I took some lovely ladies from the Congo to a university near their home today to enroll in English classes. They are sisters. No living siblings. No living parents.
They live together in a
simple home at the end of a right of way with nice neighbours on each side of their house. They've learned how to put oil in the lawnmower and to cut their own grass.
One for the sisters goes for regular counseling sessions. They are both beautiful and pleasant, bright and keen to make the most of their new life in New Zealand.
They are refugees. I'm not sure what all they needed to seek refuge from. I'm not sure I want to know. They'll share those bits of their past as they grow more comfortable with me and with that history in a distant land.
I also do not know much about their journey to New Zealand; the route they took and the stops along the way. How many unknowns there must have been!
People choose to move to different countries. Sometimes they choose based on opportunities or on research or possibly with a sense of adventure of something they saw in a film. These ladies may have had no choice at all as to which country they landed in. They may have been in a refugee camp and just all too eager to settle anywhere far away.
So here they are and I'm helping them to settle in. We go to appointments with government services. We'll learn the way by train to their doctor. I'll take over some flowering bushes and some tomato plants for their sunny spots around their house.
They've promised to make ugali for me and we laughed today about what to eat with it. I don't like cooked greens. Never have, even when Granny made them when I was a child. One of the sisters also does not like them, so it's not cultural but personal and I don't have to eat them!
I'll show them how to bake cookies and make salads for potluck dinners with hopes they;ll someday fit in to the point of being included in such events. I'll talk to them too about flossing and the best radio stations for weather reports. We'll travel by bus so as to equip them for independence here.
When I accepted responsibility for them I was told there had been much distrust and some awkward situations. Hmm. From the day I met them we have clicked well and have respected each other. Not sure what the problem was but I don't see anything difficult in these ladies.
We've compared vocabulary as I speak a smattering of a few African languages. We have many verbs and nouns in common and laugh at the differences in grammar. They are fluent in French, Swahili and their mother tongue. Their spoken English is not bad at all and we converse quite well without an interpreter.
From Central Africa to West Auckland. What a journey. In a sense they have not really arrived yet as they are still on the margins. I hope to accompany them as they ease in to the community more and more and chart their own way ahead toward meaningful relationships, employment and enjoyment of all New Zealand can be for them.
They live together in a
simple home at the end of a right of way with nice neighbours on each side of their house. They've learned how to put oil in the lawnmower and to cut their own grass.One for the sisters goes for regular counseling sessions. They are both beautiful and pleasant, bright and keen to make the most of their new life in New Zealand.
They are refugees. I'm not sure what all they needed to seek refuge from. I'm not sure I want to know. They'll share those bits of their past as they grow more comfortable with me and with that history in a distant land.
I also do not know much about their journey to New Zealand; the route they took and the stops along the way. How many unknowns there must have been!
People choose to move to different countries. Sometimes they choose based on opportunities or on research or possibly with a sense of adventure of something they saw in a film. These ladies may have had no choice at all as to which country they landed in. They may have been in a refugee camp and just all too eager to settle anywhere far away.
So here they are and I'm helping them to settle in. We go to appointments with government services. We'll learn the way by train to their doctor. I'll take over some flowering bushes and some tomato plants for their sunny spots around their house.
They've promised to make ugali for me and we laughed today about what to eat with it. I don't like cooked greens. Never have, even when Granny made them when I was a child. One of the sisters also does not like them, so it's not cultural but personal and I don't have to eat them!I'll show them how to bake cookies and make salads for potluck dinners with hopes they;ll someday fit in to the point of being included in such events. I'll talk to them too about flossing and the best radio stations for weather reports. We'll travel by bus so as to equip them for independence here.
When I accepted responsibility for them I was told there had been much distrust and some awkward situations. Hmm. From the day I met them we have clicked well and have respected each other. Not sure what the problem was but I don't see anything difficult in these ladies.
We've compared vocabulary as I speak a smattering of a few African languages. We have many verbs and nouns in common and laugh at the differences in grammar. They are fluent in French, Swahili and their mother tongue. Their spoken English is not bad at all and we converse quite well without an interpreter.
From Central Africa to West Auckland. What a journey. In a sense they have not really arrived yet as they are still on the margins. I hope to accompany them as they ease in to the community more and more and chart their own way ahead toward meaningful relationships, employment and enjoyment of all New Zealand can be for them.
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