Refugee Settlement Service

Ashburton has become a safe and welcoming place for the resettlement of former refugees coming to New Zealand under the New Zealand Government Quota Program. Ashburton is proud to be one of thirteen settlement locations throughout New Zealand and receives approximately 110 persons per year from the 1500 national yearly quota.  Since 2020, the Refugee Settlement Support Service in Ashburton has provided specialised settlement support to newly arriving families for their first two years. The settlement program is a collaboration between Safer Mid Canterbury and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

What is the process for refugees arriving in Ashburton?

All quota refugees have been officially identified as a refugee by the UNHCR and Immigration New Zealand. The families coming to New Zealand and then to Ashburton are usually of Afghan origins. Once they have applied to be settled in another country, they can wait for a long time, sometimes 3 years or even 15 years, before they are able to arrive in New Zealand. Once they finally arrive in New Zealand they reside at the Te Āhuru Mōwai o Aotearoa (Māngere Refugee Resettlement Centre) in Auckland for a period of five weeks, where they have health checks, learn about New Zealand and begin the task of learning English. At the end of this time they graduate from the centre and head off to their permanent settlement locations.

What services are provided to former refugees?

The Refugee Settlement Support Service finds suitable housing and makes sure the house is ready for them on arrival. Ongoing support is provided by the Settlement Service team that includes assistance with enrolments for school and English classes, shopping, cultural and social events. The newly arrived families attend orientation sessions that help to educate them on how to access their benefit and finances, what things you need to know about living in New Zealand, Kiwi culture and differences, employment pathways (provided by Red Cross), the heath system, driver licencing processes, wellbeing and what support is available, and what to expect over the next few months. The families are also supported by an amazing group of volunteers who provide companionship and general assistance when required.

The Refugee Settlement Support Service team consists of a Team Leader, Cultural Navigator (who speaks Farsi/Dari), two Family Caseworkers, two Health Navigators (who speak Farsi/Dari), Post Settlement Support Coordinator, Housing Coordinator, Volunteer Coordinator and Driver. In addition to the Safer Mid Canterbury Refugee team we have support from a clinical nurse provided by Pegasus Health and a clinical psychologist provided by Safer Mid Canterbury. We are very proud of the service and support we provide and are always looking for ways to best meet the needs of our families.

The Ashburton community

The people of Ashburton have proven to be both generous and supportive of the former refugees coming to live here. Ashburton has been a welcoming community, and the Ashburton District Council has indeed earnt its recent certification as an Advanced Welcoming Community – one of the first councils in New Zealand to achieve this status.

Within the Ashburton community there is now a developing and settled Afghan community who are pleased to be living in Ashburton. They have learnt to appreciate Ashburton as a peaceful and safe place that can provide many opportunities for their families. They love playing sport and feature in many teams, and the youth are always keen to work and can be found working in many part-time jobs around town. To help support their English language progress there are now two English schools, operated by the Ashburton Learning Centre and Ara. The Ashburton District Council and EA Networks have provided women’s only swim nights which are very popular with women throughout Ashburton, especially those from the Afghan community. With the support of our service and the Ministry of Ethnic Communities, the Afghan community have been able to organise their own social and cultural events and can always be seen as keen participants in broader community festivals. With the support of Canterbury Sport, the children of the former refugee families can participate in sport activities and clubs.

More recently, it was a wish of the Afghan community that they could set up a Farsi school so they can help ensure their children continue their links with their language of origin. With assistance from MBIE, the Ashburton District Council and the Refugee Settlement Support Service, the parents have been able to achieve this goal. This successful program is led and run by the Afghan community.

Seeking volunteers

Volunteers play an important role in the successful settlement of our former refugee families. They are the link to and faces of the local community and provide much-needed support and companionship when a family is dealing with the many challenges and adjustments confronting them in their new home. The Refugee Settlement Support Service both trains and supports those who want to become volunteers. We are always needing new volunteers as new families arrive. If you are interested in volunteering for a family, please email us via our contact form.

I am Yusra. I am a refugee and I’m proud to stand for peace

Yusra Mardini inspired displaced people all over the world when she swam at the Olympic Games. Now she is working on new goals.

By Yusra Mardini  |  11 January 2017   © UNHCR

My name is Yusra. Yes, I’m the girl who swam for her life, then swam at the Olympics. Now I want to tell you another story. It’s about my other name, my other identity. You see, my name is refugee. At least, that’s what they call me. Me and those 21 million others forced to flee persecution, war and violence.

So, who is this refugee? Well, once I was just like you. I had a home, I had roots, I belonged. Like you, I lived my life day-by-day, caught up in my own hopes, passions and problems. Then war came and everything changed.

War gave me a new name, a new role, a new identity: refugee. Suddenly it was go, drop everything, run for your life. Leave your home, relatives, friends and run. It was only after I crossed the border I realised I’d lost more than my house and all my possessions. I’d lost my nationality, my identity, my name. Now I was refugee.

None of us could have prepared for that journey. The desperate prayers at sea, the long trek, the humiliation at the barbed wire. But however hard it was, we knew there was no way back. We’d already lost everything, there was no choice but to keep running, for shelter, for peace.

And then, with a jolt, the journey ended. We were safe. Somewhere, in a tent, a camp, a shelter, the next stage began: the long wait. I think that’s when it hit us. We had nothing to do except cry for what we’d lost. Now we really knew what it meant to be refugees.

So here we are, in a new life, none of us knowing how long we will live it. On average, we’ll spend 20 years in exile, never really belonging, just waiting for an end to the madness so we can go home. That’s half a lifetime, lost, nothing but strangers in a strange land.

We struggle on with our lives. We fight to study, to work, to learn a new language, to integrate. All too often the barriers are too high, the odds stacked against us. But we know we must make the best of this strange and unexpected twist in our lives. To make the best of being a refugee.

That’s our struggle. But this isn’t just our fight, it’s yours too. Many of you already know there’s so much more at stake. For my part, in the months to come I’ll be taking on a new role. I have an important message to spread. The refugees will not go away, there will be more of us. If humanity is to meet this challenge, you must know us for who we really are.

Somewhere, some of you lost sight of that. When our deaths at sea became normal, our misery at the borders commonplace. We faded out of sight, were ushered away behind closed doors. At times, a truly horrific image forced you to face our suffering. A dead toddler lying face down in the sand on the beach, a child’s dazed and bloodied face in an ambulance. Yet afterwards, life went on. Many of you forgot us.

“There is no shame in being a refugee if we remember who we are.”

Silence gave the other voices space to grow. From those who feared and hated us because we looked different, spoke differently, worshipped differently. Those who were most afraid shouted the loudest. They spread those old lies about us. They said we chose to come here, because we’re greedy, dangerous, criminals, here to threaten your way of life.

Fear crept in and some of you began to doubt us. Before long, borders and barriers, both physical and emotional, sprang up everywhere. Refugee was becoming an insult, a name to hurt and humiliate.

But there is no shame in being a refugee if we remember who we are. If we remember that being a refugee is not a choice. That our only choice was to die at home or risk death trying to escape. It was the choice between a bomb and drowning at sea.

So, who are we? We are still the doctors, engineers, lawyers, teachers, students we were back at home. We are still the mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters. It was violence that made us orphans. It was war that made us terrified parents, sacrificing everything to save our children from carnage. It was persecution that drove us from our homes in search of peace.

That is refugee. That is who I am. That is who we all are, that growing population of people without a country. This is my call for us all to take a stand now, together, under that name we share, refugee. I am Yusra. I am a refugee and I’m proud to stand for peace, for decency and dignity for all those fleeing violence. Join me. Stand with us.