Chin Garden: A place to remember, a place to belong
Fifteen years of determination, one shared community dream.
Members of the Chin community and supporters gather to celebrate the handover of the Chin Garden site in Nelson, marking an important milestone in bringing a long-held community dream to life.
A Chin Garden in Nelson will be a special place of reflection and connection. The garden has taken 15 years to come to life and is the realisation of former refugee Sui Ting Cinzah’s long-held dream.
Sui Ting, a cross-cultural worker with the Red Cross, says the idea for the space came to her when she was having morning tea with colleagues in 2011.
“I opened the Nelson Mail and there was a photo of Miyazu Garden’s cherry blossom. These trees are also well known in my home country, Burma. I thought, ‘Could we have a Chin garden for my ethnic community?’”
She says the garden will be a sanctuary for the Chin community, reminding them of home through elements that echo the landscape of their homeland. The public will also be able to enjoy the garden and learn about Chin culture.
The first seven people from Burma arrived in Nelson in 2003. “We now number over 800, most of us of Chin ethnicity,” Sui Ting says.
“Could we have a Chin garden for my ethnic community?”
Sui Ting told her workmates about her idea for the garden, and they connected her with council staff, who organised for the Chin Group to present at a council meeting's public forum.
She also produced an early drawing of what they wanted in the garden, with Chin leaders contributing their ideas.
“Rhododendron (chokhleī) is our national flower and hornbill (yakok) our national bird. Aldo Miccio, the then Mayor, warmly affirmed our idea, reminding us it would need to be added to the council’s long-term plan to get council funding.”
Sui Ting says that over the next 11 years, she held onto her vision for the garden, staying connected with community leaders and the council.
She has also worked closely with Nelson City Council's Community Partnerships Advisor, Bill Huppler.
“His guidance has been the key catalyst in this last phase. We presented again to the council and I still remember when Bill rang me to say $40,000 had been approved for our plan. We were all so excited.”
We celebrate 25 years of Burmese people arriving in New Zealand in 2028. Our garden will be flourishing by then.”
"We celebrate 25 years of Burmese people arriving in New Zealand in 2028. Our garden will be flourishing by then.”
Sui Ting Cinzah is a Cross Cultural Support Worker at Red Cross Refugees and a Chin Hakha and Burmese interpreter. She came to Nelson in 2006 with her husband and child after living in refugee camps when the civil war in Myanmar broke out.