Wellington - Settling In

Settling In has been supporting refugees and migrants in Wellington since 2004. Initial work focused on assisting the rapidly growing local former refugee population with a range of settlement issues. This included capacity-building work and facilitating connections between refugee and migrant communities and other agencies and services (for example ‘Volunteer Wellington’). More recently, Settling In activity has focused on including a wider range of migrant communities (particularly those more isolated, ‘harder to reach’ communities) and extending Settling In into different Wellington locations where there are known concentrations of ethnic communities. Some of these developments include:

• Supporting senior migrants – Settling In supports a number of activities for seniors in Wellington to promote social inclusion and address issues of loneliness and isolation. Activities for Chinese seniors include a Drop-in Centre, a tai chi exercise group, a knitting group, social gatherings, settlement support and computer literacy classes. A number of these activities have now expanded into Lower Hutt and Johnsonville.
• Settling In is currently working with the Chinese and Sri Lankan senior communities in Johnsonville with a view to encouraging joint activities between the two groups (eg tai chi). A recent pot luck lunch to celebrate Race Relations day was enjoyed by around 50 Chinese and Sri Lankan seniors from Wellington.
• Settling In also supported a First Aid course for seniors (run by the Red Cross at the the Sai Service Centre) covering a range of topics including CPR, bleeding / stroke, fractures, head injury and falls, burns and poison.
• Supporting North Indian communities – Settling In has worked closely with the Wellington Indian Association, which is mostly comprised of members of the Gujerati community and other northern Indians. The focus is on working more effectively with the wider Indian communities and capacity building (eg expanding skills and knowledge to run effective meetings and meet identified outcomes).
• Supporting South Indian communities – this work has focused on building up relationships with the Tamil Communities – Wellington Tamil society and Wellington Muthamizh Sangham and the Kerala Community. Settling In is currently providing support to the newly formed Malayalee Association (of the Kerala community), which is planning a large New Year celebration in August 2010.
• Supporting South East Asian communities – Settling In has worked closely with this expanding community, which includes members from the Indonesian, Malaysian, Philippines, Singaporean, Cambodian and Vietnamese communities of Wellington, with a focus on capacity building. Settling In's work with these communities has resulted in the formation of the Society for South East Asia Communities Inc. The Society is currently focused on building their understanding and relationship with tangata whenua and developing their society logo and profile.
• Working with the Chinese community – Settling In is working with the NZ Chinese Association with a view to strengthening the relationship and finding effective ways of addressing issues of mutual concern.
• Safety and security – Work is currently underway with NZ Police to address issues of community safety, wider access to information and understanding citizen’s rights.
• White Ribbon is a symbol used by communities to show that they do not condone violence towards women and children. Settling In will collaborate with key agencies including the Families Commission, NZ Police and the Human Rights Commission to encourage local ethnic communities to support and participate in White Ribbon Day, 2010.