Conversations With My Immigrant Parents
A podcast and video series where parents and children learn about each other anew, and confront those complex issues that are deepened by differences in generation and culture.
A Middle Eastern family talks about how it feels to be displaced | Conversations With My Immigrant…
“I feel like I really wanted to see Syria but now it’s too late."
How an Indian-Māori whānau balance between their cultures | Conversations With My Immigrant Parents
“Indian person running the marae - some people they make a laugh of it.”
Arriving from Fiji, newly-wed Halima Stewart headed straight to Tapu Te Ranga Marae…
A Filipino solo dad and his daughter talk parenthood and life with grief | Conversations With My…
Content warning: This episode refers to mental health, grief, and death.
"There were no parents' rooms back then; there were only mothers' rooms."
In Kirikiriroa, a Filipino solo…
Two Indonesian sisters talk about finding your place miles away from home | Conversations With My…
“I don’t think I can move back to Indonesia. Home for me is now here,” says Avi.
Getting residency in New Zealand was harder than losing the ability to walk | Conversations With My…
Juliana and her mother Nadmea came to Aotearoa from Brazil after eight years of battling with New Zealand’s immigration system.
Before Juliana moved, as an 19 year…
My Samoan mum taught me how to make something out of nothing | Conversations With My Immigrant…
Alby's mum Lina moved from Samoa to Wellington when she was 20 years old. All she wanted was to help give her son an education -…
A Sri Lankan family talks about guilt, obligation, and what freedom really means | Conversations…
“I think there is this misunderstanding that some people have about what staying at home with your parents indicates. I think in Sri Lankan culture it…
Judah, Tafara, and Pako: Not Your White Boy | Conversations With My Immigrant Parents
“Not getting a job doesn’t surprise me, I feel like racism plays a part in that. I’ve been looking for work for the last ten years,…
Honest Conversations With Our Mums
“I hate it when people don’t know I’m brown,” says Saraid de Silva Cameron, who has both Sri Lankan and Pākehā heritage. Conversely, her mum Karenza…
A Zimbabwean mum, dad and daughter interrogate colonial tools in New Zealand
“The future of countries like Zimbabwe lies in the hands of the diaspora child.”
Amos Muzondiwa reflects with his wife Nyembezi and daughter Takunda on their two…
The intergenerational trauma of war
Mom Meng came to Aotearoa in 1979 as a refugee from Cambodia. After spending two years in a refugee camp, she arrived in New Zealand with…
Being a brown family entering white spaces
The Solomons were a brown family on a predominantly white street in Auckland’s North Shore - “the best street in Birkdale”. There, they experienced the kind…
A Korean mum and daughter talk about divorce
Does getting a divorce mean you failed? For Bokyong Mun, her parents’ divorce made perfect sense, and she’s glad they were brave enough to do it.…
What We Learn When We Talk With Our Immigrant Parents
The creators behind Conversations With My Immigrant Parents got to sit in on funny, moving, and poignant conversations between parents and children throughout Aotearoa. What did…
How a mum and son live out their Muslim faith in New Zealand
As a Muslim kid, how do you deal when one of your friends makes a “terrorist” joke? 13 year old Aliyaan says, “Just because I’m Muslim…
A family discusses their "white-passing" immigrant experiences
Francisco Blaha is as immigrant as they get. "I jump off a boat, literally," he says. He grew up amongst street violence in Argentina, with expectations…
Being gay, Filipino and going to Catholic church in the Hawke's Bay
"There are so many gay Filipinos in church," says Joseph Trinidad. He and his family immigrated to New Zealand more than a decade ago, and have helped…
A mum and daughter ask: what does it mean to be a "proper Tongan girl"?
"Our girls, we have to make sure they stay a virgin." Kesaia's mum Liliani wanted to raise her in New Zealand as a "proper Tongan girl".…
