Here Now

Canterbury-based botanists Dr Julie Barcelona and Pieter Pelser met in the US in the mid 2000s and it was their shared love for plants in tropical jungles that brought them together. What ensued has been years of botanical discovery and adventure - and some peculiar romantic gestures.

Leandro Vasquez of Abada Capoeira Auckland joins Kadambari Raghukumar in this episode to talk about celebrating the sense of community, art and camaraderie born out of this art.

For many years, Rohingya Muslims have been fleeing their homes in Myanmar to find refuge here in New Zealand. Rashid Ansorali is one of them. He tells Liz Garton about his journey and why he now helps organise events that bring the Auckland Rohingya community together.

Drawing from her Zimbabwean background, mental health nurse Sandra Szvenyika talks about navigating a career in her new adopted home.

From being a cultural producer and advocate, to a doctoral candidate- Makanaka Tuve has been a bit of an icon in Auckland's African diaspora for several years now. In this third part of the series, she chats about what that journey's been like.

Social constructs, race and identity are topics that are perpetually on Dr Camille Nakhid's radar and in this episode of Here Now, she chats about her lengthy career in New Zealand with research and activism for minority communities.

In part one of four conversations, four black women in New Zealand share their experiences of carving out careers for themselves in New Zealand to becoming leaders in their own fields - from medicine to mental health.

Nalini Singh is a best-selling author of a very particular genre - paranormal romance - and she's now finding a creative reset in writing murder mysteries set in New Zealand.

Bringing the best of Pan African cinema to New Zealand each year, the African Film Festival returns this month.

Zurkhaneh - an ancient Persian system of athletics combines martial arts, music, strength and spiritual devotion and is picking up serious momentum in Canterbury.

From having to start afresh as a refugee in New Zealand to adjusting to a whole new life as a new amputee - Naeem Hashemi's life is a remarkable story of grit and faith.

Twenty-five years ago when the Kosovo war ended, nearly 800,000 Kosavar Albanians were left displaced. Some went to Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and a small number arrived in New Zealand as refugees.

What's it like for a new refugee to arrive in New Zealand, get resettled and start a new life here? This month we are marking World Refugee Day with 3-part series on stories on refugee resettlement in New Zealand.

The Pacific and Nordic regions couldn't be further from each other but in this episode Phil Vine's out to find discover some uncanny similarities between NZ and Iceland, and where we really are poles apart.

A year into the civil war, millions of Sudanese have been forcibly displaced while diaspora here are desperately holding on to hope for their family members directly impacted.