A refugee experience coming to NZ
Martine is a Research Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative working on education policy. Martine was a student success advisor and learning consultant at Massey University, and has published research on migrant and refugee integration in New Zealand. She was also with the New Zealand Aid Programme at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Martine also has a keen interest in refugee matters. Not only at a personal level, having arrived in New Zealand as a refugee 22 years ago, but having also spent 10 years working with refugee communities in various capacities.
Her family fled from the genocide and civil war in Rwanda in 1994 and arrived in New Zealand in 1996. We were a family of nine. We had never heard of New Zealand.
The journey to get from the home where I spent the early years of my life, to being resettled in Palmerston North is laden with many memories I would not wish on my worst enemy. One day we were going to school as normal, the next, we were wondering when it would be our turn to die. Death was on our doorstep and on our lips for the next while. New Zealand certainly came to our rescue.
New Zealand has an official quota to accept 750 refugees per year, but that’s the easy part. The challenge really begins during the resettlement journey, once the refugees arrive in New Zealand.
Prior to the Rwandan conflict, both my parents had been university educated and had established careers, yet they struggled to find employment that was commensurate with their skills and experiences years after arriving in New Zealand. It was as if, along with everything else, what they once knew became null and void.
On arrival, a volunteer family supported us to navigate our new life. My father was encouraged to volunteer to get New Zealand work experience. Unfortunately the volunteer stint, which he did for two years, was not aligned to his skills and experience, nor to his career aspirations.
A major reason for this was that as well as the loss in confidence from having to start from ground zero, he lacked the professional networks and the understanding of New Zealand work culture. The same story resonates with most of the refugees here.
Working with refugee communities, I witness time and time again wasted talent, wasted opportunities, and in turn cases of heightened desperation and grave loss of confidence.
Stories of doctor turned taxi driver, economist turned shelf-stacker, banker turned caregiver are too familiar. For most refugees, finding a job that matches their skill set proves most difficult. Yet this is often cited as the single biggest factor that contributes to successful integration in the host society.
The media is awash with public pressure to increase the quota. Considering that resettling refugees is one of many options that nations can do to respond to the crisis, countries should carefully consider the resettlement outlook once refugees are on the ground.