Starting again in Aotearoa

This is where the New Zealand Red Cross Pathways to Settlement programme steps in. For at least a year after arrival, our team of qualified staff and specially trained volunteers walk alongside former refugees, offering practical help and guidance so they can start to feel at home and build their lives with confidence.

We are there to welcome people into their new community. We help them settle into their new homes and show them things like how to catch a bus, open a bank account, enrol children in school and sign up with the local GP.  

We also help with the bigger things that any of us could find difficult, such as finding employment and building meaningful friendships in a new community. 

Many people from refugee backgrounds arrive having endured unimaginable trauma, including war, violence or torture. Through our Refugee Trauma Recovery programme, we are able to provide them with the mental health care they need or connect them with the right specialist services.  

Now settled in the Wairarapa, Harit and Farha feel safe enough to tell their story – though we are keeping their details and names private due to real safety concerns for their family back in Kashmir. 

Being part of a religious minority, Harit recalls members of his community being persecuted and even beaten since school age. Families would complain to the police, but things didn’t get better. Tragically, in 2006, members of his own family, his uncle and aunt, were murdered.

Around the world, through no fault of their own, innocent people experience unimaginable discrimination and violence, simply because of who they are and where they live.

After getting married in 2015, Farha and Harit returned to Kashmir where Harit owned a business. But within a year, the life they had just started building together was shattered.  

“They sent me a threatening letter saying that if I don’t change my religion and community, they will kill me,” Harit recalls. This was one of three threatening letters Harit received.  

Harit’s father, having lost his brother and sister-in-law, feared deeply for their safety when he heard this and told them to leave as quickly as possible. They abandoned everything except what they could carry in two small cases and fled to Malaysia.  

As asylum seekers, they soon found themselves stuck in a state of uncertainty. Allowed into the country, they were not officially able to work and had only limited access to medical facilities and education.

“If my husband went to work, immigration could catch him and put him in jail. But if he didn’t work, how would we survive?” Farha says.  

So, Farha and Harit did their best to survive. Over the nearly eight years they spent in Malaysia, they also welcomed the arrival of their two daughters – Rija and Aisha.  

Then in early January 2023, Harit received a call from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). They informed him that New Zealand Immigration had accepted their recommendation to be settled here, and he was to have a resettlement interview the very next day. Racing home, he told Farha the exciting news. They knew nothing of New Zealand, so they looked online and watched videos for information and were excited to see snow and beaches. More than that, it would be a safe home for Rija and Aisha, where they could work, raise their family and finally start to feel settled and safe.

The family flew to New Zealand in November 2023 where they were warmly greeted and taken to Immigration New Zealand’s Refugee Resettlement Centre, Te Āhuru Mōwai o Aotearoa, in Mangere, Auckland.

Five weeks later, Harit’s family was heading to their new home, where they were met by three Red Cross people. The team had worked hard to make things homely and ready for the family, and day by day, would continue to walk alongside them as they started over in their new community, and found a sense of belonging.

“They set up everything in the house, it was all prepared. Then they helped us with admission for schools, enrolled us with the GP and told us everything about the town – where to shop, where the parks are, even when there is a garage sale,” Farha says. 

One day at a time 

There is no single path that refugee background people follow when rebuilding their lives. Every individual or family has had their own set of challenges to overcome. For some, feeling safe and happy can be a lifelong journey. At New Zealand Red Cross, it is our mission to make sure that, from the very beginning, former refugees feel as supported, welcome and empowered as possible – offering guidance, assistance, and connections when they’re needed most.  

While a new home is often the first step in the journey to settlement, there are many other important things that New Zealand Red Cross help with.

Orientation and exploration of their new local area are crucial for a newly arrived family. Helping them navigate their new surroundings helps them build familiarity and confidence.

For example, Harit needed a car to get around and take the kids to school but didn’t know where to start. So, a Red Cross volunteer helped him search for a suitable car and guided him through the process of buying, registering and insuring one, and even helped him find car seats for his young children.  

On the journey to settlement, connecting people with their new community is also essential. New Zealand Red Cross helped both Harit and Farha find volunteer roles where they are building friendships, a sense of belonging and gaining valuable experience and confidence that could open up future opportunities, including employment.

As Harit is keen to set up his own business, our Pathways to Employment programme helped guide him towards his future goals. He is now gaining new skills by studying carpentry.

While Harit and Farha now look forward to rebuilding their lives and giving back to the community that has so warmly welcomed them, they know others are far less fortunate.  Around the world, millions of people are displaced by violence, conflict and persecution.

In New Zealand, we support former refugees who have faced extraordinary circumstances and help them rebuild their lives. In eight towns and cities around the country, we offer meaningful support to help people on their new journey.  

Whether supporting former refugees, or responding to humanitarian crises in conflicts, earthquakes and floods, New Zealand Red Cross needs your support to ensure we are always ready to help where the need is greatest. 
 
It is because of the generosity of our supporters that we can help families like Harit and Farha’s, to start their lives from scratch. Your donations make a life-changing difference. To help people facing vulnerability, please donate to our Where The Need is Greatest Fund.