Former Syrian refugees help build seawall on Otago Peninsula

Mohamad Alashour shows off the new stone sea wall in Broad Bay, on Otago Peninsula, which he helped to build. Photo / Gerard O'Brien

From building stone homes in Lebanon to stone walls on the Otago Peninsula, Mohamad Alashour knows how it is done.

He is one of about eight former refugees who are working for QC Contracting on the peninsula connection project, which involves building a new stone seawall to widen the road and add a cycleway.

Alashour, 20, moved to New Zealand from Lebanon with his family as a refugee in 2017.

He had lived in Lebanon doing hairdressing and stonemason work since 2011, after leaving Syria.

Instead of building walls as he has done in Dunedin, he learned the trade by building stone houses, which was a bit harder than his new job on the peninsula, he said.

"It's going to be a house so there has to be no holes in the walls ... but here, a small hole is no problem."

Alashour started school in Dunedin when he was 17 and had no English. He was in class with 14-year-old pupils.

"That was hard for me," he said.

After graduating, he completed a semester at Otago Polytechnic to learn English, before following in the footsteps of his father, Mahmoud, who was already working on the seawall extension, in 2019.

Not only had the job given him a place to put his skills to use, but it had helped him continue to learn English with support from his coworkers, including other former refugees.

There was also something else to celebrate — a wedding.

Alashour is getting married on Monday to his partner, whose family also came to New Zealand as refugees, he said.

QC Contracting director Mark Lamb said he could not praise the workers he had hired, who were former refugees from Syria, more highly.

"They are good people ... top guys, hardworking and reliable.

"The conditions [on Otago Peninsula], as you can imagine right through winter, are harsh and not everyone can handle that — they can."

Red Cross Pathways to Employment manager Jarrah Cook said that when looking for work requiring masonry skills in the area for Syrian refugees settling in Dunedin, the harbour wall extension had been an "obvious choice".

"The seawall is expected to last longer than 150 years, so it will remain a testament to the hard work of the cohort of Syrian former refugees to be settled in Dunedin."

Finding employment was a key part of the settlement process as it gave former refugees financial independence and offered an opportunity to use their skills and contribute to their community, she said.