90 day trial extended to all employees in new jobs; limiting access to union representatives; and weakening rights if dismissed or disadvantaged.

of course i can't forget to mention that the waikato interfaith council (wifco) received an award for the work done by it's members over the last year.  i was lucky enough to be part of the group present to accept the award.  wifco has some great events coming up in the next couple of months, which you can check out at the link above.  the next event coming us is an interfaith treeplanting, happening on 1 september as part of the islam awareness week activities.  if you live in or around hamilton, i'd really encourage you to come.  details are at the website.

the final celebration this week was the 10th anniversary celebration tonight.  i can't believe it's been 10 years already.  it's certainly not been an easy 10 years - it's a lot of work, tension, and time.  but we've not only survived the 10 years, we've thrived.  that vision that was in our minds when we started this journey has really come to life - a centre that provides support for ethnic minority women, that provides a range of programmes and most importantly, provides services for victims of domestic violence.  i can only hope that we continue to stay strong and be there for the women of our communities, and their families.

in light of the issue of domestic violence, and brought to my mind because of this post by LJ at the handmirror, i'm posting a rather sad song by toni child, which i love: