When Jiji Pulikkottil moved to Tauranga in 2011, he was one of three families from the Malayalee ethnic community in the city.

He has seen the community of people, who hail from the southern Indian state of Kerala, grow substantially in the past 11 years.

With the surge in Malayalees in Tauranga, Jiji saw the need for an organisation to represent their social wellbeing and cultural development.

He got together with his friend Devin George and others from the Malayalee community to form the Association of Tauranga Malayalee Aotearoa.

Jiji is the association's president and Devin its secretary. Since ATMA's inception in February 2021 the membership has grown from 110 members to 210.

'One of the aims of this association is to bring our community together and also to showcase our culture,” says Jiji.

'The association is an opportunity for all of our community members to get together and share their concerns and support each other.”

Members have helped each other through the emotional heartache of not being able to get home to India if their family is ill or there's been a bereavement because of the border restrictions, says Jiji.

They've also helped each other with financial hardships and have donated clothing to local charity shops.

ATMA plans to run water safety classes, a language programme and start a Malayalam magazine in the next year.

Many of the members weren't aware of how many Kerala expatriates there are in Tauranga until they joined ATMA, says Jiji.

To celebrate and foster the Malayalee culture ATMA hosts events, the most recent was Pulari 2022 in January.

Pulari means dawn and symbolises hope and Jiji says they are hoping for the best this year.

The events included a sports day and cultural night filled with dance numbers, a performance from the ATMA musical troupe, and a children's fashion show.

The association plans to have more events and activities for members when traffic light settings are relaxed.