Refugees make the best of their new home

They may be subjects of debate and even ridicule in talkback shows and in the public domain, but a majority of people arriving in New Zealand as refugees are proving that they are honest and capable people, keen to restart their life and career.

Two such persons have done themselves and their community proud by pursuing higher education in New Zealand and standing in as ‘relief teachers’ in the leave absence of permanent staff at a Wellington based institution.

Iraqi Hanaa Al Sadoun and Afghani Mozhdeh Wafa have impressed everyone at the Multicultural Learning and Support Services (MCLaSS) where their passion for learning and teaching has become a source of awe and endearment.

Both hope that their work experience at the learning centre and other organisations will help them to realise their dream of becoming full-time teachers in this country.

MCLaSS Communications Officer Geoff Mein said that war forced both women to flee their respective countries. Mozhdeh, who speaks Farsi and English, was only five years old when her family fled Kabul. She spent 13 years in Tehran before reaching New Zealand in 2005.

Hanaa, who speaks Arabic and English and has degrees in science and teaching, was a history teacher at a girls’ school in Baghdad.

“I loved my job as a teacher, but there are things that force you to leave.

“There were guns and bombs everywhere,” she said.

Hanaa arrived in New Zealand in March 2008, after a brief period in Malaysia where she taught at an orphans’ home.

They said part-time work and volunteering were vital steps towards employment and financial independence.

“It is important to show people you are capable and serious about getting a job, instead of sitting and doing nothing,” Hanaa said.

As well as helping out at MCLaSS, she has a part-time job as a teacher aide at Wellington South Intermediate, working with a special needs student from India.

Hanaa also volunteers as a home tutor, and has been working with an English learner from Oman for the past several months.

Both women have become good friends, exchanging their experience at work, food and recipes.

Mozhdeh has worked as a teacher aide at Strathmore School, a library assistant at Miramar, Kilbirnie and Massey University, and as a computer teacher at ETC in Newtown. She is also studying towards a Bachelor of Science at Massey.

“After my degree, I would like to go to teachers’ college. Maybe I will become an ESOL teacher, because I know how hard it is to learn another language,” she said.

Hanaa is enjoying the peace and quiet of Wellington.

“I used to dream of walking beside the sea with my husband. New Zealanders are friendly, kind and helpful. They respect you as a human being; something that I did not find in my home country over the past few years,” she said.