The Story of the Agha Family and a Van

This month it was our great pleasure and privilege to meet some of this years Syrian refugees to NZ - the Agha family. Abdul, his wife Taghrid and their 5 children have recently  arrived in Dunedin and are delighted and very grateful to have been housed in Green Island. Unfortunately, the location of their home means 2 bus trips to most destinations, making it difficult and expensive  for the family to have outings or attend to basic chores like supermarket shopping.

Through dint of good luck, Sally and her husband Fraser happened to have a 7 seater van which was surplus to requirements. They decided to donate it to the Agha family.

The van was received with great joy by Abdul and Taghrid. We gather they have since attained rock start taxi status within the refugee community, and various McMillan&Co. staff members have been delighted to see “our” van ferrying the family and their friends around town. A spare computer, also donated by Sally and Fraser, was pounced upon eagerly by the Agha children (who offered to show Mum and Dad how to use it… but only after a few games had been given a very thorough test run…) while a bike and a car boot load of clothing and household items donated by Simon and his wife Kate were also hugely appreciated by this delightful family.

Anyone wanting to donate goods to refugee families in Dunedin or to get involved in working with them to help them settle in Dunedin can contact NZ Red Cross, 03 477 1527, otago@redcross.org.nz.