NZ a haven for family ready to start again
Sok Chau is starting all over again - again.
Last month his daughter Vicky, 6, spent her first night in New Zealand. They slept in a small hatchback car, with his wife, on a street in Wellington. It was their best sleep in years.
The refugee from a Thai war camp has spoken about his life, which was saved twice by New Zealand: once as a child, and this time as a father and husband.
It was 1996 when an 8-year-old Chau arrived in the country for the first time. The eldest of four siblings, he remembered his astonishment at his new country. ‘‘I could have slept holding the television I loved it so much.’’
He had as much of a normal Kiwi childhood as could be expected for a boy who was born in a tent surrounded by guns but his family were fractured.
‘‘Dinner time was frightening because that was when we used to hear bullets.’’
The horrors of the old country couldn’t be fixed by their new country and Chau’s family left New Zealand and were scattered, he was the only one who stayed.
In 2005 the 20-year-old went back to Cambodia in search of his mum, instead he met his wife. Vicky was born and life, although tough, was pretty good.
Ultimately, it was Chau’s New Zealand citizenship that made life dangerous in Cambodia, he said. ‘‘They think if you have a NZ passport you have lots of money to pay a ransom.’’
Financial troubles and civil unrest in the country made it dangerous for the family who lived in fear of Vicky being kidnapped. Their landlord confiscated their passports and Chau appealed to the New Zealand Embassy for help. Leaving Vicky and Sreykhuoch behind, Chau was rescued and flown back to Wellington where he tried to find a job to help bring his family here.
His advocate, Birthright’s Marie Hohepa, said Chau slept at the Porirua train station while he worked for a local supermarket but after he was hospitalised for a suicide attempt he lost his job. He found shelter through social agencies and a bed at a men’s shelter while he worked on getting his wife and child out of Cambodia - they arrived last month.
Now living in a Kapiti motel, the trio hope to be in a private rental at the end of the month. Chau has a part-time job but the family still needs help. ‘‘Maybe some beds and some chairs for a house would be good for us.’’
The own nothing apart from their car, their house will have no decorations, no furniture but they are thankful to be here, Chau said. ’’Being homeless in New Zealand is better than a house in Cambodia.’’