www.ranui.org.nz

On Saturday July 3 2004, RAP hosted a very special day to celebrate the settlement of refugees in the Ranui area.  This very successful event was attended by refugees from Afghanistan and Somalia, a range of Ranui residents as well as Joris de Bres, Race Relations Conciliator, Lynne Pilay MP, Deputy Mayor Carolynne Stone, several Waitkere City Councillors and Community Board members.

 

Held at the Ranui Community Centre, the event was opened with a warm powhiri and included several speeches plus an open forum where many people spoke about the importance of welcoming our refugees and made suggestions about what we could all do to help them to settle successfully.  The response from our refugees was very moving as they talked about how special it was for them to be welcomed in this way, and talked about their hopes and dreams for their new life here in Ranui.

 

By Diane Jennings

RAP Project Manager

 

SOME IMPRESSIONS FROM A NEW SETTLER TO RANUI

I am an immigrant from Pakistan and a new settler in Ranui.  In my opinion the Ranui Refugee Day celebration was a great success for the Ranui community.  The theme of the day was A Place to Call Home:  Rebuilding Lives and Dignity.  Everyone was smiling and the day was full of joy and love.

 

I was part of the RAP team who organised the day with the refugee communities (Afghani, Eritrean and Somai were the main groups although the celebration was for all refugees.)

 

The representatives of the refugee communities were very excited and happy as they were welcomed with love by both Maori people of the land in their traditional style and all the other community groups.  These refugees have their own rich cultural background and tradition with a strong history and they were happy to share all this with the Ranui community.

 

People were wearing the colourful dresses of their specific cultures and walls were decorated with Pacific, Maori, Asian and African arts and crafts.  Then we enjoyed the music and dances of all these different ethnic groups.  Finally we celebrated with the food from different parts of the world.

 

I would like to see more get-togethers like the Ranui Refugee Day because it results in a strong friendly and healthy community.

 

by Rana Malik