Lending a hand in lockdown

Newly resettled former refugees who've just begun to find their feet in their new communities across New Zealand are getting by in lockdown with the help of volunteers from Red Cross. Produced by Kadambari Raghukumar. David Jebanayagam met Naing Minh Aung in February this year for the start of Naing's community orientation activities, but for now their only interaction is a few phone calls each day. "As a volunteer, I'm learning how to effectively support a community member, a former refugee, from my home" says David Jebanayagam, a refugee support volunteer with New Zealand Red Cross. Each year, the New Zealand Red Cross helps settle hundreds of former refugees in new homes across the country. During this lockdown the Red Cross is actively supporting 358 families - about 1300 people all together through their long-running volunteer programme. New Zealand Red Cross is a primary provider of resettlement support for refugees in New Zealand - from assisting with language, creating employment pathways, providing trauma recovery support, and assisting with restoring family links and member identification in cases of separation. After spending six weeks in the care of Immigration NZ at Auckland's Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre, refugees are all then resettled in new communities across Palmerston North, Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin, Invercargill, Nelson, Hamilton and Christchurch. The coronavirus lockdown has brought things to a halt for many refugees who were expecting to move to their new homes in our eight resettlement cities. Rachel O'Connor, GM, Migration, NZ Red Cross, says there are approximately 150 families in Mangere who couldn't be settled before lockdown and are being cared for and supported by NZ Immigration. She says once lockdown level changes they may then leave there and be settled in communities. That's when Red Cross begins to work with them through the volunteer programme. With them each step of the way are volunteers helping with language, orientation, activities like grocery shopping, understanding ATMs, accessing WINZ support, registering at their local GP - things that are all very significant for every new arrival into the community. Most volunteers are placed with families and individuals for a six month period. They usually meet with their newly resettled family almost every other day in the first few weeks. The first two to four weeks of a placement are generally the busiest as they go about helping with settling in tasks. After the first six weeks, volunteers typically spend time with their family or individual on a weekly basis… Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details