Unskilled refugees 'left’

Press, 22 December 1978, Page 14

Unskilled refugees 'left’

PA Wellington New Zealand should not be selective about the 600 Vietnamese refugees it takes, according to a church worker who has been to Vietnam four times since the Communist takeover. Mr Frans Tumiwa is on the staff of the Christian Conference of Churches in Asia. He is in New Zealand to find out about the New Zealand attitude to refugees and how we will cope with them economically and socially. “If New Zealand says it will only take the capable or skilled refugees, what will happen to the others?” he asked.

“Refugee camps are full of unskilled people and children. They may not necessarily be completely unskilled. They know how to cultivate the land. They just don’t know how to read and write.” Mr Tumiwa Said he thought New Zealand shoudl take more refugees, from Laos and Cambodia, as well as from Vietnam. It’s understandable that they have taken them only from Vietnam, because of N e w Zealand’s involvement in the war there. But they should try to see the refugee problem in a more comprehensive way, including the whole of Indochina.”

The biggest thing that

New Zealanders could offer refugees was a “feeling of security” and a warm welcome, Mr Tumiwa said. They would arrive with no material possessions, and would require basic needs given to them, such as food, clothing and shelter.

Few could speak English. so they would require language education.

To most Vietnamese, the weal. I. of New Zealand would seem like a paradise, Mr Tumiwa said. Few of them would have had a chance to own appliances such as television and cars, though they would have seen them in Saigon.