The land of the long white cloud

In the summer of 1993 on a flight from Singapore to Calcutta (now Kolkata) I met Geoff Wilson, who invited me to go (as soon as I would finish my trip around India) to his country New Zealand; the idea was planted deep and strong in my desire, always when I was about to visit him something happened which prevented it. So now, after 17 year finally, thanks to TWELVE, I can now together with Nallely visit these distant land.
Depends on the map one looks at (example, New Zealanders have a map showing New Zealand in the center or very close to it), generally New Zealand looks faraway in the bottom right corner, and even though that impression of two coordinates seems correct, what occurs in the third dimension seems even better to corroborate that impression of remoteness. For two Mexicans, to be in China (after traveling all the time an easterly direction), was like really to feel being faraway from home. Further then, when taking a plane from Beijing and 13.15 hours later now the feeling of being really really far from home is clearer then ever. Something reasonable is that Kiwis (New Zealanders) do not see it that way, for them we are the distance ones, the ones coming from lands beyond the ocean.

Despite looking closely I could not get hold of Geoff, but I found a deal of many other people who showed us how hospitality oriented this nation can be. The plan was to reach Christchurch searching for a 12 years old boy for the project, there we would meet Chris and Kate would were recommended by Monica and Lars in Stairway Foundation in the Philippines.
Arriving in Auckland in the North Island we met Kevin, his personality and his ideas strongly motivated us to establish ourselves on the net (by the way he uploaded an interview, which we did, to YouTube), and it was he who injected new energy into the project. His advice to connect more with the world took us to meet other people, like Helen Mays of Palmerston North, who interviewed us for her TV show, and her husband Richard for the local newspaper.

Few months earlier in Cambodia, we had learned that Branka Cikac (former student of mine in the autumn 2002 in IPC, Denmark), a beautiful and intelligent woman from Croatia, was living near Wellington, making his life with Belgian partner Peter. One day Branka took me to a village about an hour from her home, the idea was to take some pictures of people around, I was searching for Maoris. When I hear that there was a Maori people´s college, I decided to pay a visit and offer them my presentation Gaia, as I spoke to Oriwia Rureti one of the directors, project TWELVE pop into the conversation and to my surprise Oriwia told me to have a 12 years son: Atawhai, who immediately became the eleventh child. Originally we wanted a Maori boy to represent New Zealand or as they call it: Aotearoa. Nicely surprised we all accepted the idea and decided to do all the recording after our return from the South Island where we would visit Christchurch (first time for Nallely to travel hitchhiking.) The journey corroborated the initial impression of being in front of peaceful and friendly people.

Upon returning from few days in Christhchurch (where we spent time with Chris from New Zealand, Kate from United States and their Maia, a little fairy that graced our days with the freshness of how nice is to be with a well-educated girl) we began to organize everything for the interview and for a visit to the Maori primary school in the small town of Otaki. The strength of Maori culture is impressive. Men and women of large body size and brown skin are easily identified and one also recognizes that it is they who have given a colorful cultural identity to this country. They tell us that couple of decades ago, Maori culture was about to disappear, now, years later they have organized themselves and begun to regain their language and protect their identity. In that cultural rescue, customs and sports have been rediscovered. Strong traditions have been revived such as Hapa Haka dance and Hongi , greeting in which two people put forehead to forehead and nose to nose.

New Zealand, mainly a modern nation of European immigrants and lately Asian ones whom together with people who lived in ancient Polynesian islands now create the multicultural globalized tapestry that exemplifies this nation. To think about New Zealand is to think about a ratio of 10 to 1 between sheep and humans, is to think of the national rugby team: All Blacks, and their kapa haka performance before they undertake their matches, is to think of the trilogy The Lord of the rings, or Edmund Hillary and his ascension to the highest point on earth, is to think of beautiful natural scenery and various seas around the islands, is to think on one of the most balanced living standards and that is perhaps why many people have migrated there. Oceania keeps a country organized, developed and quite close to nature. Few people and a diverse climate. To think Neo Zealander is to think about friendship, simplicity and to think of a person who despite being in the "corner of the world" is innovative and universally oriented.

The meeting with our hosts was filled with stimulating conversations and common interests; apart from really helping us by offering their hosting, they made our stay rich and homey. And because in this trip, colors are offered by people, as I mentioned earlier and those who welcome us into their homes, are the closest thing, we got to understand the daily life of a culture. A large percentage of what we learn on the trip is thanks to those people who opened the doors of their house and many times their heart.
Hopefully one day we could give back what we got on this trip…..homey and warmth, the closest we could feel from our own home.