A pilot settlement scheme which allows community groups to sponsor refugees has proved so successful, an extended programme will soon be rolled out.
Hisham Al-Zarzour recommends the Community Organisation Refugee Sponsorship (CORS) programme having come to New Zealand under the pilot, in 2018. Photo: Stuff / Pool
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When Hisham Alzarzour got the call that he had been selected for a pilot resettlement scheme which would see his family settled in New Zealand, he jumped at the chance.
"To be honest, I will say yes if they will tell me any country. I thought first just to say 'Yes, please'," he said.
Hisham and his wife were living in Jordan at the time, having fled Syria after the war broke out.
More than twenty years later, Syria is still war torn. Photo: Supplied
As a geography teacher, Hisham already knew a little bit about New Zealand but one of the great things about the new scheme is that the community organisation sponsoring his family were able to tell him more while he was packing up his life in Jordan.
"I was talking to the people who will be my neighbors," he said, "I [felt] more peaceful or more confident. This is very good, like, to know the kind of the life you will live there."
They also sent photos of the house the family would live in and their soon-to-be new neighbourhood.
"I start to feel I live there, from Jordan. This was very practical and a very smart way to make the person feel more safe, we can say," said Hisham.
Hisham Alzarzour with his family. Photo: Supplied
The South West Baptist Church in Christchurch sponsored three refugee families. Nick Regnault was part of the team that looked after the Alzarzour family and he agrees that those early phone calls were really practical.
"We got to understand a little bit about what their concerns were coming to New Zealand, and were able to answer those to some degree," said Nick
"On the face of it, it's kind of bringing together two different cultures but underneath all that, we're all human and the needs that a family has in say the Middle East are pretty similar to the needs that I have with my family."
The Alzarzour family arrived in New Zealand in 2018. They spend two weeks in the Mangere Refugee centre before heading to their new home in Christchurch.
"I came. I find the house is completely full, like, we don't need anything," said Hisham, "Everything was in the house, even the food."
Nick Regnault said sponsoring the families was a brilliant experience.
"So there was a bit of stuff that was a little bit harder than we thought it would be. But overall, it was a pretty amazing experience," he said.
"I've watched these three families settle into New Zealand and I'm just quite encouraged. I look at what they have come from and what they're doing now, and it helps put my concerns in perspective. I've built friendships with some of them and I've met loads of Kiwis around the country that also participated in the program. That's been pretty awesome too."
The Al Zarzour family discovered a lot about Christchurch even before leaving Jordan. Photo: 123rf.com
Nearly four years after arriving in New Zealand, Hisham Al Zarzour is grateful to be here.
"When I look at my children, they are happy in the schools and they are happy for being here. What's so important is they are happy and their future is a clear and safe," he said.
And Nick Regnault, who has been going around the country telling people about the programme, said he had noticed great enthusiasm for the scheme.
"People are intrigued and excited by the idea that they can participate in refugee sponsorship. That ordinary Kiwis, wherever they are, actually can welcome a refugee," he said.
Details of the extended Community Organisation Refugee Sponsorship (CORS) scheme should be out in the next few weeks. The expectation is that 50 refugees a year will be settled here over the next three years.
This is in addition to the refugees coming in on the quota system.
There are a couple of other differences with the quota programme. For example, where refugees coming in through that scheme are selected by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and they are usually those most in need, the CORS programme will take refugees referred by the UNHCR or they can be nominated by sponsors.
And refugees hoping to get in on the CORS scheme will need to meet certain criteria, like good English, a high standard of health and a tertiary qualification.
Refugees coming to New Zealand under the CORS scheme will need to meet certain criteria. Photo: 123RF
Nick Regnault said community groups looking to sponsor refugees will need to meet certain criteria too.
"You had to prove that you could do the settlement, that you had the financial wherewithal, because you're doing settlement services on behalf of the government. So they want to know that you're not a fly by nighter," said Nick.
But he would love to see more groups take the up the opportunity to sponsor refugees.
"I'd really encourage you - give it a go."