Petra
11-22-2004, 01:50 AM
http://www.listener.co.nz/default,2955.sm
A few years on, one of the refugees from the Tampa shares a little of his new life in NZ with us. While we do have some racism here in NZ, this little Listener story made me smile. Yaser is an Iraqi refugee.
LOL. I think half our population is made up of refugees from around the world. :D
Yaser had never heard of New Zealand before he got to Nauru. The family originally planned to go to Australia and were on the ill-fated Tampa. In Nauru, says Yaser, New Zealand was considered "the best". The "lucky country".
"Even some of my friends in Australia want to come to New Zealand." Yaser is emphatic when asked if he has ever been confronted with racism in New Zealand. "No. Never. Not here." By contrast, he says, the Australian guards in Nauru "call us 'black bastards' and say they don't want us to go to Australia".
Yaser is looking forward, not back. In a year, he will have his treasured New Zealand citizenship.
"I feel like you. I feel like a Kiwi."
A few years on, one of the refugees from the Tampa shares a little of his new life in NZ with us. While we do have some racism here in NZ, this little Listener story made me smile. Yaser is an Iraqi refugee.
LOL. I think half our population is made up of refugees from around the world. :D
Yaser had never heard of New Zealand before he got to Nauru. The family originally planned to go to Australia and were on the ill-fated Tampa. In Nauru, says Yaser, New Zealand was considered "the best". The "lucky country".
"Even some of my friends in Australia want to come to New Zealand." Yaser is emphatic when asked if he has ever been confronted with racism in New Zealand. "No. Never. Not here." By contrast, he says, the Australian guards in Nauru "call us 'black bastards' and say they don't want us to go to Australia".
Yaser is looking forward, not back. In a year, he will have his treasured New Zealand citizenship.
"I feel like you. I feel like a Kiwi."