Refugees for Darfield

Press, 4 September 1980, Page 3

Refugees for Darfield

Fifteen Kampuchean refugees will be settled in Darfield this October j

Two families are expected to arrive in New Zealand on September 10. They will attend an orientation course at Mangere,. where they will learn basic English, then arrive in Darfield on October .4.

The settlement, the first of its kind in Darfield, is being organised by the Malvern Ministers’ Fraternal, an inter-church group under the aegis of the Inter-Church Commission on Immigration. The Darfield group was asked last Friday if it could cater for the families; it accepted, on Monday. The parents of one sponsored family have worked as an agricultural adviser and a high school teacher. An uncle has been a farmer. Three boys, aged eight, seven, and one, and an aunt, complete the family. The father of the second family is an anaesthetist’s assistant. He and his wife have girls aged 12 and 10, and boys of eight and seven. They are accompanied by two cousins, aged 24 and 13. All 15 refugees are Buddhist. The secretary of the Malvern County sponsoring group (Mrs Lesley Evans) said that their religion was unlikely to cause problems. Greater difficulty could be expected in finding work and providing housing and companionship. Initially, the Kampucheans might find farm labouring jobs; longterm work might be harder to come by. Two houses were sought within the Darfield township, close to the main bus route.

According to Mrs Evans, it was important that the new arrivals had plenty of social contact. Her group was prepared to provide transport to assist them in meeting friends in Christchurch. It was quite likely, they would eventually move to. a centre where more Kampucheans resided, such as Christchurch or Wellington.