Author: Jocelyn Woodward-Candy

Last week about 60 members of the Brazilian community in PN and members of the wider community enthralled us all with a parade around Te Marae o Hine /The Square with their puppets, music and dancing.

Carnaval is the most popular event in Brazil and everyone is welcome to celebrate it. It is used in our community as a chance to help keep the Brazilian culture and language alive, and especially as a chance for the children to keep a connection to their culture.

Check out the article from the Manawatū Standard: Carnaval brings colour and culture to Palmerston North city centre | Stuff.co.nz

This week we are looking at kai resilience building initiatives as a focus on Neighbours Day Aotearoa 2022.

In our local neighbourhoods we have a lot of organisations that have been doing this for years and have been doing a great service to our communities.

At Te Pātikitiki and Ashhurst Libraries they each have a community garden kindly run by volunteer groups Let’s Grow Highbury and RECAP: The Society for the Resilience and Engagement of the Community of Ashhurst and Pohangina Inc. respectively. Everyone is encouraged to take what they need from the garden, and these groups also run education programmes to help share their knowledge of how to grow your own produce.

Another great service these groups provide through our libraries is the seed libraries. They are run slightly different but their purpose is essentially the same, where the focus is sharing seeds around the community for free.

All the Community Libraries have sharing tables where people frequently drop off excess fruit and vegetables – a much better option than having it munched up by the lawn mower! These are found in all the libraries with the exception of Ashhurst Library that has a sharing shelf outside.

Next week the Digital Help Sessions at all City Library locations will resume.

These are individual sessions where we can help you answer your questions, such as how to access eBooks, how to use your phone, help with a job application, or simply learning how to turn your device on!

We are happy to try and find solutions for you though bookings are required for these sessions so please contact us if you wish to make one.

Neighbours Day is about encouraging people to get to know their neighbours better. The theme for this year is Kai Connections.

There are two activities our libraries are getting behind to celebrate Neighbours Day this year. The first is about highlighting the community-led programmes that help with kai resilience building initiatives. This will be done through a series of photographs and stories that will be put together in a book to be available at the Community Libraries.

The second activity with be a display at all the Palmerston North Libraries for Neighbours Day Aotearoa 2022 – Kai Connections. The displays will invite people to share their favourite recipes and ways of how to share kai within the community.

For more information on Neighbours Day please visit Neighbours Day Aotearoa.

Holi is a Hindu festival also known as the Festival of Love and the Festival of Colours which ties in to the gorgeous display of colourful saris we have in the Central Library at the moment. It also marks the start of Spring.

If you are lucky enough to visit India during Holi you will find the streets full of colour. Each colour represents something, with the brightest colours being the most popular. You will, however find an absence of white and black.

During the Holi Festival streets will be full of people dancing, throwing colours at each other (coloured powders and water), lots of music and celebration.

Come in and see the beautiful display we have in the Central Library on the First Floor kindly put together by Anita from the Central Indian Association.

You can enjoy FREE access to movies and documentaries using your library card with Kanopy and Beamafilm. You just need your library card number and pin number – if you have forgotten your pin number don’t worry, just contact us and we can help you.

To help you get started, we have provided the instruction sheets below. Enjoy!😀