Candidate Storys
Abdal's Story
Meet Abdal. Abdal isa former refugee from Syria who now lives in Dunedin with his wife and children, he owns an established, popular food truck in Dunedin and is a fluent English speaker. Abdal worked in the hospitality industry in Syria, mainly in the hotel sector.
The Red Cross Pathways to Employment Coordinator referred Abdal to Workforce Central Dunedin to discuss a business idea. This idea of Abdal’s was given momentum by the opportunities presented in the construction of the New Dunedin Hospital. Abdal knew a few former Syrian refugee construction workers who were not in meaningful employment in their area of expertise, which sparked Abdal’s vision of starting a small construction enterprise and employing these people. His point of difference was that he would use his personal knowledge of working in New Zealand and capability to communicate in English to negotiate contracts and manage the team of non-English speaking construction workers.
Whilst many former refugees have incredible skills that are highly valuable within the construction industry, many of these people face barriers when they look for work in New Zealand. Some of the barriers include a lack of formal qualifications which are not recognised in New Zealand, or the inability to speak fluent English which means in order to provide for their families- these individuals find themselves in low paid, low skilled jobs or on the job seeker benefit. Many of these workers have expressed they are grateful for any job as they have the opportunity to learn how to work in New Zealand and how to navigate the New Zealand employment systems. However, these workers are capable and highly experienced artisans, and they yearn to exercise their construction expertise again.
Workforce Central Dunedin met with Abdal and Red Cross and were immediately very enchanted by Abdal’s construction business idea and could see that this could readily be a workable plan for the former refugee community. WFCD drew on knowledge of where opportunities lay and, in this instance, believed that approaching a government contractor was the most appropriate starting point. WFCD contacted Kāinga Ora and discussed Abdal’s vision, requesting them to consider subcontracting Abdal’s team on a pilot scheme. With in a few days, Kāinga Ora said they would be able to refer us to their local main contractor, Dunedin Housing Maintenance Contractors, who maintain government public housing. In doing so, they would leave it to us to work with Dunedin Housing Maintenance Contractors (DHMC) to take the idea further.
WFCD contacted the Trade Relationship Manager of DHMC to further explore Abdal’s idea and whether they would consider sub-contracting Abdal and his team.
We discussed that Kāinga Ora public houses are maintained according to a robust Kāinga Ora maintenance plan. DHMC were very enthusiastic about this and were keen to explore the idea with Abdal. So, WFCD organised a meeting between a range of people including the Red Cross who are supporting the former Syrian Refugee community, Kāinga Ora and Dunedin Housing Maintenance Contractors. The discussion went very well and DHMC invited Abdal to further discussions to plan how to set himself up to meet contractual requirements and do preliminary training. DHMC were fantastic at giving Abdal guidance and support to get his team ready to take on their first project.
DHMC put a very user-friendly programme of work together for Abdal and his Team. It’s designed followed a rough set up that resembled something like this: Housing Maintenance Contractors (DHMC)source the work, scope what is required and price the job. They will then give the work in the form of a contract to Abdal and his team to complete for market rates of pay. All Abdal and his team need to do is purchase the required materials, arrive onsite and complete the work. This setup is very simple, very do-able and gives Abdal and his team a leg up to their first piece of work which promises to be sustainable and meaningful full-time self-employment.
Abdal and his team’s first piece of work was to paint five public houses to meet specifications set out by Kāinga Ora and overseen by DHMC. By Christmas 2022, Abdal and his team completed this initial contract to the expected standards and DMHC had already assigned more houses to complete in Oamaru in the New Year. DHMC is able to provide full-time, sustainable and meaningful work to Abdal and his team, which means former refugees living in Dunedin whom have struggled to settle in New Zealand will have the prospect of ongoing work in their field of expertise to provide for their families through building a career in the construction industry.
In November 2022 a conference in Geneva discussed the work various host countries have achieved with their refugees, this particular project was mentioned as way New Zealand has stepped up to support former Syrian Refugees in Dunedin. To have the work of a small group of Dunedin citizens on the world stage is fantastic and an honourable testimony to how people in government and private enterprise in our small city collaborate to achieve community wellbeing. This initiative was also the subject of the Minister’s Briefing through Kāinga Ora on 02 December 2022.
Voices of Abdal and his Team
Abdal expressed that New Zealand opened their arms and hearts to his family and community when he arrived here and felt like this was his time to give back to the New Zealand community. He also expressed his deep gratitude for everyone who was involved in the process of making this all come together. He recognised that our team at WFCD feel very honoured to be a part of this initiative. WFCD wish nothing but the best for Abdal and his team. WFCD will catch up with Abdal regularly to see how it is going and if we can support him further.
WFCD sees Abdal’s story as a success to theDunedin construction industry.
