I came to New Zealand as a refugee from Rwanda almost 20 years ago. The refugee world once seemed so far from us. But in a matter of hours, on 6 April 1994, my world was turned upside down. I also discovered that it is a world that knows no colour, race, religion, gender or age, not even education or profession.

A major contributing factor to our integration was the practical and social support we received from a volunteer family. Still, my parents struggled to find meaningful employment in the first few years.

Immigration New Zealand statistics show that in the last decade, New Zealand resettled just over 7,000 refugees and almost 60% of them are of working age. But from my experience working with refugee communities, as they themselves go through what we had to deal with 20 years ago, I hear time and time again that finding jobs to match their skills and experience remains one of the major challenges for the refugees, years after arriving in New Zealand. 

A 2012 study from a local refugee organisation states that for those who have the skills, experience and language abilities, the lack of networks appears to be a major hindrance to finding a job.

The pathway to employment programme run by Red Cross is a starting point, but as they also note, there needs to be more encouragement on the employers’ side to employ people with a refugee background. 

It is heartening to see the huge public pressure to increase New Zealand’s refugee quota. It would be great if the same enthusiasm trickled down to doing as much as possible to support these refugees, so that they can become self-sufficient and contribute to New Zealand.

For example, businesses could provide internships and mentoring to refugees to assist entry into the job market. The support would need to be targeted so that the outcome is meaningful and sustainable. 

In our experience, altruistic gestures positively contributed to our journey thus far. But beyond the initial set up, refugees would benefit from greater support to establish social networks, to increase their chances of gaining meaningful employment.