Wellington Refugee 2014-2015 Graduation

On 29 November 2014, 14 very exuberant Colombian and Burmese families graduated from the e-Learning Porirua CTC at the RSA. They spoke of their happiness to be in New Zealand and their joy of learning. The children were also fully engaged in the technology at the centre and keen to get their computers home. Thanks to tutor Peter, assistant Ibrahim, interpreter Jackie and child minder Beatiz, plus Tim and Graham and the whole team at e-Learning Porirua local provider for another successful intake. Certificates were presented by Abdi Bihi from Ministry of Education who fund this valuable work which provides opportunity for the whole family. Beatiz is from a previous intake and has worked very hard to improve her English, so now she is employed back into the programme to run the childcare for new families in training. Her whole family is making great strides in education and employment, with husband Angel now working using his skills as a motorcycle mechanic. We wish all the graduates and their families the best for the future. Nau mai haere mai welcome to Computers in Homes.

Beatriz graduated earlier in 2014 and did the child minding for the latest intake of refugee CIH families.
Beatriz has a new life in NZ now. Read her story: 
 
 
 
Click to play this Smilebox slideshow
 
 

Seventy years ago, New Zealand said yes. Yes, we will give you safety. Yes, we will give you protection. And today, we still say yes.



 
 
30 October 2014 the Polish community re-enacted the journey of the first Polish refugees to New Zealand, 733 children, 70 years ago. 

We are honored to be part of their journey and celebrations. Here’s what Molly, Red Cross refugee services manager, had to say from Pahiatua: 

“Seventy years ago, New Zealand said yes. Yes, we will give you safety. Yes, we will give you protection. And today, we still say yes.”
 

Polish refugee children on the train from Wellington to Pahiatua, where they were resettled in 1944.
Red Cross refugee Services are really proud to have been there then and that are still supporting refugee children and their families today.
 
Computers in Homes is also proud to be part of the resettlement process.
 
 

Palmerston North CiH Refugee

Twelve excited families from refugee background and their friends gathered at Freyberg High School on Saturday 8 November for the latest graduation of Computers in Homes.
We were welcomed by Freyberg ICT trainer Val Revill, followed by congratulations from Di Daniels National Coordinator Computers in Homes.
Then families had a tech talk from Dave Clark who will be installing the computers and internet in their homes. All this was translated by our very capable interpreters Asadullah and Poh.
Certificates were presented by Ministry of Education’s Abdi Bihi and proceedings were closed by Freyberg International Student Coordinator Florence Kelly. The children were happy when the speeches were over and we could share morning tea.

One of the Mums from last year’s graduation was saying how she had forgotten some of her learning and needs more training, so Di referred her to  our free Stepping UP classes at Palmerston North Library in George St. These are managed by Palmerston North City Council (PNCC) and are free to all. No need to enrol on a long course, just pick and mix classes as you like, but bookings are essential and details can be found at:.
 
All the best to the graduating parents and we wish the children joyful learning and success in their studies!
 
 
 
 
Click to play this Smilebox slideshow

 

Computers in Homes Refugee Programme Update

Auckland and Palmerston North are training 12 families who will be ready to graduate in November. Auckland have their 3rd intake also underway and will graduate in December.

Nelson Refugee at Victory School

We generally run Computers in Homes for 15 refugee families a year in Nelson and this time almost a hundred people gathered in Victory Community Hall to celebrate their 2014 graduation on 16 September.
Special guests included Erika Ross, Regional Director Ministry of Education, Hassan Ibrahim, Southern Regional Refugee Education Coordinator MoE, Nelson City Councillor Matt Lawrey and Marion Street MP.
All expressed their congratulations to the graduate parents for the commitment and tenacity shown to complete training to help their children with their school work.

We were warmly hosted by Principal Helen Taylor-Young and school coordinator Dianne Goodwin who has been working with refugee children and their families for over a decade. Previous principal Mark Brown has now moved to Newtown School in Wellington and is planning CIH for families there in 2015. Erika Ross was called upon to present certificates and will feature some of our photos in the next Ministry of Education bulletin.

One unique feature of Refugee graduations at Victory School is the community involvement and how previous graduate families support the newly arrived ones. Their wonderful children and older students entertain us with dance and the parents sing for the guests. The costumes and music are an amazing experience every time.

Another feature is how Computers in Homes provides opportunity for personal growth and development of youth. Previous CIH graduate families have provided fantastic interpreters, trainers and technicians who come back to work on the programme and further afield. Dhan and David rose to the occasion as trainers for this intake, and Dhan will go on as Family Liaison and Technical support. Dhan is currently studying Computer Engineering, while David enters tertiary education as an Engineering student at Canterbury University in 2015. We wish them well in their journey.

Many thanks to all the amazing people who contribute and make this event happen!

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow

Auckland Refugee

Salaam Alaykum, Mingalaba, Kia ora koutou and greetings to all RYAN (Refugee Youth Action Network) as part of Refugees as Survivors (RAS) is hosting 3 classes this semester and the first group graduated on 11 October 2014. The other two groups will graduate together in December. These first 5 families gathered at the RYAN Centre in Mt Roskill and despite a few operational hiccups we had a lovely time together. The computers arrived late but with a few frantic phonecalls and express delivery we got there in the end! Adel Salmanzadeh, Refugee Education Coordinator Auckland Ministry of Education, presented the certificates along with trainer Elfadil Sabeel and Family Liaison Patrick Saw who do a great job in tutoring and supporting the families. We are also grateful to our awesome Technical Support expert Hameed Sharifi who will set up everyone’s internet at home and make sure the equipment is running efficiently. Happy to report Hameed is also engaged in the schools’ CIH programme in wider Auckland and is currently supporting families from Ngā Iwi School in Mangere. (see Auckland CIH blog) We were missing our friend and colleagues Parvathi Raghunathan who has gone to India on family business, and Dr Arif Saied who was recovering from ‘flu at home. Arif’s wife Fahima hosted us instead and it was wonderful to reconnect with her the following day at Gp2 training and see refugee women learning the skills of quilting. Here are also photos of Sunday’s activities at RYAN. I met the new Gp2 class training and look forward to their success also.

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow

Webinar: Generation to Generation: Empowering Newcomer Youth and Families

October 31 in New Zealand, Australia
8:00 am AEDT Melbourne, Sydney
10:00 am NZDT Auckland, Wellington

Join Cities of Migration for a webinar to learn about award-winning programs from Wellington, New Zealand and Toronto, Canada that improve language and digital literacy for immigrant families and youth by removing barriers to technology, promoting inter-generational tutoring, and strengthening community relations through education.

The Computers in Homes National Coordinator will be presenting at the Learning Exchange Monthly Webinar under Empowering Newcomer Youth and Families.
To join the webinar, please click on the below link:
http://citiesofmigration.ca/webinar/newcomerfamilies/




Hamilton Refugee Graduation

In August 2014, 12 Colombian families graduated at the Waikato Migrant Centre after a combination of 1:1 training at home and together in class. HMST (Hamilton Multi-Cultural Services Trust) has been using this method of instruction so that families can begin involvement as soon as possible after they arrive in NZ. As families arrive in small intakes of 3-4 at a time, it is hard for them to wait months, or up to a year for a complete class to start. Eventually all graduate and celebrate together. Actually MP’s David Bennett and Tim Macindoe had attended but had to leave for another engagement, and as Di’s plane was delayed we missed each other and they do not star as they usually do in the photos. Thanks to the wonderful team at HMST: Ellie, Tania, Merzia and John, as well as interpreters, Fatlianto Xiao from MoE  and Red Cross Refugee Services.
Click to play this Smilebox slideshow
 
 

Porirua Refugee

The last 10 Refugee families for the 2013-14 Computers in Homes year trained and graduated out of e-Learning Porirua’s digital hub in June 2014.
There were 5 different nationalities represented and the interpreters Jacqueline and Ibrahim did an amazing job in Spanish, Arabic and Eritrean languages.
A webcam prize was awarded for the student who made the biggest contribution to the group. The warmth and camaraderie amongst this diverse group was there for all to feel, so there was much laughter and many tears during the celebrations.
 
 
Click to play this Smilebox slideshow
 
 

Palmerston North Refugee

Another fabulous group of 17  families with Refugee background graduated from Computers in Homes training in March 2014.These were from Afghani, Burmese and Nepali communities, settling into a new life in the Manawatu. Freyberg High is a great host and we thank all the support the families receive from there.

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow
 
 

Nelson Refugee

This was our last Nelson Refugee CIH graduation with Mark Brown at the helm as Principal of Victory School. However, our wonderful team on the ground of Dianne Goodwin, Tim Jackson and Tania O’Meagher remain to take families though family liaison, training and tech support. Victory celebrations always involve huge cultural contribution from the Burmese, Chin Bhutanese and Nepali communities by way of music, song and dance. The children are amazing and put a smile on everyone’s faces.

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow
 
 

Hamilton Multicultural Cultural Service Trust Refugee

The Waikato Migrant Centre have been long term hosts of the Refugee CIH programme in Hamilton. Here HMST (Hamilton Multi Cultural Services Trust) staff give the thumbs up to the new training pod recently installed for CIH, ESOL and other training, including 10 computers, data projector and sound system. The Hamilton team comprises HMST management Ellie & Tania; Family Liaison Merzia& tutor John; Hamilton MoE Migrant Coordinator Afat and CIH’s Di Daniels. We graduated 17 families over 2013-14 including families of the Afghani interpreters. Hamilton MP’s Tim Macindoe and David Bennett are great supporters of CIH graduations. Mr Bennett realised her had said goodnight instead of Good Morning in Spanish, much to the amusement of the Colombian family graduates.

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow

Race Relations Day 2014

20 March was Race Relations Day and Human Rights Commission release of the NZ Race Relations Report, marked by a celebration at Auckland Regional Migrant Services, Three Kings, Auckland.
The report is available online at www.hrc.co.nz/rrreport
 



 

Ryan Centre 2013

19 families graduated Computers in Homes at the RYAN centre in November and December 2013. We have installed a training suite with 10 computers and a data projector, so we look forward to more successful intakes at RYAN soon. Well done to all the families and thanks to the whole team at Ministry of Education and RYAN for making this happen.



Click to play this Smilebox slideshow