More than two months since the first group of Syrian refugees arrived in Dunedin, many are settling in and finding work. The Star reporter Greta Yeoman talked to a mother and daughter who are now supporting their new community.
For Nahla Aljomaa, volunteering at the Dunedin Curtain Bank is a way for her to give back to a city which has given her family so much.
Mrs Aljomaa (55) was part of the first group of Syrian refugees to arrive in Dunedin in May and saw volunteering at the curtain bank as a way to both improve her sewing - she wanted to find work as a tailor - and help the community in her "second home''.
Speaking through Red Cross resettlement case worker and interpreter Rula Talahma, Mrs Aljomaa said she was grateful for the support the Dunedin community and the wider country had shown to the Syrian refugees and was thankful for the safety of her family.
Mrs Aljomaa, her daughter Hayfa (23) and son Hassan (35) left Syria more than six years ago, and spent five years in Lebanon before coming to New Zealand.
She said while she enjoyed sewing, she occasionally got "overwhelmed'' and found it hard to concentrate if she thought about what she and her family had been through.
"I wish the war would end in my home country.''
She dreamed of seeing her three other daughters and their families, who were still living in Lebanon, Syria and Turkey.
She said the family of her eldest daughter, who was still in Syria, had not wanted to leave the country.
"Even with all the war ... they still don't want to leave.''
Her daughter Hayfa Alsaayde said she enjoyed beadwork - making bracelets and necklaces - and while she did not sew, she had been accompanying her mother to the curtain bank.
"We have been supporting each other through this whole journey,'' she said.
Pathways to Employment Dunedin adviser Jarrah Cooke said the volunteer work at the curtain bank had come through the Red Cross Pathways to Employment programme, which helped get former refugees into work or study.
He said many of the former refugees were moving into work or study in a variety of jobs.
Curtain bank co-ordinator Tammy Prescott was pleased to have the two women working at the organisation, making bags from fabric offcuts.
Mrs Aljomaa was grateful to her Red Cross volunteers, Jenny Neilson and Ellie Torbati, who had arranged a sewing machine for her and communicated - solely through gestures - how to use it.
She hoped to show Dunedin residents that the former refugees would be a benefit, not a burden, to their community.
- by Greta Yeoman
