November 10, 2007
Students from Auckland, Wellington and Timaru scoop prizes at Secondary School National Writing Competition – Talk with
Me!
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(Left) Kate Brooks, 17 years, Roncalli College, Timaru (centre) Juliette Varuhas, 14 years, Wellington Girls' College
(right) The overall winner, eighteen-year old Nosia Fogogo
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Talk with Me! Sharing the Voices of Refugees
Award Ceremony, November 10, 4.30pm- 6.30pm TheNewDowse, Wellington
The Petone Settlers Museum, in association with the Department of Labour and the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, will be announcing the winners of this year’s National Writing Competition at an Award Ceremony at TheNewDowse
this Saturday.
The three secondary school winners from Wellington, Timaru and Auckland were chosen from over 100 entrants who submitted
either a poem, rap, essay or an article about the refugee experience of young people.
The overall winner, eighteen-year old Nosia Fogogo, wrote a deeply personal story about her life as a refugee from
Burundi, Africa titled “Happiness is Ubiquitous”.
Fogogo’s winning piece was selected by the judging panel Judi Altinkaya, Director, Settlement Division, Department of
Labour, the editor of the Hutt News Simon Edwards and The Petone Settlers Museum’s Director Tim Walker.
All three judges praised the piece for the way it confronted the reader on several levels.
““The piece really made you walk in her shoes. The powerful narrative drew you in and the use of verse alternating with
prose allowed for a very visceral sense of experience. We were all impressed with the degree of the reflection, her
original use of language and her unique choice of composition. It was a unanimous decision,” says the Director of the
Petone Settlers Museum, Tim Walker.
First launched in 2006, to coincide with the Petone Settlers Museum’s major exhibition Walk with Me: the Refugee
Experience in New Zealand, this annual writing competition seeks to raise awareness among young people about refugees
living in New Zealand.
“It’s important that young New Zealanders can reflect on their own experience either as refugees or as classmates of
refugees” says Judi Altinkaya, Director of the Department of Labour’s Settlement Division. “Settlement is a two way
process and this competition provides an important opportunity through which learning about and reflecting on the
experiences of refugee newcomers can occur.”
Excerpt from Fogogo’s winning piece
I am just a strong girl
Who came from a long way
Who has much to say and much to see
Who has lots to talk about the painful and the powerful
History
I am not the history maker
But I am the storyteller
I will tell you what I think
You need to know
I will let you hear the voice of
The real refugee.
During the year 2006-2007, over a third of the refugees entering New Zealand were under the age of 18 (260 of the 697
refugees who entered).
Talk with Me Award Ceremony: Saturday, November 10, TheNewDowse 4.30pm – 6.30pm.
ENDS