Red Cross celebrates cultures and resilience of new Kiwis to mark World Refugee Day

New Zealand Red Cross has celebrated the resilience and strength of former refugees at a parliamentary event to mark World Refugee Day.

People from refugee backgrounds joined Minister of Immigration Michael Woodhouse, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representative Thomas Albrecht and Red Cross in marking World Refugee Day at Parliament, ahead of the official observance on 20 June.

According to UNHCR, 42,500 people are forced to flee their homes because of conflict and persecution every day. There are currently 19.5 million refugees in the world, more than half of whom are under the age of 18.

New Zealand Red Cross Secretary General Tony Paine says the scale of the international refugee crisis is huge, but New Zealanders have responded with overwhelming generosity and have warmly welcomed new Kiwis.

“We’ve seen faith groups rally to donate huge quantities of household goods, we’ve seen neighbours volunteering to help their new neighbours, and we’ve seen employers fronting up with offers of work. All of this has been at a scale we haven’t seen before.

“Rather than just thinking about how much more we have to do, let’s use World Refugee Day to celebrate how much our communities have achieved and contributed to helping houses become homes and strangers become neighbours and friends.”

The event is also about recognising the strength, diversity and valuable skills people from refugee backgrounds bring to New Zealand communities, Mr Paine says.

Naenae College student Radwan Loulou, a former refugee from Syria, spoke at the event about his experience of fleeing a warzone and being resettled in New Zealand.

“Innocent people were being killed in their homes and in the streets for no obvious reason. Some of them were neighbours, people we knew and even students from my school.

“Eventually we heard the news that we could be resettled in New Zealand. The sun was shining on our family again and I started to get excited about how it would be and what it would look like.”

Now working towards achieving NCEA, Radwan is enjoying his new life in New Zealand and hopes to study business and economics in the future.

“I’ve promised myself to give back to New Zealand and its amazing people who I’m now proud to be one of.”

To coincide with World Refugee Day celebrations, Red Cross has launched ‘Stand in their shoes’, a social media campaign encouraging Kiwis to learn more about the cultures in their community.

To take part in the campaign, people swap shoes with a neighbour, colleague or classmate, take a moment to learn more each other and then upload a photo to social media, using #standintheirshoes and tagging @NZRedCross. Find out more about the campaign at redcross.org.nz/get-involved/stand-in-their-shoes.

Red Cross is proud to be the primary provider of community refugee resettlement in New Zealand, supporting and empowering families as they rebuild their lives in Kiwi communities.

ENDS

© Scoop Media