‘They’re home, they’re safe’: Volunteers welcome new Kiwis
Former refugees beam when they arrive at Invercargill Airport.
A group of seven Colombians arrived in Southland yesterday ready to be resettled.
The two families are the first group of refugees resettled in Southland since Covid-19 alert level 1 began. They had been waiting in the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre in Auckland since early March.
The Red Cross’ Invercargill volunteer team leader, Darren Frazer, said arrival days were emotional.
He loved getting the families to their new homes, and said handing over the keys was a transformative moment of change.
‘‘They’ve haven’t been welcome, they haven’t been home, they’ve been running. And they turn the key – they’re home, they’re safe,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s a really special moment. That’s my favourite part of the job.’’
About 90 former refugees are resettled in Southland each year.
There were supposed to be five families in this intake, but some did not make it to New Zealand before the borders closed and were still in Ecuador. National migration manager Sue Price said Immigration New Zealand would most likely still be in contact with those families.
The families who arrived yesterday would be supported by Spanishspeaking volunteers, who were part of the airport welcoming party.
During the weekend the refugees will be taken shopping and helped to get comfortable in their homes.
Next week, they would take part in orientation and spend four days with the Red Cross Colombian case worker, Frazer said.
They would go through everything they needed to know about Invercargill. The children would get enrolled at school and the adults would begin English classes, he said.
‘‘For the next six months it’s reasonably intensive support to help them,’’ Frazer said.
On Monday, they will receive repurposed bicycles from New Zealand Post.
All families resettled in Invercargill since 2018 have been Spanishspeaking Colombians, Frazer said.
They would be apprehensive, excited and perhaps bewildered by their new home, but hopefully they were feeling welcomed, he said.
‘‘There’s a group of people giving up their time to support them and hopefully that sends a message to say they’re welcome.
‘‘That’s the big message we want to say: ‘You’re welcome in Invercargill.’ Because they haven’t been welcome in other places.
‘‘It’s great to have people coming back, to know that we’re contributing to transforming some lives.’’
The Red Cross’ pathway to settlement manager, Gavin Booth, said it was great to have a new group in Southland.
‘‘There’s a lot of opportunities down here for them. They fit into the community well, they connect with the community, and they add life to our schools,’’ he said.
Having Spanish-speakers greet them at the airport was part of the Southland culture, he said.
‘‘Especially if you’ve been on a former-refugee journey, it’s important that you’re welcome and acknowledged in a new city because your journey hasn’t always been that way where you feel welcome in a country.
‘‘So we make an effort to make sure the Colombians feel welcome and it’s a start to their new journey in Southland,’’ he said.