Written by Abbey - Room 21

Growing up, Zhiyan Basharati never realized that she was living in a refugee camp. She was born in the camp, which was made up of tents, forts and old brick buildings surrounded by a landscape of dry dust and dirt.

Now a doctor in Christchurch, Dr Zhiyan Basharati tells her story.

In the Iraqi - Kurdish war, where Kurdistan fought to be an independent state, Zhiyan Basharati and her family took refuge in a refugee camp. Iraq wanted to eliminate the Kurdish culture, language and people. Zhiyan Basharati’s parents had lived in Kurdistan, but the conflict meant they had to leave home to escape and survive the violence of war. Zhiyan Basharati’ was born in the camp and talks about daily life in the refugee camp. She says there is no playground for kids, and her education was within the camp. She talks about dust storms and raids of the camp. Of how people would search your belongings and take anything of value.

In 2001, when Zhiyan was eleven years old, she and her family were resettled in Christchurch, New Zealand. Now Zhiyan has been in New Zealand for seventeen years and plans to visit Kurdistan next year, (2019.)

Zhiyan talks about how she continues her culture in New Zealand. She speaks Kurdish at home with her family and can write in Kurdish too. Zhiyan is Muslim and also likes to wear traditional Kurdish clothes. Her favourite celebration is ‘Eid’ which she says is like a Christmas. ‘Eid’ marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. An important part of Zhiyan’s journey to New Zealand was beginning new schooling and she talks about what it was like fitting in. Helping to welcome others into a new place or country, Zhiyan suggests we can be supportive to others and show interest in them. You can ask them about themselves or learn a part of their language. We can share a part of our culture and learn about their culture at the same time.

By doing things like this, we can help others feel a part of New Zealand.