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Former Refugees Bring Beneficial Diversity And Contribute To Aotearoa New Zealand

World Refugee Day falls on the 20th of June each year, and is an international day designated by the United Nations to honour refugees around the globe, celebrating the strength and courage of people forced to flee their mother countries to for their own safety from conflict or persecution. Each year has a theme, and the theme for 2022 is Whoever, Whenever, Wherever, Everyone has the Right to Seek Safety.

ChangeMakers Resettlement Forum endorses the theme, knowing full well as an organisation founded and walking alongside former refugees that Everyone does indeed have the Right to Seek Safety. We listen to the communities we represent, and work alongside them to provide advocacy, research and community development with the aim of facilitating full and equitable participation of those who have made this country home during the process of seeking safety.

This year we celebrated (albeit a couple of days early) the remarkable amount of diversity that refugee background communities bring to the Wellington region of Aotearoa New Zealand, through bringing together from Masterton, Porirua, Hutt Cities, and Wellington, people of refugee background to share cultural performances, food, craft and clothing…and by being together and unifying in our diversity. Diversity is extremely beneficial to our society in that it provides more than just the fabulous array of foods we all love, but importantly providing diversity of thought patterns, knowledge, and norms, all of which enriches creativity, ultimately leading to increased innovation.

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Some of this participation and the everyday contribution of refugee background communities was shown at our celebration through the photographic exhibition ‘Here We Are’ carried out by Ehsan Hazaveh on our behalf. This exhibition shows the reality of former refugees getting on with their Kiwi life, which with appropriate support to learn how to navigate this society, is the most common outcome.

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