On Wednesday 18th May, Christchurch Girls' High School / Te Kura o Hine Waiora was pleased to attend the inaugural Christchurch Emerging Ethnic Leaders Breakfast hosted by the Ministry of Education.

This was an opportunity to celebrate Ōtautahi’s growing diversity and champion the contributions of our rangatahi.

The Emerging Ethnic Leaders Breakfast recognised students from diverse ethnic backgrounds who have demonstrated leadership and service at the highest levels in their respective schools. 

Christchurch Girls' High School / Te Kura o Hine Waiora was proud that two of our ākonga Hawwa Niyaz (Year 13) and Angela Reupena (Year 12) were acknowledged at this event for their leadership within our kura and wider school community.

Hawwa and Angela were fortunate to hear speeches from Christchurch Mayor, Lianne Dalziel, The Director of Education for Canterbury, Coralanne Child and the bestselling author of After the Tampa, Abbas Nazari.

Listening to Abbas Nazari speak about how his family fled Afghanistan in 2001 as refugees, and ended up on a small fishing boat in the Indian Ocean, was inspiring. When their boat started to sink they were rescued by the cargo ship, the Tampa. In what became known as the Tampa Affair, the rescued asylum seekers were denied entry into Australia at gunpoint and Abbas talked about this time in his life. Eventually, Abbas and his family were granted asylum in New Zealand and moved to Ōtautahi, and are now proud Afghan-Kiwis. Abbas's memoir, After the Tampa: From Afghanistan to New Zealand is a #1 bestseller and he has recently been named a finalist for the 2022 Young New Zealander of the Year. His speech about his journey, building resilience, and some lessons learned along the way was a real highlight of the morning.