Waitangi Day

The Treaty of Waitangi is an event that happened 181 years ago between British Representatives and Maori. Every February 6 New Zealand celebrates this event as a national public holiday.

On the Bay of Islands in 1840, over 500 Māori chiefs and the British Representatives had come together to sign what is now known to be New Zealand's founding document. 

Being a public holiday, people have their opinions on it. Some see this holiday as a great day to remember the past and to go out and join together with the community. Festivals and showcases are held to commemorate. 

Others, however, see this holiday as shameful. They view the remembrance of the many loses New Zealand suffered an embarrassment, some going as far as asking for the holiday to be revoked. 

I don't have too much of an opinion on whether the holiday should be taken out or not. All I can say is that I understand why people would prefer not to remember such triggering times and why others are happy for the holiday being around. 

How Was My Lockdown Holiday?

I enjoyed the two week lockdown. I was able to catch up with people and enjoyed testing out digital learning from home. Every few nights I would go on calls with my best friend and we would just talk for hours. Social distancing was difficult for us at first but the more time we spent talking online the easier it was to get over that we won’t be able to see each other in person for a while. Those were the most enjoyable nights.

When I got to a certain amount of boredom my mum sent me audio books and I listened to those. I struggled to pay attention as I’d constantly get distracted by my cats.

Why It Is Important To Learn About Migration

I believe it is important to learn about human migration because in doing so we can understand what life is like in other countries. Some people emigrate to other countries because of how poor living conditions were there. Others are just searching for opportunities.

If we can understand and empathise with these people then we should be able to acquire the needed knowledge to work towards global growth.