We wish to thank the City Council for adding Afrikaans to their World Language Collection. The World Language collection reflects the increasing cultural diversity in Christchurch. The aim is to support cultural / language groups of a significant size, living in Christchurch. We appreciate all the hard work and money that already went into this collection - special thanks to the people at the library eg Carolyn Robertson, Libraries and Information Manager of Christchurch City Libraries, Jill Richardson, the Ethnic Services Advocate , Ann Ready, Content Manager, Elaine Sides, Selection & Access Team Leader. Also for the rest of the Council - thank you for your advise and encouragement. We were encouraged by councilors such as Lady Faimeh Burke who knows how important it is to integrate migrants, as happy migrants are an asset in the community.

Our sincerest thank you, goes to The Afrikaans Club of New Zealand. Although they are mainly based in the Auckland North Shore, they are doing much for Afrikaans culture in New Zealand. The Afrikaans Club did much to help us encourage us as well as promoting and arranging the Library project. They also donated 50 new books and $2 000 for the Christchurch Library to expand the Afrikaans collection and we thank them for their generosity in spirit and funds. A special thank you to Philip Langenhoven and Thys Oosthuizen from the Club. Do visit their website
www.afrikaans.org.nz

A big thank you goes to the South Island of NZ Association of Southern Africans (SINZASA for short). We received lots of feedback from SINZASA members. Special mention needs to be made to Rosanne Hawarden who encouraged and promoted this project from the very start and we thank her - as a first language English speaker - that she cares so much about Afrikaans speaking people.

Thank you to the Afrikaans community who responded to our surveys and gave feedback and asked for the collection. It is up to us as community to make the best use of this special collection.