Today’s crybaby of the week is a former UN facilitator who went on a hunger strike because things are unfair. The media headline read “Former Palestinian refugee says he’s been forced to live in a van since arriving in New Zealand.”
[…] Aziz said he could not fault the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre, where refugees participate in a reception programme that focuses on living and working in New Zealand.
[…] Aziz, who has no family, said he had no complaints about his subsidised house which he paid $53 a week for.”
“But in April he decided to stop that rental, and move into his non-self contained van with a mattress in the back..”[…] “It was a stupid decision,” he concedes given winter was fast approaching
He was not forced to live in a van but, as publicity stunts go, he has certainly used the media to his advantage.
[…] Ibrahim Aziz came to New Zealand to start a new life. Almost a year later he is living in a van, and contemplating leaving the country.
[…] his patience with New Zealand, where he arrived on July 4, has fast run out.
Stuff
He has a long list of grievances with agencies, with those encounters resulting in him cancelling his benefit, going on a hunger strike, and spending several nights in a mental health facility.
“Why should I be a New Zealander if I’m never respected?” […]
[…] Ibrahim Aziz, […] was one of 548 to resettle in Dunedin in the three year period to April 5, 2019.
[…] Aziz said he had issues with Red Cross, and felt his card was marked from the start.
“I received things from the Government; table to eat on, and fridge.”
He declined the Red Cross offers of other extras such as a TV, and because “if I need something I will work to get it”.
[…] “I don’t want things, I want things to help me with my new community, like services.”
Aziz, who had worked as a facilitator with the United Nations in Palestine, said all he wanted was a job.
“I want to work. I will do anything.”
Instead he was told that was too soon, and instead he had to improve his English.
He became stressed, and “I stayed inside these four walls, and I don’t have any friends”.
That stress cumulated in him going on a hunger strike back in October, and then he spent several days in a mental health facility – “the lowest point in my life”.
His mounting stress led to him shifting his home into a van, staying at freedom camping spots around Dunedin, while working as a cleaner and offering gardening services.
At one point he even stopped his bank account and his benefit.
“I wanted to leave the country,” the Palestinian passport holder said.
Aziz left for Wellington last week, where he plans to save for a ticket back to Malaysia in the next few months.
“It is better for me than just my eat and sleep life here.”