Yunited VoiceZ

Yunited Voicez on real life radio!

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 09:50:52 +1300

Wellington Access Radio 783AM is playing the music programme Yunited Voicez made on Thursday, 3 December, 3.30pm to 5pm. You can listen via the internet with this link, or tune in the old-fashioned way on the radio. Listen in!!

Reza Rassuli gets the lowdown on love and relationships - is it...

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:06:24 +1300

Reza Rassuli gets the lowdown on love and relationships - is it really as easy as Bollywood makes out?

Respect - Makuei Aken

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:29:32 +1300

As child of a African parents I was taught to respect my elders. The people that are really bigger than you, you show respect by calling them Uncle or Grandparents.

It is not because our parents are strict on us; it is a way of showing discipline to children, and showing how to behave in public and around you, too. Our great, great grandparents were brought up like that, so we follow in their footsteps.

Even though our country is not so developed, and misled, we appreciate our country the way it is.

I was born in a place called Aweng in Southern Sudan. I thank everyone that was close to me and around the world. People think we don’t appreciate our culture because they don’t see many displays of it, but it is only due to the lack of
our people in New Zealand. Sometimes you got to get to know me or us before you can judge.

When you come to our country you wouldn’t believe your eyes; you wouldn’t believe the good hospitality and experiences you will get. In our country we have a diverse amount of tribes who share and work together.

The Water Festival

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:27:58 +1300

angelashiningmoon:

The Water Festival

By Angela Aye

I want to write about a famous celebration in my country called the Water Festival. It is the Burmese New Year. We have Water Festival every year as holiday. Burmese people celebrate for five days, from April 13 to 18 every year.

The village people have to go the city to find work and make money for buying food for the children. The family then gather to have a party and most of the people go to temple to pray and celebrate.

The young people shampoo the elder people’s hair because it shows respect. When we have finished washing their hair we bow down and show respect three times. The elder people wish us a wonderful life in the future. When the Water Festival take place all houses have to bring their own cooked food and they have to take to the temple. It’s very important to prepare food for the monks. This is our traditional way of showing respect for other people.

Nowadays, Burmese around the world, celebrate the Water Festival in different ways. For example, some people contribute food to their neighbour, some people go around on the streets and play with water and some people perform traditional dancing and singing.

elly-aloro: Fijian Flyer Prasheel Wilson, 17, grew up in a city...

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:26:37 +1300

elly-aloro:

Fijian Flyer

Prasheel Wilson, 17, grew up in a city called Suva in Fiji. He arrived in New Zealand four years again and lives in Naenae, Wellington with his Mum, Dad and little sister. Prasheel didn’t make the decision to come to New Zealand; he was adopted by his Aunty after his parents split up.

The 17-year-old it didn’t make a big difference because he was adopted to family members. He says life hasn’t changed much even though he misses his hometown. He says life’s not so different, just missing the palm trees and the outdoor sports he used to enjoy with friends.

Prasheel is in school so far, studying at Naenae College and has a big dream of becoming an international pilot. The pilot dreamer said, “I was chasing a bird and I couldn’t catch it.” He says he’s had this dream since he was just a little boy.

He is very committed to his studies, he’s only got his mind on one thing and that is to be an international pilot not matter what it takes. He says he would like to travel the world in the future and have adventure.

My Life Experience in New Zealand 2005-2009 By Margaret (Lakot) Pompeo

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:25:02 +1300

margaretp:

When I arrived in New Zealand, everything was so different for me, especially because it was a new place and the way of living.

When I first arrived, I had a bad experience because of the different time zones. I came with a refugee quota to Mangere Refugee Centre.

I slept in the daytime while at the night time I was awake. I was always missing my lunch. In Africa, it is the day time, while in New Zealand it’s night time. Slowly I adapted to it, and after two weeks I was able to sleep at night.

It was difficult for me to meet other people due to the people from new places. They were quite new to me – they looked different, and they spoke different languages. I might see someone new and want to say hello to her, but she might not even understand what I was saying and I might not even understand her. This made life very hard for me. I found that here in New Zealand if you want to visit someone, you need to call first before you go. I would just go to my friend’s house without any phone call if I were in my country.

Here in New Zealand people are busy with their own lives. Some people are working, night shifts, and in the day time they might be sleeping. I feel sorry when I call into their house, because I know they have to go back to work the following night.

I feel I have nobody to talk with, and I really feel isolated from the others. There’s no-one who could accompany me to go to social groups, or like to a club. Back home we used to live in a big family that included the uncle, aunties, sisters, brothers – and here there is only a few of them.

I feel I have lost things that are important to me, because of these experiences. I’ve lost happiness, values, and people to spend time with.

CLIMATIC DIFFERENCE (WEATHER)

The climate here in New Zealand is so different from my country, the Sudan. Here it is cold and there it is warm. I have experienced the dampness of the surroundings in New Zealand. It is wet and I don’t like it compared to the warmth of the Sudan which is hot and dry, especially the north of the country. In the southern part of the Sudan there are two seasons only- a wet and a dry one. The Sudanese wet season is different to New Zealand. There it is warm, here it is cold.

The coldness of New Zealand winters eats me alive. It’s awful! In Sudan nobody ever even worried about putting on any heavy jackets and as I am still used to warmer weather, New Zealand’s weather can really make me sick. My body has not got resistance yet.

I’m experiencing terrifying stormy weather, here, which can prevent everyone from going to work or to places they want to go to. All the roads are being covered up by the landslips and the trees. It gets slippery for the cars or even human beings to move safely. In Wellington its quite windy but we don’t get dust storms like I did in Sudan.

CULTURE SHOCK

In New Zealand there is many different cultures, and many activities have cultural aspects e.g. communications, customs, behaviours, beliefs and spiritual beliefs.

New Zealand is a multicultural country. When people are talking to each other they use body language and gestures e.g. raising your hand up with palm open, cycling one finger around. In New Zealand this gesture is to call someone to come here, but in Sudan it is considered rude to gesture with your hands. Other gestures include raising thumb up which means very good, and sticking two fingers up with your palm facing away means peace.

I will now talk about the common barriers of communication. Due to many barriers the communication becomes very difficult. Language and cultural differences are some of the barriers. Here in New Zealand people are using too much slang or jargon words and the people whose English is their second language, they can’t understand it. For example “She’s hot” means she looks good, “she’s cool” means good.

Here people speak too fast, using words with double meanings, stereotyping and making generalisations, thinking that people from other cultures believe the same things e.g. In New Zealand culture it is important to look at people when you are talking to them, but not too much otherwise it becomes staring.

Some behaviours can be good or bad, for example standing with hands on your hips to some people is a sign of aggressiveness. Sitting on the table where the food is served is an offensive behaviour.

People have different values. What people do, what is good and what they believe in for example, things people like, their customs, ways of dressing. In Maori culture, the elderly people are respected and given the power to give advice and work with the community. Now days some of the elderly people are being neglected and limited in their power and there is no respect being paid to the elderly people. Nowadays freedom and rights for children has made their behaviour bad. Now the children do what they want to do. Even their parents are unable to talk about anything with their children.

Family is different too. Here in New Zealand the family lives together with their children. When they are still young and amongst the family, everybody can be the breadwinner, both the husband and wife can contribute to their living and pay the bills.

But when the children grow up they leave their parents house, then they move out and live with their friends, work mates or school mates. Here people have small families. They don’t live in big families, for example the extended families or relatives are excluded from the family.

Societal differences. Here people are living in a big society. The society is supported by the communities by gathering together, sharing information, ideas and supporting the disabled people.

Finally, there are differences in beliefs. Beliefs are what we think is true or not true. Here people believe that smiling is showing happiness, liking or loving people. Nodding your head means good or ok or yes in Sudanese culture as well as in New Zealand. However showing the soles of your feet or shoe in Sudan is offensive but in New Zealand it doesn’t mean anything. In Sudan the main religions are Christianity majority and then Islam, however there are many other religions also.

The Power of Love - Abubakar Abdulaziz

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:23:22 +1300

Five years ago, my niece was born. Back then, I was only 11 years of age. Three weeks into her life, she was crying so much that I was trying to find the mute
button on her.

Her Dad tried – well, everybody tried – then they passed her to me. Next thing you know she stopped crying. I saw those tears in her eyes, and from there, we created our bond. Every chance I had I would see her, so we could bond together more. I also used all my pocket money on my number one girl.

She is a very loyal girl. She is trusting, she listens to me, she is always there, and turns my frown into a smile when I am not feeling well. You could say that she is a happy person. That is one of the things I like about her. My love for my niece is so strong that if a bullet or a truck was about to hit her, I would take the hit. If you really love a person, you must be willing to do anything for them, because I think
the power of love is stronger than anything else in this world.

When we see a shop, my niece drags me in and I just get her whatever she wants. I don’t have a lot of money to spend but what she wants is important and valuable, so I get it – no matter what the cost. If a café’s entrance looks really flash, the inside is going to be good, but she wants to check and go inside
and look at the counter food. I buy her the counter food and help her choose what she wants.

She likes to cook, so she tries everything to get her taste buds going. She is still young and she has a lot of things to learn. In the café I work at, she says how clean everything is, including the cutlery. I believe she can be something really high up, like a chef for an airline or a top restaurant or a cruise ship. People will respect her.

Within the family I would prefer everyone to have a different profession or interest so that my niece can have one profession such as cooking, and the other person can help in another way – perhaps by being a pilot.

I work in the Evans Bay Parade café that her father owns. When we’re in the café, whatever happens inside stays inside. I do 30 hours a week so I don’t get to see my family or my niece so much now.

My sister had a baby two days ago and she named her Salma. I can’t believe that they named her just like that. Normally people would fight over the name. So something awesome happened. Now I have two nieces. The doctor let me stay in the delivery room and I heard the women screaming through the walls of the other wards. I have never seen so much blood in my life. After a few hours we got to hold the baby. So far it has not cried once. The trick is to rock her. I slept in the hospital for a day. In the morning I went to my special bakery and bought the five biggest cakes $250 would buy.

I saw this baby monitor that has sight and sound, on the internet. Normally baby monitors are just to
hear the baby crying. For $700 you get a baby monitor with a range of 300 metres and you get to see the baby – that’s the most important part - without you being there. That’s the best present I can give her. They already have baby monitors given to them by their friends but this one has better security. And it’s better because I’m buying it…

I really hope that I can build a bond with this new baby as well as my number one girl. Zainab, may all your wishes come true.

Angela Aye talks to Jamila Homayun about the ins and outs of...

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:15:24 +1300

Angela Aye talks to Jamila Homayun about the ins and outs of working for the UN.

Abdalla Gabriel, 21, originally comes from the Sudan, and has...

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:49:17 +1300

Abdalla Gabriel, 21, originally comes from the Sudan, and has been living in
Wellington for six years. He lives in Lower Hutt with his brother and cousins, and has a three-year-old daughter, Daekina Lourdes. He has a passion for writing and creativity, and says it’s time for him to start “filling his brain again” - he’s interested in studying law eventually.

Money in Kakuma Refugee Camp - Abdalla Gabriel

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:39:45 +1300

Abdalla: Hello, welcome to my garage. How are you today?

Customer: I’m fine thank you, I’ve just had a few problem with my bicycle. Do you think you could service it for me please?

Abdalla: Yes, of course,you are at the right place, I could certainly fix that for you. Now take a seat while I double check it for you.

Customer: Makanic, how much is the cost?

Abdalla: Not as much as you think… I’m the only one here who will give better service to all for less.

In that simple garage, I worked my arse to a flat bone. I had done enough to get me through in life; I realized if you’ve got nothing, there is nothing to lose, and I learned it the hard way. The only way you can win your way out is by facing the obstacles that stand before you, and for me that was in that garbage garage.

In 2000, I moved to Kenya, to a refugee camp trying to find a better life and education. But when I got there things didn’t work out quite how they were planned.

In Kakuma, I was living with my Uncle David, who is now living in Brisbane, Australia. Things were really harsh for our family. He was the only person working, while his wife looked after their four children at home. I was there with no money to support myself as a grown young man. That was when I decided to do anything to earn money.

It started as a joke. Every school holiday and on weekends, I went out to the centre where there were a few shops. The shops were too old and it looked like the buildings would collapse.

I set up my tool box in front of them and mended people’s bicycle punctures. In reality, my garage has nothing in common with a real garage, I only call it a garage because I don’t have any other name for it. It was a dirty job, but in terms of money that job earned me a good living.

I felt I had worth and I became an expert in my little garage, and raised my pocket money to a certain level. By the end of every month, I was almost earning as much as my Uncle who worked full time with the UNHCR.

That job considerably lifted my head. In a few months, with the money I managed to save, I bought a bicycle, which cost two thousand five hundred shilling. Many families in that camp could not dream of such an incredible amount.

With me being a bicycle repairer I carefully designed my ride well, and used it as a taxi, to carry people from town into the camp and likewise to take refugees who wanted to go shopping or people who are traveling to Nairobi, or those who are leaving the the country for other personal reasons.

Kakuma is a busy camp, people are always moving in and out. And that gave me a chance to make money out of them by taking them around. I was honest and reliable in my job, taking only the amount which is required of me and reasonable.

That was until I met some new friends who had been in the camp a long time doing that kind of work, with more experience than others have known. They taught me and gave me tips on how it was done, and told me frankly, ”Abdalla, if you want to earn more, you don’t have to be fair to your customers”.

At first I didn’t like the sound of their advice, but I wanted to earn more money. I thought long about it, and gave my approval and joined them as team. And by having a strong team behind me, I began ripping off my customers, by doubling my price on every ride. It did work for a while, but later on, most of the time, it would end in argument, because my price was much higher than the exact required amount.

The moment I joined that team, I asked for more problems my way. There were many other groups that were never on good terms with our team. When buses and taxis brought customers, the first group to get there would be the one who would get everything first. So the other groups would be very angry if they didn’t get anything. Sometimes they could caused trouble by starting a fight or they could flatten all the tyres of the teams with customers and snatch them off.

That was when I noticed the benefit of being individual rider. The only good thing about being in a team though, was that every day we collected a large sum of money. On a good, busy day, I might grab a total of one grand or even more which is something I never got when I used to ride without a team.

I did the job for quite awhile, and in terms of money, it helped me undoubtedly. It meant I didn’t have to beg from people. Instead some working family like my Uncle always asked me for loan which he hardly paid back.

That job has two side effects. It is good for money, but in the other hand, it is life threatening. Most of the time, I found myself being the centre of target in many looking eyes.

One night I was stopped on the road by three angry young men. One of them held my bicycle, and another one hold me, while their third buddy search my pocket like he’s looking for a hidden gold in gold mines. He took all my money for that day, in a forceful way, and left me behind with two clean smacks in the face. From that night, I learned a lesson - that doing my job could cost me my life.

I became more careful, avoiding the night run. But I still did the day shift, until the day my bicycle got stolen and I didn’t bother to buy me another one because of the risks involved in the job.

I decided to go back to my job of mending punctures, even when the money was low, I was safer. And the money I got from it was enough to support me in all areas. I could buy my school stationery, and clothes for myself and yet had plenty in my pocket to keep me moving as a young man who done everything he could for survival.

I did it all myself, until the day I got lucky and had an exit from that camp into a new life, in a new home.

Abubakar Abdulaziz grills a radio professional about the pros...

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:36:09 +1300

Abubakar Abdulaziz grills a radio professional about the pros and cons of being in commercial radio…

Photo

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:33:36 +1300

By Makuei Aken

By Makuei Aken

The second awesome video produced by Yunited Voicez! Doco...

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:46:04 +1300

The second awesome video produced by Yunited Voicez!

Doco produced and featuring Abubakar Abdulaziz (slightly wrong spelling in doco), Abdalla Gabriel, Elly Aloro and Angela Aye; with help from Hunter Abbey and Catherine Palmer.

Some of the best photos from the group - and they’re all...

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:18:00 +1300

By Margaret Pompeo

By Margaret Pompeo

By Abdalla Gabriel and Elly Aloro

By Abdalla Gabriel and Elly Aloro

By Abdalla Gabriel

By Angela Aye

By Abubakar Abdulaziz and Makuei Aken

By Abubakar Abdulaziz

By Elly Aloro

By Elly Aloro

Some of the best photos from the group - and they’re all for sale! Just get in touch with tessa@crf.org.nz to find out more…

Wahoo, the first video from Yunited Voicez! This is Makuei and...

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:11:12 +1300

Wahoo, the first video from Yunited Voicez!

This is Makuei and Margaret’s drama-based short film…

Made with the help of Farah Omar, Nicola Pauling and Hunter Abbey.

(via abdalla1)

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:51:48 +1300

(via abdalla1)

special day

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:47:12 +1300

hazaraboy:

Today I am going to write about a special day in Afghanistan. Eid comes once a year after Ramadan. Eid is very special day for all the Muslim people. All the Muslim people fast for a month. The last day of the Ramadan is called Eid. That is when people buy new clothes and go to family and friends house to say “Eid Mubarak”. On Eid the peoples in Afghanistan do heaps of fun. They have Eid for 3 days so they can have some happy and free time with their family and friends. In 3 days of Eid every things is closed except the shops. During Eid the children say “Eid Mubarak” to the older and they will give them money. During the Eid the girl who are married they are coming to their father is house to say “Eid Mubarak” to them. And they go to stay there for a week or more. The woman’s boil the eggs and then the man plays the game called cracking the eggs.

hazaraboy: Nice irani music!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:23:44 +1300

hazaraboy:

Nice irani music!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know..."

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:05:10 +1300

“Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they cannot communicate; they cannot communicate because they are separated.”

- Martin Luther King, Jr. - Wikiquote (via elly-aloro)

margaretp: this is recorded by abdalla and me

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:04:18 +1300

margaretp:

this is recorded by abdalla and me