Office In Chch. Link In Work Aiding Immigrants

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30603, 20 November 1964, Page 10

Office In Chch. Link In Work Aiding Immigrants

A National Council of Churches resettlement office in Christchurch is now involved in a 1 rge programme of assisting potential immigrants to New Zealand. The office, organised during the last few months by Miss A. Bonde, links the churches of New Zealand which wish to sponsor migrants with the World Council of Churches offices, to which the potential migrants apply for emigration assistance. Miss Bonde, in a report to the national executive of the N.C.C. this week, explained the progress made in the immigration assistance Work, mentioning several recent arrivals and their case histories. She told the story of Mr S. M. Gusjenac, who escaped with his wife and daughter from Jugoslavia to Germany. The family was located by United Nations bureaux in Germany and referred to the W.C.C. In response to an inquiry by a Methodist church in Hamilton through Miss Bunde’s office, the family was approved for emigration and, sponsored by the Hamilton church, is now happily settled in New Zealand. Mr Gusjenac is a Moslem and his wife is a Roman Catholic. Miss Bunde said their connexion with the Methodist church was illustrative of the openness of attitude of the sponsoring groups. Normally the sponsors pay

the rent for the first month and collect basic furniture, household equipment and some foodstuffs. Some groups take pleasure in providing toys for the children and other pleasant extras. The immigrants served by the N.C.C. are mainly European refugees from Communist countries Albanians, Russians, Jugoslavs, etc Chinese refugees in Hong Kong, or Greeks living tn Egypt. Greeks in Egypt suffer from racial and political discrimination. They cannot earn a living in Greece because of over-population and unemployment. Miss Bunde cited the case of Mr C. Eleotis, an Egyptian Greek forced to leave and now living in Auckland. Miss Bunde spid: “The accent is on friendliness and assimilation. These people have Jost their homes, and their need is to put down roots in a new country. In the beginning they will feel bewildered and homesick, and everything is strange and new to them. Some material assistance is necessary, but the most important thing is to give them a sense of security and the feeling that they are understood and wanted.”