A former Colombian refugee has given an insight into what it was like for him when he first arrived in New Zealand, as Levin prepares to welcome its first intake of refugees from his home country.
Yobanny Laurean Lopez, 33, was called on for his own perspective at a resettlementhui in Levin recently, attended by a number of community organisations involved in the upcoming resettlement programme.
Lopez was keen to offer what advice he could. He was in a unique position to comment through the experiences of his own journey, having initially fled the Putumayo region of Colombia as a 19-year-old.
He left behind his mother, father, two sisters, and a brother. He spent three years in Ecuador (Ecuador doesn't have refugee centre), before finding a home in New Zealand nine years ago.
Lopez spoke very little English on arrival in Wellington. So he listened to music, a lot, and singing along to popular songs helped him form his initial understanding of the language.
"I got a CD and wrote down all of the songs and just started to learn common words that were used every day," he said.
"We love music and it was one way to learn English."
Lopez began working in the healthcare sector with elderly in Wellington. Initially nervous, he soon grew to love the job and used his time engaging with clients and learning more about the Kiwi way of life and New Zealand society.
"They became like my family and I wasn't feeling so lonely," he said.
"That was an important step."
He began studying at Wellington University while still working as a caregiver. Six years later he now has a degree in criminology and international relations, and international master's degree in gender studies and equality policy.
There is a range of reasons why people fled Colombia, including political and social unrest and the dangers posed by rebel armies.
Lopez said it would be hard for some Colombians to adjust to life in small town New Zealand, coming from a population of 50 million people.
Former Columbian Yobanny Laurean Lopez and Horowhenua District Council community development adviser Liz Tomescu.
Colombian people loved music and dancing and thrive on a sense of belonging, and that could come with shared experiences and direct engagement in community, he said.
He said access to education would be important, as would be joining different clubs and taking up hobbies.
"If you don't find that support you can start to feel lonely ... you need to feel secure and protected," he said.
It would be especially hard to learn to read and write English as many would not know how to read and write in their own language.
Learning tikanga Māori would be important too and he would encourage tangata whenua to take the lead in introducing refugees to mana Māori.
He said learning would take patience from all sides. A barrier to learning a new language was a fear of not getting the pronunciation correct, or with a thick accent, so not trying.
"It is a long process. Sometimes we feel afraid to speak because we are discriminated. But it doesn't matter how we pronounce it. The important thing is to speak and over time we will get more confident," he said.
Lopez said that his experiences as a refugee, migrant, Colombian, Latino, a member of the LGBTQIA community, and now a New Zealander, gave him the capacity to support a wide range of people.
Columbia was especially unsafe for many of the LGBTQIA community, with incidents of discrimination and violent abuse.
He said he misses his family in Colombia, but was able to communicate with them each week through social media.
Levin is preparing to welcome its first intake of Colombian refugees with Immigration New Zealand looking to resettle around 70 in Levin in the next year.
The first intake to arrive in Levin next month will be three families consisting in total of seven people. They were meant to arrive last year, but were delayed when Covid-19 restricted travel arrangements.
INZ announced eight refugee resettlement locations would continue to be provided by the New Zealand Red Cross: Palmerston North, Levin, Masterton, Wellington, Nelson, Blenheim, Dunedin and Invercargill.
New refugee settlement location providers were Kāhui Tū Kaha (Auckland), Hamilton Multicultural Services Trust (Hamilton), Purapura Whetu Trust (Christchurch), Safer Mid Canterbury (Ashburton) and Presbyterian Support South Canterbury (Timaru).
Initially, the refugee quota was 750 refugees, which was extended to 1000 in 2018.
