Ashburton Courier: February 18, 2021

NEWS
2 Ashburton Courier, February 18, 2021
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Sharing food of Guatemala
MICK.JENSEN
@ashburtoncourier.co.nz
Mercedes Walkham will offer ataste
of the Guatemalan streetkitchen
when sheshowcases and celebrates
foodfromher former homeland at a
MidCanterbury Timebank learning
exchangeevent nextmonth.
Food is abig thing in Guatemala,
says Mercedes,and puttingout good
foodfor people close to you is away of
saying‘‘I love you’’.
‘‘My mother cookedall thetime
when me andmytwo sisterswere
growing up and Ihavefond memories
of cookedschool lunches and dishes
like eggs,black beans andplantain.’’
Not eating thefoodprovided was
offensive to Guatemalan hosts, she
said, as it was in othercountries.
Mercedes met MidCanterburyraised
ThomasWalkham in
Guatemala 10 years agoand the
couple married ayearlater.
After astint in Nicaragua, the
couple swapped the volcanoes,
rainforests and ancient Mayan sites
for the plains of Mid Canterbury seven
yearsago.
Mercedes shortly
expects to be notified of
her New Zealand
citizenship,which means
she will be able to hold two
passports.
Last timeshe renewed
her Guatemalan passport
she had to travel to
Canberra, Australia to do
it.
‘‘The embassy in
Australia told me at the
time that there were just
nine people in New Mercedes
Zealand on Guatemalan Walkham
passports, which is not
many considering we havea
population of over 16 million.’’
Mercedes said she now knew 20
Guatemalans who lived here, 10 on
each island.
She said themove to New Zealand
had beenhard for her at first.
There has been cultural
differences,acompletely different
climate and she had missed family.
To help herassimilation shehad
joined the Newcomers Networkand
Mid Canterbury Timebank andhad
PHOTO SUPPLIED
174 Burnett Street Ashburton |Phone 308 5269 |www.redmonds.co.nz
made friends throughboth
groups.
In 2018 she shared her
cultureand heritage at a
Latino workshop
organised by Volunteering
Mid &South Canterbury,
Mid Canterbury
Newcomers Network and
Welcoming Communities.
Ashburton is well and
truly home for her these
days,she says.
Sheenjoys thecultural
diversity in her workplace
at Anzco, where sheworks
in human resources, and
keeps in touch with familyand friends
in Guatemala through FaceTime.
Mercedes has enchiladas, toasted
tortillastopped with avegetable
mixture, eggand sauce, anddobladas,
folded tortillascovered withsauce
and sprinkled withcheese lined up at
her March 14 cooking workshop.
Dessertiscalled rellenitos and
features plantain and chocolate.
To findout more about the
workshop email to
coordinator@mctimebank.nz.
Playground risk under scrutiny
From Page 1
Tractors, afeature at many rural
playgrounds, were identified as an
issue but safe if they were kept in good
condition, with sharp edges,
protrusions and crush points
removed.
The report said the tractor at
Methven’s Chambers Park was in
particularly poor condition and past
its useful lifespan. It had many sharp
rusted parts.
Argyle Park’s fort was assessed to be
in poor condition. The slide sides
were rotten, along with anumber of
timber posts. The stainless slide on
the fort at the Rakaia Domain had
sharp edges exposed on the starting
and exit sections.
The slide at the Rakaia salmon site
was very fast and too steep, causing
users to fly off the end. It had so many
compliance issues, it would not be
cost effective to repair.
Equipment assessed as very poor
and top priority for renewal or
replacement included the Chambers
Park tractor, digger and slide; the
Methven domain swing frame, the
Rakaia salmon site slide, swing and
seesaw and the Tinwald Domain slide.
Ashburton Domain’s playground
has some minor work to do.
Council community services
manager Steve Fabish said there was
The fort at ArgylePark isclosed forrepairs.
money in the budget for priority one
and two renewal projects and
compliance could also be raised by
doing things like improving
cushionfall at some playgrounds.
Some of the playgrounds are
controlled by reserve or domain
boards and many have equipment
installed by service clubs in years
past.
Mr Fabish said safety standards had
changed over the years and many of
the older playgrounds had been built
by clubs, not by certified engineers.
He said the audit was about
assessing safety compliance and
creating arenewal programme for
equipment. The condition of
equipment was rated, with six items
very poor and 33 items poor; those
items represented just 17 per cent of
the equipment.
Some 117 maintenance issues were
also marked for attention at acost of
$42,000.
Playgrounds will be audited every
three years from now on.
Mr Fabish said there was no legal
requirement for council to be 100 per
cent compliant, but if there was a
major accident and subsequent
investigation then the condition of
equipment would come under
scrutiny.
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