What's in the news? - New Refugee settlement location in the South Island

Dunedin chosen as new refugee settlement location Thursday, 26 November 2015, 4:06 pm Press Release: Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment

Dunedin chosen as new refugee settlement location

Dunedin has been selected as a new refugee settlement location following a whole of Government assessment.

The assessment included looking at employment, housing and Government services available alongside the support provided by the local community.

The decision to choose Dunedin was made by the New Zealand Refugee Resettlement Strategy Senior Officials’ Group - made up of representatives from Immigration New Zealand (INZ), Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Social Development, Office of Ethnic Communities and Department of Internal Affairs.

There are currently five settlement locations in New Zealand where quota refugees are settled after they have completed the six week reception programme at the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre - Auckland region, Waikato, Manawatu, Wellington region and Nelson.

INZ General Manager Steve McGill says an extra settlement location is needed following the Government’s decision to welcome 750 Syrian refugees over the next two and a half years in response to the ongoing conflict in Syria.

Dunedin was considered alongside New Plymouth, Hastings / Napier, Invercargill and Tauranga.

Mr McGill says all the locations had certain advantages but Dunedin was selected for a number of reasons.

“Dunedin has a strong set of services and is a well-connected city where a number of government agencies have a presence,” he says. “There are good employment opportunities in the area, suitable housing is available and there is excellent support from the community.”

Our Computers in Homes team is following this with interest in anticipation of being asked to support new families in the southern regions.

Palmerston North Refugee Families Graduate October 2015

Ten new families  have completed their Computers in Homes training this month at Freyberg High School in Palmerston North with a mixture of families from the Bhutanese, Afghani and Burmese communities.  Thank you to Florence Kelly and the team at Freyberg for supporting each one of the families throughout their training and making them all feel very welcome at Freyberg High.

We would also like to acknowledge Cr Adrian Broad, Jenny Pepworth (Red Cross) and Gina Gonzales (M.O.E) for celebrating the day with us all and presenting the families with their certificates.

We are very fortunate to have a fantastic network of organisations wrapped around these families to ensure that they can support their children's learning, open opportunities for further education or employment for themselves and also be able to communicate with family overseas.

Well done


Palmerston North Refugee Families Graduation 31 October 2015 on PhotoPeach

Computers in Homes Family Liaison Visitor featured on TV 3 News

Naima featured in this video was our Family Liaison Visitor for Computers in Homes Refugee families in Auckland. Naima worked at the RYAN centre where CIH training takes place.  Click on the link below to watch the video.

http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/story/getting-to-know-nzs-muslim-community-2015081819#.VdMBPtzdKyg.facebook

Womens Weekly Article - Muslims Mums' new start

In a small community centre in Auckland, mothers and daughters are gathering for a special pamper day. As they stream through the door, some say hello and others just smile shyly – while they’ve all arrived in their new home country as refugees, they’re all at different stages of their emotional journey.

The day has been run by Refugees As Survivors – and the organiser Fahima Saeid is there to offer a hand and a smile, as the women sit down to have their nails painted and hair done. She knows all too well what they’re going through, having arrived in New Zealand as a refugee herself 15 years ago.

In Afghanistan, Fahima was working as a doctor, seeing up to 100 female patients for the organisation Doctors Without Borders until the ongoing violence forced her and her young family to seek refuge in Pakistan. Unable to work, her husband, who is also a doctor, left for New Zealand to secure residency for the family while she stayed and looked after their three small children. A year later she arrived here, hoping to work in the same profession. But she found becoming qualified in New Zealand would be a long and expensive process.
“I couldn’t believe it, I was in shock,” says Fahima. “I felt like a prisoner, sitting at home looking after the children, because I had loved my job. I’m a people-person and helping is my passion.”
Being a stay-at-home mum in a new country had its own challenges. On a few stormy nights, as her husband worked and her children slept – she was huddled in the corner of her two-storey house as it shook, terrifed it was going to fall down. A phone ringing would send her into a panic because while she knew some English, understanding the New Zealand accent was another matter. And, no one visited, which left her feeling lonely.
 

To read more, click on link: http://www.nzwomansweekly.co.nz/your-stories/weekly-people/muslim-mums-fresh-start/

Palmerston North Refugee Graduation June 2015

A fantastic accomplishment for our Bhutanese and Afghani families that have completed their Computers in Homes training this month.  All the families that participated in the programme arrived with smiles on their faces and the knowledge that they have completed the programme and can now they can confidently put the skills they have learnt to practice in their homes.

A very big thank you to Palmerston North City Councillor Adrian Broad and Abdirizak Abdi from the Ministry of Education for presenting the families with their certificates and supporting the programme.

The programmes success is based on the outstanding commitment and collaboration of the Ministry of Education, 2020 Communications Trust, Red Cross,  Freyberg High School and the most amazing support personnel.

Palmerston North Refugee Families 2015 on PhotoPeach

Auckland Refugee Graduation 2015

For the graduation on 18 April the Auckland weather could not decide whether to rain or shine, however our guests arrived to celebrate with us: Adel Salmanzadeh and Susan Gamble from Ministry of Education; RAS management; and Rakesh Naidoo from NZ Police. This was a chance to thank Gary from RAS for the work he has done in the NZ Refugee Community since the Tampa crisis in 2001, as he is soon leaving for Australia. Rakesh also gave information for any people with refugee background who may be interested in joining the NZ Police force.

 

Between our delivery team of Dr Arif Saeid, tutor Alfadil, technician Hameed, Family Liaison Patrick, MoE managers Adel and Susan and CIH Coordinator Di, we all wished the families well in their digital journey ahead, praised them for what they have achieved so far, and offered good advice. This ranged from how to access technical support to how to keep cockroaches out of the computers! Mrs Fahima Saeid served our wonderful lunch which was very welcome seeing most of us had been hard at work since 9am. What a great group of families who are now new residents of Aotearoa NZ. Nau mai haere mai!

  

Auckland Refugee Training

National Coordinator Di Daniels was fortunate enough to attend 2 training sessions at the RYAN Centre to meet the families and explain the internet connection process. Week 2 in March, everything was new for the learners, but by Week 6 in April the room was buzzing with typing practice, YouTube videos, wrestling, games, MS Office practice and a couple of people trying to remember their passwords to Gmail! The group was also visited by 2020 Trust’s Executive Director Vanisa Dhiru on March 21 – Race Relations Day.

Wellington Refugee Graduation April 2015

On the 18th of April 2015, 12 amazing refugee families completed their Computers in Homes training at the Porirua e-Learning training suite in Porirua.

Each of the families were excited to have completed their training and to be able to go home and use their computers to find employment, communicate with loved ones overseas and to help with their children's education. 

With many of the supporting partners there to celebrate the day.  Such as Abdi Bihi from the Ministry of Education, Lucy Anderson from the Red Cross who presented the families with their certificates.   Vanisa Dhiru, Executive Director of 2020 Trust and Chairman of the Porirua e-Learning Trust Mr Graham Kelly.

With this being my first refugee family graduation I would like to say a special thank you to all trainers, interpreters, supporters, drivers and not to mention the Porirua RSA for hosting each Wellington Refugee Group.

The success of these programmes is dependent on the commitment of the families and the great work from all the support partners involved.

Ngā mihi ki a koutou.

Wellington Refugee Update April 2015

Kia ora my name is Shona Te Huki.

I am the Regional Coordinator for the Manawatu/Horowhenua region and currently supporting our Refugee families in the Wellington Region.

I am so happy to be part of the programme.


Currently we are training at the e-Learning CTC, Porirua with 12 families.

A big thank you to the trainers, support persons and family liaison staff who are assisting each family with their own personal ICT training.  These families are taking the necessary time out of their weekends to complete their computer training journey.

With many of the families unable speak English, we are very fortunate to have committed translators and trainers that can assist in both areas to ensure each family are given the assistance and attention they require.

These families will graduate on the 18th of April 2015.


We wish them well with their journey and look forward to seeing them all at their graduation.

Auckland Refugee Dec 2014

The final graduation for 2014 took place in Auckland at the RYAN Centre for 16 families with refugee background. They had come from countries of conflict like Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Burma, Afghanistan, the Congo and Somalia. Their graduation was celebrated with family and friends, along with the Interpreters, Tutor Elfadil, Family Liaison Patrick, Technician Hameed, Amanda from Red Cross, Parvathi from Ministry of Education and RYAN Centre Manager Dr Arif Saeid. The whole team who makes this happen was there to support, encourage and lead on to the next steps. Certificates were handed out by Amanda Aye and Di Daniels and it was not long before many of us women were discussing our families, our views on the world (and our shoes!).

 

We warmly congratulate all the parents who took time to attend training this year from around the country and hope visitors to this blog will enjoy sharing in the beautiful faces of our Computers in Homes graduate families. Di and Briar wish everyone all the best for the holiday season, for Christmas and New Year. See you back in February 2015.