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12<br />
NEW ZEALAND<br />
Gurudwara<br />
winning hearts<br />
and minds in<br />
Wellington<br />
Friday, <strong>July</strong> <strong>01</strong>, <strong>2022</strong><br />
Read online www.iwk.co.nz<br />
VENU MENON<br />
<strong>The</strong> Wellington Gurudwara Sahib<br />
marked its presence at the<br />
interfaith prayer meeting held<br />
at the new chancery building of the<br />
<strong>Indian</strong> High Commission recently. <strong>The</strong><br />
Gurudwara team, led by Bhai Dalbir<br />
Singh, joined other faith groups to bless<br />
the new structure.<br />
“Over a weekend more than<br />
1,000 families visit the Wellington<br />
Gurudwara Sahib regularly,” according<br />
to a spokesman for Satinder Singh,<br />
Gurudwara president.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Wellington Gurudwara Sahib was<br />
initially established in Waitangirua,<br />
Porirua, in 1997. In view of the<br />
rapid growth of the community in<br />
the Greater Wellington region, it<br />
relocated to Naenae, Lower Hutt, in<br />
September 2<strong>01</strong>6.<br />
<strong>The</strong> new building, originally a New<br />
World supermarket, was converted into<br />
the present gurudwara .<br />
<strong>The</strong> gurudwara’s location is expected<br />
to meet the needs of the burgeoning<br />
Sikh community in the Greater<br />
Wellington region whose population<br />
includes a substantial number of Sikh<br />
students coming from India, Malaysia<br />
and Fiji.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Sikh population in New Zealand is<br />
estimated at around 60,000.<br />
<strong>The</strong> first Sikh arrived in New Zealand<br />
in 1890<br />
<strong>The</strong> Wellington Gurudwara has the<br />
distinction of being located in the<br />
southernmost part of the globe.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Wellington Gurudwara is open<br />
through the week. A resident “bhaiji”<br />
presides over the congregation every<br />
Sunday morning, which is followed by<br />
the Guru da langar (community meal).<br />
Visitors to any gurudwara are bound<br />
by a strict protocol which includes<br />
modest dressing, covering the head<br />
and sitting without pointing feet<br />
towards the Guru Granth Sahib Ji, the<br />
Sikh sacred text.<br />
Satinder Singh notes that all religious<br />
festivals related to Sikh gurus and Sikh<br />
history are celebrated at the Gurudwara<br />
Sahib, while the wider community marks<br />
mainly Punjabi festivals and holds other<br />
cultural events at the various community<br />
halls of the local city councils .<br />
<strong>The</strong> Wellington Gurudwara Sahib also<br />
runs a Punjabi language and Gurmat<br />
Sangeet centre on<br />
Saturday afternoons.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Langar, or<br />
free kitchen, is the<br />
trademark service<br />
to society that every<br />
gurudwara is known<br />
for. During the Covid-19<br />
lockdown, the Wellington<br />
Gurudwara Sahib actively participated<br />
in distributing food parcels across<br />
communities.<br />
It also ran a vaccination clinic on the<br />
gurudwara premises.<br />
Recently, the Sikh community<br />
consolidated its presence by uniting<br />
all the 24 gurudwaras across New<br />
Zealand under one apex body, the Sikh<br />
Association New Zealand (SANZ).<br />
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