Armenian school of New Zealand to re-open

Armenpress News Agency , Armenia
November 13, 2017 Monday


Armenian school of New Zealand to re-open



YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Currently about 200 Armenians live
in New Zealand. They are mainly from Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and partly
from Armenia. The local Armenians mostly live in Auckland and
Wellington cities. The Armenian Union of New Zealand operates since
1996 which aims at preserving the Armenian identity and the Armenian
upbringing of children.

Head of the Armenian Union Nubar Yaghubian told Armenpress that they
spare no efforts for preserving the Armenian identity. “The Armenian
community of New Zealand is small and scattered. The Armenian school
was operating since 1996, but it closed due to lack of new students.
The preservation of the Armenian language is a major issue. There are
mixed marriages. At the moment the community makes efforts to re-open
the Armenian Sunday school in Auckland”, Nubar Yaghubian said, adding
that they try to keep contact with Armenia for organizing the
educational processes. Online training for teachers is being
organized. When the school is re-opened, the classes will also be
online so that the Armenians living in other cities of New Zealand
will be able to join. Specialists from Armenia will also join during
the online classes.

The Armenian community celebrates the holidays connected with Armenia,
as well as the remembrance days. Every year events are being organized
dedicated to Armenia’s Independence, the Army Day and etc.
Commemoration events are being held on the anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide.

Despite being small in number, the local Armenians are actively
engaged in different spheres. There are leading doctors, teachers,
banking and IT field specialists among them.

In line with the preservation of the Armenian identity, the Armenian
community also tries to make Armenia more recognizable within the
public through various measures.

“Because of the small community, few people know about Armenia. We are
trying to invite the local people as much as possible to our events.
We have a Facebook page where we post the list of events, as well as
information about Armenia”, he said.

A special attention is paid to the process of spreading the smell and
taste of the Armenian cuisine. Quite often the Armenian women cook and
sell Armenian dishes. Nubar Yaghubian noted that the people of New
Zealand have started to highly appreciate the Armenian dishes after
testing them.