Namrud is one of Hagley's Bilingual Liaison Support workers.

In fact, Namrud is more than bi-lingual! He speaks English, Amharic (Ethiopian), Tigriya (Eritrean), plus some Italian. He works with our Ethiopian and Eritrean students to help them in their classes, with language support, and in navigating their way through the many differences of living in New Zealand.

Namrud has had a very interesting and difficult life journey, which undoubtedly helps him in his work with refugee and migrant students every day. He grew up in Ethiopia and spent his childhood there. However, in 1998, major conflict broke out on the Ethiopia/Eritrea border, and his whole family was deported to Eritrea.

Since finishing high school in Eritrea, Namrud worked in a variety of different jobs. He spent one year in the Army, completing his National Service. He studied Business and Hotel Management, and then worked as a high school teacher, teaching Social Science and Maths. He also worked in accounting and ran his own business. The family stayed in Eritrea, before Namrud returned to Ethiopia in 2014, and he was later given entry to New Zealand as a ‘quota refugee’ in 2019.

The journey to New Zealand was not an easy one. It took two years for his placement to come through via the United Nations’ Refugee Quota programme. Namrud didn’t get to choose what country to move to – this was decided for him. He flew to NZ on his own and found himself at the Mangere Resettlement Centre around the time of the March 15, 2019 Mosque attacks. He had very mixed emotions at this time, as everyone thought New Zealand was a safe place, but those with him questioned this every day.

Once again, he was assigned a city to move to (Christchurch). He has had good support from the Red Cross Resettlement services, and there is a growing community of Eritrean people in Christchurch.

Namrud can relate very well to new migrants and refugees. He remembers everything being new, and the worst thing was being lonely and trying to stay positive. Namrud left his wife behind in Ethiopia, and they have not seen each other in three years. You can just imagine how excited he was to get the news that she will be arriving in NZ this week! We are so happy for them both!

Namrud has worked at Hagley for almost two years, helping both adolescent and adult students with language support in their classes, but also providing pastoral care and support both in and out of school. Namrud also oversees the Homework Centre, for primary and secondary students, and he has been assisting with the Multi-Ethnic Learning Communities Hub that has been held at Hagley over the last few weekends. In his spare time, Namrud volunteers with the Red Cross each week, to help others to settle into living in Christchurch.

What Namrud enjoys most is when families get what they need, and he feels a great sense of satisfaction when he has been able to help them. When asked what he likes about Hagley he says, “Everything, everything! The staff are lovely, the students are motivated, everyone’s friendly.” Namrud gives his trademark smile – he is very clearly happy he is here, and we are very happy to have him working with us and our students.

If you see Namrud around the College, feel free to say “Selam” – this means ‘hello’ in Eritrea.