The Ghazzoul family, Syria, arrived in New Zealand 2016
WHEN Waad Alsaid heard her family was moving to New Zealand, she checked a map of Europe.
She had initially been told they would likely go to Germany, so she assumed New Zealand was in the same part of the world.
Upon consulting a map, and struggling to find it in the northern hemisphere, they realised their new home was on the other side of the world.
‘‘I told my husband, ‘No worries, we want to escape to anywhere’.’’
She, husband Ghassan Ghazzoul, and daughters Nagham and Naya escaped Syria in March 2015 after Mr
Ghazzoul’s brother was killed by the Syrian Government.
‘‘We were really worried for our daughters, because there were lots of explosions,’’ she says.
Worried they were in danger, they left everything behind in Damascus and fled to Lebanon.
Mrs Alsaid worked to help other refugees in Lebanon, until her family was accepted to go to New Zealand.
They arrived in July 2016.
‘‘It was hard. I can’t express what our feelings were at first,’’ she says.
They were thrilled about having a safe place to live, a safe place for their daughters. But they were also afraid.
Everything was different, from the language to the currency.
But the family has adapted remarkably well.
Mrs Alsaid works at Education Perfect as an instructional designer in Arabic, while Mr Ghazzoul is an electrician for Delta, the same kind of job he held in Syria.
Both daughters are studying at Otago Girls’ High School, and Nagham is planning to study at the University of Otago next year.
The family paid tribute to the support they received from the Red Cross, saying they were very grateful.
‘‘We achieved our dream of getting to a new place,’’ Mrs Alsaid says.
Schools were not operating, and neither was Mr Haroura’s work.
‘‘There was no way to have a good life.’’
They went to Lebanon and were assisted by the United Nations. But they found life tough there, too, saying Syrian refugees were treated as lowerclass.
They arrived in New Zealand in 2016 with young children in tow, including little Lina who was just 3 years old.
‘‘We were worried about lots of things, like the culture, the people, schools, we were so afraid of people not accepting us,’’ she says.
‘‘But when we arrived to Dunedin the Red Cross helped us a lot, they gave us all the support we needed.’’
Mrs Haroura now works as an interpreter in schools, helping children in schools and kindergartens.
She also helps liaise between families and schools, to ensure families know how the school system works.
She says her own children have settled in well at their respective schools.
Rahaf particularly enjoys it. ‘‘I love it, I love playing on the playground.’’