Every year on 20 June, we mark World Refugee Day to honour the courage of millions of people who have been forced to leave their homes. The day is also an opportunity to reaffirm our collective responsibility to ensure they are welcomed, included, and supported. Across Aotearoa New Zealand, events large and small were held to honour refugee-background communities, amplify their voices, and encourage connections.

Thanks to the generosity of New Zealand Red Cross donors, $150,000 raised through our Middle East Humanitarian Crisis Appeal has been distributed to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), helping deliver vital humanitarian assistance to people impacted by conflict in the region.

Across the Pacific, small Red Cross societies are often the first responders when cyclones, earthquakes, and health emergencies hit, but they frequently have only a handful of staff and limited resources. New Zealand Red Cross is helping these societies strengthen their disaster readiness, using the National Society Operational Readiness Check.

People from refugee backgrounds bring diversity and cultural and social richness to communities and workplaces around Aotearoa New Zealand.

People like Elie Balyamhamwabo Zagabe, who is getting used to the new food, language and culture of Aotearoa New Zealand after 12 years in a refugee camp in Malawi. Elie and his family fled violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. With his wife, Irene, and four children, the Zagabe family is embracing life in Masterton after arriving three months ago.

After nearly 60 years delivering Meals on Wheels, Elaine Utting, QSM, still isn’t ready to hang up the keys. The long-serving volunteer continues to deliver meals regularly in Auckland, driven by the same desire to help others that first inspired her to sign up in early 1967.