In 2001, 91% of Southland's population was Pākehā. Only 0.9% was Asian. 20 years later, that's grown to 7% Asian, with more than a third of those being Filipino.

When Southland’s dairy farming sector had massive labour shortages in the early 2000s, Filipino dairy workers came to fill those gaps.

Filipinos came with the hopes for a better life, not just for themselves, but also for their families.

Guillermo Tolentino was 25 years old when he moved to Southland in 2003. 

He says he was the second Filipino dairy worker in the region - the first was his friend, who helped him get a job at the farm he worked at.

The weather was a big shock.

”We’ll come into work in wet weather gear because it’s raining, then it suddenly gets hot, then it’s pouring wet again,” Guillermo, who goes by the nickname G, says.

So was the lack of people - back home in the Philippines, he was surrounded by neighbours. 

“It was so shocking to me… Because back at home, there’s a lot of people [nearby] you can ask for help.”

But he says his bosses at the time, who he’s remained friends with, would call him every night to check in on him and invite him over for a cup of tea.

One day G told his boss he thought his workmates hated him because they were swearing so much, something that’s considered very rude in Filipino culture.

He says his boss laughed, and explained to him that “swearing here is just normal.” 

“She said to me, ‘Try swearing at them, and they will love you’.” 

Taking her advice in stride, G told his colleague “F you!” who in turn hugged him and said “He’s a bloody Kiwi now!”

Guillermo Tolentino at Tihaka Farm located at Riverton, Southland, one of the farms he’s a shareholder of. Photo: Supplied

Adapting to Southland life

G says he was able to adapt to Southland life relatively easily and was embraced by the community.

“If you’re new in the area, the community, like the Presbyterian Church, they will send you a lot of vegetables, food… They support you, they give you some meat and [visit] you.”

An old photo of G in his early years in Southland. Photo: Supplied

Southland Migrant Walking Together Organisation director Himani Mishra Galbraith is originally from India and moved to Invercargill in 2007, after spending a year in Tāmaki Makaurau.

She says the Filipino sense of community, empathy and adaptability have helped them thrive in Southland.

Southland Migrant Walking Together Organisation director Himani Mishra Galbraith. Photo: Supplied.

Himani says the Filipino community is in a position to help other migrants.

“They’ve got a very strong support network. They have started social gatherings and their cultural events and they’re forming meaningful connections with the locals.” 

“Their openness and their adaptability coupled with Southland's increasing appreciation for diversity, as I’ll put it, has helped bridge cultural gaps [with all migrants] and it helped in fostering a sense of belonging.”

But she says there are still some challenges that migrants face – from employers who don’t grant employees leave on their cultural holidays, to migrant exploitation.

“As we have got more of a rural community here, there are chances that people get exploited and it will go unnoticed because they are so far [away], and they’re unreachable.

“Nobody reaches out to them and they don’t know how to reach out for help, they were so scared for their visa situations.”

Not all Filipino workers were treated well

And not everyone shares G’s good experiences. He says some of his friends’ employers didn’t treat them very well.

“Since they [his friends] didn’t know what the culture is here, they didn’t know how to work here in New Zealand… Sinisigawan sila (they’d get scolded)... The treatment’s not that good.”

This is why he, along with other Filipino friends who already settled, would help and mentor the first wave of Filipino dairy workers.

G says they wanted to show people that they didn’t come to New Zealand with nothing, they hold bachelor degrees from the Philippines and they have aspirations to move up in their careers.

And they proved just that

A lot of them now, G says, are farm owners, shareholders or contract milkers (a self-employed dairy farmer who manages a farm and is paid a share of the milk income).

G himself is a contract milker and a farm shareholder, which means he owns a farm with a few other people.

His wife arrived about eight months after he did and they built a life in Southland together, raising their two sons who were born in Aotearoa.

Left: An old photo of G and his wife, Christina, riding a tractor. Right: Christmas photo of G and his family at their home. Photos: Supplied

A new generation of Filipinos born in Southland

Two decades since Filipino migrants settled in the region, hundreds of second-generation Filipinos have been born. 255 of them to be exact, according to the 2018 census.

Jovi Chavez is one of them.

His dad moved to Southland in 2007 and his mum followed in 2009 to make the country’s southernmost region their home.

Now Jovi’s parents are second-season contract milkers.

Farming is an aging industry in New Zealand, with the median age of farmers being 46.5 according to the 2023 census. 

But 14-year-old Jovi says he would love to be a farmer like his parents one day.

He was nine years old when he started helping his mum relief milking and that’s when he started to love dairy farming.

Relief milkers assist the milking team to gather the milk from the cows, and keep the milking environment clean.

Even as young as he is, he’s set on being a farmer because he says there’s “nothing too boring” about it that’ll make him quit.

Jovi Chavez says he’s set on being a farmer one day. Photo: Supplied

When he turns 18, he wants to be a tractor driver - but says he does have four more years to think about it.

Not all his Filipino friends who live on farms share his dream, but for him being on a farm just feels like home.

“The biggest part of New Zealand is farming and it just needs to carry on in the future.”

Jovi Chavez says being on a farm just feels like home. Photos: Supplied

The Regions is a docuseries that gives a snapshot of the lives of regional rangatahi in Aotearoa and the issues that matter to them.

Watch the full series now on TVNZ+ and YouTube.

Made with the support of NZ On Air. 

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