Today is World Refugee Day. It’s a day to remember the 22 million people or more who have had to leave their homes, because their lives were in danger. This is usually because of their political or religious beliefs which are not allowed in their country, or because of war.
New Zealand has a quota for the number of refugees we accept. The quota has been 750 people for many years but next month it will increase to 1,000. Six times a year, the refugees who we accept are taken straight away from Auckland airport to the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre in Auckland. This is a new $25m facility opened two years ago to replace the old wooden buildings. Here they receive medical attention and receive vaccinations if these are needed. Children attend classes focused especially on learning English as most refugees do not speak English. Adults receive information in their own language about New Zealand society: banking, housing, education, health services and so on. They also have English lessons.
After six weeks, families are sent to a city in New Zealand where they will be looked after by the Red Cross and local volunteers. There will be a house waiting for them, complete with furniture. Volunteers take them shopping for food, help them open a bank account, and enrol the children in school. Local people help them for as long as this is needed.
NZ has taken more than 33,000 refugees since the Second World War. Most of them have settled well into NZ society and found jobs. Their children have usually made friends and done well at school.
There is a big difference between refugees and migrants. For one thing, refugees do not have a choice about leaving home or about where they will go. They don’t have money. They have usually suffered terrible traumas which must be hard for them to forget. They have lost their career opportunities. They have to learn a new language. Over the years, many refugees have made significant contributions to life in New Zealand as taxi drivers, teachers, health workers, writers, artists, and politicians.
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Vocabulary
• quota – a number which has been decided
• straight away – immediately
• a facility -a useful place, a building
• trauma – horrible events such as being tortured in prisons, or seeing family members killed; often singular