Geu – Sudan
“I last shared a meal with my family. I’ve been in New Zealand for 10 years now and I’m studying computers at Manukau Unitec. I have a lovely family, we care for each other and we share our ideas.
We left Sudan as refugees. One thing about refugees is when you are in a dangerous place and you don’t know where you’re going, you don’t know safety, or direction, you come here to change – to be a normal person. My sister arrived in New Zealand 20 years ago and she was working with immigrants. She brought us here.
What I like about New Zealand is you have the opportunity to study – you have safety, and community. We didn’t stay in Sudan. We were living in Kenya, because Sudan was destroyed. Everyone was destroyed.
Here I’m very safe, and I like to be confident with everybody and encourage them to say how they feel about New Zealand. One thing though, is that people are losing their life at the beach. So, we need more security, more safety, so they can control the children that go in beach. I lost two men at the beach; one is 22 years old, and another one is 23 years old. One, he went to the beach with friends, and what happened; he didn’t know what to do, and he tried to swim and he passed away.
I’m very happy to be in Auckland. The way to make Auckland happy is to understand each other, and know how to communicate with other communities, listen to others, comfort, and don’t be shy. Be confident, and say what you feel – what your hearts feels.”
