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.

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Canterbury-based botanists Dr Julie Barcelona and Pieter Pelser met in the US and in the mid 2000s and it was a love, or obsession really for plants of tropical jungles that really brought them together – what ensued has been years of shared discoveries and adventures, and some peculiar romantic gestures.

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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.

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At a stadium in Auckland, close to a hundred people including a large number from the Brazilian community, have gathered to celebrate a Batizado, a graduation of sorts, of new capoeiristas. Maestros and instructors from Australia are here too, and coloured belts are being awarded to visibly excited capoeiristas.

For Rio de Janiero born Leandro Vasquez, this is the big day he's been helping organize for his capoeira school, Abada Capoeira, which he's been involved with for over a year as an instructor.

He talks to Kadambari Raghukumar in this episode about how this cultural treasure from his home country is becoming popular all the way here in New Zealand.

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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.

Rashid Ansorali arrived in New Zealand as a teenager, fresh from fleeing his home in Myanmar. He's now secretary of the Burmese Rohingya Welfare Organisation and one of his roles is to help run events to bring the community together.

In this episode of Here Now, Liz Garton joins Rashid at an Eid celebration and discovers why these types of events are so important.

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

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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.

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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.

As an indigenous Trinidadian with Lebanese, African and Indian roots, AUT's Dr Camille Nakhid has been a leading voice in studies on Aotearoa's multiculturalism and Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and constructs of identity and indigeneity.

In this second of our four-part series, Kadambari Raghukumar talks to Camille talks about championing the cause for Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) through her research and activism.

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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.

In this four part series of conversations, Kadambari Raghukumar talks to four black women in Aotearoa New Zealand about their experiences across different lines of work from medicine to activism and academics.

Dr Carolyn Providence was born on the tiny Caribbean island of St Vincent with a population of roughly 100,000 people. Her pursuit of a career in medicine took her around the region, to the UK and the US before she finally arrived on the shores of New Zealand about ten years ago.

Carolyn was recruited as an International Medical Graduate from the UK, but the journey of settling into New Zealand wasn't an easy ride. After many years of reconciling those struggles, she joins Here Now in this epsidode to talk about what life has been like as a woman of colour moving to New Zealand to carve out a career in medicine.

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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.

It's been quite the adventure for Nalini Singh who decided to give up a career in law in the early 2000s to become a romance writer, with what's now a worldwide cult-like following.

Fiji-born Auckland-based Nalini Singh is a best-selling author of complex paranormal romances set in deep shadowy worlds, supernatural love stories set in times of Armageddon, rife all at once with Archangels, telepaths and dark beings that change form.

Her first book Desert Warrior released in 2003 and since then her novels have made it to the New York Times and the USA Today bestsellers lists and some them can be found in about 20 languages. Nalini is now branching out into murder mysteries set in New Zealand's rural landscapes and her first thriller, Quiet in Her Bones, was a finalist in the Ngaio Marsh awards in 2022.

In this episode of Here Now, she chats with Kadambari Raghukumar on finding her creative reset through going between writing romance and mysteries.

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

From 18 to 26 July at Auckland's Capitol Cinema, the African Film Festival New Zealand deep dives into cinema from across the continent. Boubacar Coulibaly has been part of the team for the past nine years and joins Here Now in this episode to talk about his favourite picks and why the festival is crucial for telling stories reflecting the complexity of the continent.

Some of the films to watch out for this festival are Mali 70, directed by Marcus Schmidt, Sira by Appolline Traore of Burkina Faso, and African Glory that tells the story about one of the world's least known historical accounts that was referred to as the "forbidden story" - a kingdom from ancient Mali whose people navigated the new world before Christopher Columbus.

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