Namaste 2010 Issue

Namaste – NNZFS Annual Newsletter1

Nepal New Zealand FriendshipSociety

of Canterbury Inc.(NNZFS)Introduction

NNZFS

was established in 1998 AD withactive support from the New Zealanders.Since then, it has been running byNepalese and New Zealanders living inCanterbury. The society aims to introduceand promote Nepalese cultures andtraditions in New Zealand. The societykeeps in contact with local government andmembers of different ethnic communitiesof Canterbury.NNZFS was formally registered under theIncorporated Societies Act 1908 on the19

th

of December 2002.Currently, it has about 150 registeredmembers. The society always welcomesnew people, who want to be a part of it.

Objectives

•

To promote mutual support andcooperation between individuals of Nepalese descendant on matters of common concerns.

•

To promote social harmony andunderstanding among all members.

•

To promote educational, sporting,arts and business activities.

•

To provide community services toall society members and liaise withgovernmental and non-governmental organisations.

•

To introduce and promote Nepalesesocial and cultural heritages.

•

To promote friendship and contactswith other Nepalese societies withinNew Zealand.

•

To interact with other ethnic bodies.

•

To carry out other social activities.

•

To keep alive Nepalese cultures byorganising various programs.

•

To support Nepalese people facingproblems from natural calamities.

Membership

Any person of Nepalese descendanthaving resided in New Zealand for morethan 3 months and over the age of 15years is eligible for membership.Any other New Zealander not of Nepalesedescendant, who accepts the objectives of the society, may become a member. Theapplication would be accepted in written.This needs to be proposed andrecommended by at least two members of the society.

NNZFS Highlights 2009/ 2010

The Society has taken part in differentsocial and cultural activities organised byCity Council and successfully organisedvarious functions and get-togethers itself.The major events organised by theSociety in the last year (2009/2010) canbe recalled as following.

1.

Organised social and culturalprogrammes to celebrate Nepali culturalfestivals including Teej, Dashain, andTihar.

2.

Society’s online presence was firmlyestablished by a major upgrade of thesociety’s websitewww.nnzfs.org.nz.

A snapshot of the society’s websitewww.nepalnzfs.org.nz

3.

The society organised welcomeceremony for new migrants and farewellceremony for members leaving New

Namaste – NNZFS Annual Newsletter2

Zealand.

A photo taken during welcome programmeoraganised to welcome new migrants

4.

The society continued the support forthe fortnightly Nepali language classtargeted for kids of Nepali origin.

A photo taken during a fortnightly Nepalilanguage class

5.

The Society participated in ChristmasParade, Lincoln.

A photo of children participating in ChristmasParade in Lincoln.

6.

The Society actively participated inCultural Galore 2010 by organising a fund-raising food stall and dance performance.

Photos taken during participation in culturalgalore 2010

In Focus…………………………………

The Internet and Teenagers:Revisited

In the past 20 years,the internet hascompletely changedthe way humans live,work, play, travel, andlearn. Internet has itsown positive andnegativeconsequences. It’s atool to communicate (even with someonehalfway around the world in less than afraction of a second), sharing informationand perspectives, entertaining ourselvesand socialising using various sites likeMySpace, Facebook and Bebo. Theseadvantages of the internet can also take anegative shape if not used resourcefully.Sadly, the negative consequences of the

Namaste – NNZFS Annual Newsletter3

internet seem to affect teenagers themost. Recently, I have heard many sadstories not just in the west but in all partsof the world about teenagers like myself,being so deeply shaken by the internetthat they took someone else’s or theirown life. Thus, I wanted to explore theaffect of internet on teenagers, itsconsequences and how the problems canbe solved; and find out what I might havegot myself into as a regular internetbrowser.

How do the negative consequences of the internet affect teenagers?

In a survey I conducted among people inmy class, aged 14-15, they told me thatthey mostly used the internet for chatting,commenting, uploading pictures in MSN,Facebook and Bebo, watching videos inyou tube, downloading music, playingsolitaire and very few said doing somehomework. I was shocked to find out thaton an average they spent 10.6 hours aweek in the internet, 2.6 of which is forschoolwork. My survey also revealed that2/3

rd

of my classmates considerthemselves ‘addicted’ to the internet.Many teenagers around the world cannotimagine life without the internet.Internet is a means to a serious bullyingproblem,

cyber-bullying

. Cyber bullyingoccurs when one or more individuals usethe internet to inflict psychological harmon another individual using social sites likeFacebook and MySpace to spread untruerumors and creating fake identities tomanipulate others or post unwantedpicture of an individual.There have beenmany incidents caused by cyber bullyingall around the world, a remarkable one isthe case of Megan Meir, aged 13 of America. When she received hurtfulmessages from someone who she haddeveloped a strong emotion for in theMySpace t in last August, she committedsuicide in her own bedroom. After herdeath, it was found out that ‘her strangerMySpace friend’ was in fact older boysfrom her neighbourhood in disguise just ‘

fooling

’ around. I don’t think they realisedthe trauma it caused for Megan, herfamily and the entire community. Like anyother bullying, cyber bullying affectsteenagers’ mental, physical and emotionalwell being. Schools haven’t done enoughto encourage students to open up aboutcyber-bullying; they feel like they are thesole victims of cyber-bullying and bottleup their depression resulting in low self-esteem.Cyber-bullying is also often encouraged bychick-flick movies and soap operas byportraying the bullies as the ‘popularones’. I think teenagers will have to thinksensitively before getting influenced bysuch popular cultures. In the 21

st

century,when the world is filled with so muchviolence and selfishness, I think teenagersshould do the best to protect themselvesand not be misled as the effect of cyber-bullying can be very profound, aswitnessed in Megan Meir’s case.

How can this problem be solved?

There are various things that can be doneto prevent teenagers from getting badinfluence from the internet. Parents caninstall ‘Safe search filtering setting’ athome to keep their kids from using theinternet to find inappropriate sites withpornography and sexual texts. But somekids can easily change these settings.Thus, recently Google has introduced amore reliable system that makes it harderfor the kids to bypass these settings. Oncethe setting has been changed, the newpage will have large balls in the upperright corner so that the parents can seefrom across the room that their child is inthe safe search page. Based on a survey,I conducted with some parents of myclassmates, they told me that they areusing various methods to keep theirchildren in the right track while using theinternet. Some had installed filtering sites;some kept the computer in the familyroom to make it more accessible for themto monitor their kids’ internet behaviourwhereas some discussed internet safety