Church Group Donates Books to Refugee Background Children in Greater Wellington

As part of an activity called “Reading for Your Future”, the Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ) Congregation in the greater Wellington region began collecting books to donate to refugee background children in December of last year. Since then, their youth group have collected a number of different children’s books, decorating them with ribbons and giving them to Greater Wellington Manager Molly Kennedy to be passed out to new arrivals.

“We are very grateful for all the work the young people did to support refugee background children in our area,” says Molly. “Former refugees face so many challenges during their resettlement, and having such welcoming, supportive communities makes a huge difference. It means a lot to us at Refugee Services to know that we are helping to resettle families in communities who truly value them and who recognise the contribution they make.”

The event is part of the church’s INCGiving Project, which aims to share faith through acts of kindness and inspire activities that support the efforts of community partners by offering time and resources for the wellbeing of those in need.

The goal of INCGiving’s Reading for Your Future programme is to foster a love of reading in young people, but in this instance, the books were also intended to help the newly arrived children with their English skills. “Learning the basics of the English language, through the help of colourful, simply-written books, may be a big help to children in coping with the language barrier, as they adjust and adapt to their community here in New Zealand, their new home,” says Local Congregation Minister Bro. Filerano Lamajan.

For members of the church, who are primarily migrants from the Philippines, knowing some of the challenges faced by those building new homes in a new land made them even more keen to support Refugee Services. “We understand through our own past experiences the challenges of settling in a country that’s far away from where we grew up,” says Bro. Filerano. “We hope that the donated books may help ease the difficulties that refugee background children may encounter in learning and using the language of their new home.”

The collection was done mainly by the church’s young members, as are many of the church’s other INCGiving activities. “We like to encourage our young members to help others – especially those belonging to their generation,” says Bro.Filerano. “We always gain a feeling of fulfilment in situations such as these, where we are able to contribute positively to people’s lives, even if it is in a humble way. We are grateful to the Church Administration for their guidance and to the Hutt Valley Refugee Services for allowing us to reach out to the members of the refugee community.”

To others who are considering organising a collection for or making a donation to Refugee Services, Bro. Filerano says to go for it. “No matter how seemingly small one’s contribution is to helping someone,” he says,“as long as it is motivated with kindness, love, and care, the good that it brings is what will magnify the value of that contribution.”

If you would like to organise a collection or fundraiser for Refugee Services or arrange a presentation for a youth group, contact Teresa Bass at 04 805 0343 or [email protected].