The Southland Migrant Walking Together Organisation and Multilingual and Activity Centre Charitable Trust (SMWTO) , formerly known as Southland Hindi School is a community-led initiative that provides social and cultural support to new migrants living in Invercargill and across rural Southland.
“SMWTO is a registered charity trust that began four years ago with a Saturday Hindi language school.
"While running the school the trustees identified needs in the wider Southland community to have better immersion and integration of migrants and former refugees in the community,” Himani Mishra Galbraith Director and Chair of the charity says.
SMWTO currently runs three programmes with more in development, all aiming to support and strengthen the wellbeing and social connection of new migrants and social cohesion within the migrant communities of Invercargill.
The Saturday Hindi Language and Culture School for Hindi speaking children, youth and adults in the Southland area; the Mixing Bowl, a Sunday afternoon peer support programme that connects new and more established migrants to New Zealand (NZ) from a broad range of ethnic communities.
“These include migrant women from Thailand, Korea, Philippines, China, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Iran, India and Sri-Lanka and The Southland Migrant Support Playgroup, currently running twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 3-4 hours,” Mishra Galbraith says. “In response to demand, SMWTO are looking to increase the frequency of this programme to three days per week.”
SMWTO is looking to enhance its social and cultural support to migrant and former refugee whanau by piloting three new programmes, including a Youth Space; dance and wellness school holiday workshops for women, children and youth; and a digital access programme for the elderly. These new programmes have been developed to address the particular needs of migrants and former refugees across different age-groups.
“As migrants themselves and through their continuous engagement with new migrants and their families, the Trustees of SMWTO are aware of the challenges and concerns faced by migrants in Southland,” Mishra Galbraith says.
