Aqela Barati and her husband, Mohammad Kazim (centre and right) are staying at the Māngere Refugee Resettlement Centre after fleeing Afghanistan. Their translator Marwa Omar (left) helps them share their story with The Detail. Photo: Davina Zimmer
Every year, 1500 refugees come through the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre. For many, it's the first home with four walls and a roof they've had in years.
Aqela Barati and her husband Mohammad Kazim are waiting for news about their new home in Palmerston North, which they hope to move into by Christmas.
The house has not been found yet - there is a team working on that - but they have a general idea of what it will look like. That's because at Te Āhuru Mōwai o Aotearoa - Māngere Refugee Resettlement Centre, where the couple has been staying for the past few weeks, there is a model home set up to look like a 'typical' New Zealand house, so that refugees can get a sense of what to expect.
It is just one of the lessons in New Zealand 101 at the centre, which is the first stop for 1500 "quota refugees" every year. The centre serves as an orientation to a new culture and country, but also a safe landing spot for people who have often been through incredible trauma.
Many refugees have barely heard of New Zealand before they are told this will be their new home. Kazim says he knew very little about the country. Shahen Khosrawi, who is a resettlement case manager at the centre, and came through herself as a child, remembers her father showing her New Zealand on the National Geographic channel.
A playground and classrooms on the grounds of the Māngere Refugee Resettlement Centre Photo: Davina Zimmer
She was born an Iranian refugee in Iraq, and then was displaced again to Jordan, where she lived for three years before coming to New Zealand.
"When we first arrived it was home, it was an actual building. We had lived in tents for three years," she says.
"The staff and the safety of the place just made it home."
Nearly two decades later, the centre - a former army barracks - has been completely renovated and purpose-built.
Kazim and Barati arrived here a few weeks ago, along with their three children and Kazim's mother. They are Afghan, but spent the past six plus years in India after fleeing their home, and they describe a very difficult life as refugees there.
"You have nothing - nothing means nothing, your documents aren't valid, your passport is not valid, you do not have any identity," Kazim says.
He has a Masters in public administration, which he hopes to use here.
Qemajl Murati, Head of Refugee Quota Programs at Te Āhuru Mōwai o Aotearoa - Māngere Refugee Resettlement Centre Photo: Davina Zimmer
"Unfortunately I couldn't get the opportunity to serve Afghanistan, but now I have the knowledge and experience and I wish to use all my knowledge here in New Zealand."
Barati's main goals are to learn English, and to get settled into a house where she can take care of her family.
In today's episode of The Detail, Qemajl Murati, the head of refugee quota programs at the centre, explains how the centre works, and how refugees get selected to come here. Khosrawi takes us on a tour, and talks about her own experience coming through the centre as a child, and Barati and Kazim describe life as refugees.
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