Students from Woodford House donate gifts for incoming refugees

On Wednesday, 23 June, year 10 students from Woodford House, an integrated boarding school in Hawke’s Bay for girls years 7 through 13, generously presented Refugee Services with gifts for former refugees as part of an educational unit about refugees in New Zealand.

More than 60 Woodford House students and their teachers traveled to Wellington on the weekend of 20 June, World Refugee Day, to present their gifts, visit Parliament, experience the Mixing Room exhibit at Te Papa and attend a presentation given by Peter Scott, Special Projects Advisor for Refugee Services, and Doris Niyonsaba, Refugee Services’ Finance Manager, a former refugee from Burundi. 

During the presentation, the girls had the chance to learn more about the mission and work of Refugee Services as an organisation, and hear the story of Doris’  refugee journey from Burundi when she was just 14, the age of the students themselves.

For many of the young women, listening to Doris and seeing the photo slideshow were very moving experiences.  According to one student, Nicola Law, the educational unit on refugees “really opened my eyes and gave me a greater respect for all the refugees in our communities…We will never know exactly what it is like to be a refugee but at least now we have a much better understanding of their living conditions and the problems they face.” Other students even created drawings based on what they learned.

Doris, too, was affected by the experience saying, “It was fulfilling to be able to share my journey with the students and to know that hopefully, from that experience, they would gain a thing or two, positively contributing to them becoming well informed citizens.”
The unit was such a rewarding experience for both the teachers and the students that Woodford House has expressed interest in working with Refugee Services on a unit of work for future Year 10 students.
 
Credits: Black and white drawing by Elsa Gordon; Color drawing by Laura Beanland-Stephens