Talk With Me, a national writing competition for secondary school students, is run by the Petone Settlers Museum in association with the Department of Labour and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. It was first run in 2006 alongside a major exhibition Walk with Me: the Refugee Experience in New Zealand. Kate Brooks’s winning entry is about her friendship with Kifah.
‘Kifah’ - struggle
By Kate Brooks, 17, Roncalli College, Timaru
It is ironic that the theme for World Refugee Day 2007 is ‘Voices of Young Refugees’, when in their own countries they are denied a voice and in their adopted countries they cannot find a voice through language barriers. Living here in one of the most peaceful, tranquil countries in the world, it is easy to think that New Zealand is a paradise for these displaced, dispossessed and disoriented young people. But for these young people the reality is so very different.
All teenagers need friends because when you are young, being part of a culture that is based on laughing, crying, talking and sharing life’s joys and sorrows is vital if you are to become happy, healthy, functioning adults. Sitting here, watching, listening and realising how lonely it is for Kifah makes me realise how difficult it is when you are a virtual outcast in a society that does not understand you.
Teenage refugees face special problems when being resettled. Because they are traumatised from the horror of actually living through bombs, gunfire, explosions and fire, their hearing is hypersensitive and stillness does not bring the calm and relaxation it does for New Zealand teenagers. When I see Kifah sitting, poised, anxious, waiting for the inevitable blast to go off, she looks like a tightly sprung coil, waiting to uncurl. I know that she needs me. I know that she wants to be part of my culture, but all I can do is smile at her and hold her hand and take her with me. Kifah doesn’t speak English and unlike her sister who is only seven, does not like to make mistakes. Teenagers do not like to stand out in a crowd and although she practises her English every night in the quiet of her bedroom it is hard for her and speaking in front of others is difficult and embarrassing. Kifah and I never really know what each other is thinking and unlike my Kiwi friends, I cannot give Kifah the encouragement and the empathy that she needs. I often watch, helpless, as she struggles to grapple with her new life in a foreign country.
This year New Zealanders’ celebrated Father’s Day on September the 9th. Kifah, her sister and her mother came to our house and what would normally have been a happy and joyous celebration for my family became a time for reflection. On the day Kifah’s father left home and never returned, her mother packed a few meagre belongings and walked with Kifah and her sister from Iraq to Syria. Listening to the halting English trying to describe the journey, I painted pictures in my head of the dust, the despair and the continual walking. I wondered what your thoughts are when you know you are leaving your culture, your homeland and life as you know it, behind you forever.
Kifah’s eyes have a depth to them that is fathomless. How much suffering can you ‘get over’ before you give up. I know she is strong. I know she is kind. I know she loves to laugh. But what does it feel like when innocence is ripped away by political ideology, religious fanaticism and military might. For refugees all over the world their lives are a constant battle every minute of every day, trying to cope with new languages, new food, new customs, new religions, new clothes, new climate, new houses and new prejudices.
Dear God, Dear Allah,
Give us the courage today and every day
To stand up for justice and to fight for peace.
Give us the grace to reach out to others
So that their struggle is not in vain.
Give us the wisdom to recognise
That difference is only skin deep
Inside, all humans are the same.
We all laugh, love, cry and worship the same God
In different ways.
Please find a place for all the displaced people in this world
And help the lucky few to recognise that everyone needs “a voice”.
Check out the other two winners’ pieces: Nosia Fogogo’s Happiness is Ubiquitous and Juliette Varuhas’s Never, Never .
Where should we go after the last frontiers,
Palestinians
Sudanese
Afghanis
As part of the Government’s commitment to fulfilling its international humanitarian responsibilities, we take up to 750 refugees each year under the Refugee Quota Programme, which includes up to 300 places for family members of refugees already here. Hundreds of other refugees are also accepted who claim refugee status upon reaching New Zealand. It sounds like a pretty small number, but in proportion to our population it’s one of the highest rates of acceptance in the world!
Solving the crisis
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