Recognising World Refugee Day
19 July 2006
ESOL Home Tutors held events throughout New Zealand to highlight World Refugee Day, 20 June 2006
On the North Shore, World Refugee Day was the day to taste dishes from around the world.
Some of the recipes will feature in a cookbook being published by the scheme in time for Christmas. One hundred people, many of them tutors and learners, gathered for the event, which included entertainment:
- a dancer from Iran,
- a singer from Bulgaria,
- a drumming group, "Madang Hannuri", from Korea
- and a performance by Rangitoto College's Kapa Haka group.
The Mayor of North Shore City, George Wood, welcomed attendees and Rohan Jaduram from the Human Rights Commission spoke about World Refugee Day.
There was also a display about refugees and the work of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In the Hutt Valley, ESOL Home Tutors joined a large regional celebration, which included children's activities, displays, music, dance and food.
The highlight was the opening of a special exhibition at the Petone Settlers Museum. Walk with me: the refugee experience in New Zealand, tells stories of refugees (some of them learners with ESOL Home Tutors) who have made the Hutt Valley their new home.
As well as audio visual presentations, the exhibition includes photographs by Somali photojournalist Amina Daud Timayare, who documented experiences of people from the Horn of Africa: Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.
In the Bay of Plenty, ESOL Home Tutors joined forces with Amnesty International and the Ethnic Council to hold an informal gathering to share music and food. The evening started with a blessing by the local kaumatua and a waiata, with a welcome from the tangata whenua to all the new migrants and refugees.
Speakers from Amnesty International, ESOL Home Tutors and the Ethnic Council talked about their work. Several people sang in their home languages, including Kutu Mukherjee, an ESOL Home Tutor member from India.
Some recited poetry, and others played taped music from their homelands. Two Afghani refugees from the ESOL Home Tutors's literacy class spoke.
The evening ended with an international supper and lots of chat - while a very cold night outside, inside was full of warmth and goodwill!