Erin Kavanagh-Hall

June 18, 2025Share

After having escaped religious persecution, mourning family members lost to violence, and surviving years of “uncertainty and tension”, Faran Ahmad Khan and Hatum Ahmed Yahya have made themselves a peaceful and happy home in Aotearoa.

Now settled in Masterton, the friends are among the organisers of Wairarapa’s first World Refugee Day event, a community-led celebration of culture, storytelling, and resilience.

The free event, to be held this weekend at the War Memorial Stadium, promises to showcase the diversity of Wairarapa, with cultural performances — from Congolese theatre to kapa haka — poetry, henna, and “the best biryani in the region”.

It would also include presentations from Masterton’s Ahmadiyya and Congolese communities, who would share their experiences of finding safety and connection, often after facing extreme hardship.

The event was developed through a leadership programme supported by Immigration New Zealand and Masterton District Council, designed to help former refugees build confidence and community ties.

To complete the course, Khan and Yahya formed a seven-person organising committee and managed to pull the event together in “just under a month”.

World Refugee Day, held each year on June 20, aimed to raise awareness of the challenges faced by refugees and advocate for their rights to safety, protection, and dignity.

Under its Refugee Quota Programme, New Zealand resettled about 1500 refugees annually. Masterton became a refugee resettlement centre in 2020, welcoming whānau from both Pakistan’s Ahmadiyya Muslim community and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

For Khan and Yahya, Masterton’s World Refugee Day celebrations were a chance to honour the journey that brought them here, and to show the wider community the real people behind the headlines.

“When people hear the word refugee, they might think of someone who migrated here with the help of the government,” Khan said.

“But behind that, there are real stories — people who have been through pain and uncertainty to get to where they are. And people who have their own music, traditions, and food they want to share.

“Also, we want to show that as refugees, we’re not just sitting still. We want to actively contribute to and give back to our new communities.”

In Khan and Yahya’s native Pakistan, the Ahmadiyya community — a revivalist movement within Islam — faced widespread, state-sanctioned persecution.

In many cases, Khan said, if an Ahmadi Muslim was targeted or even martyred for their faith, the perpetrator faced no legal consequences.

Ahmadi Muslims were also forbidden from being buried in consecrated ground, forcing communities to buy their own burial land.

When their families were threatened with violence, Khan and Yahya fled to Malaysia, where they were granted refugee status.

However, Malaysia had no formal framework for recognising and protecting refugees, meaning they had few legal rights and lived in fear of detention or deportation.

“There was so much tension for us,” Yahya said. “If you get sick, you don’t go to a clinic for help — they can refuse, or report you to the authorities.

“We couldn’t even go shopping without worrying about getting caught by the police.”

Khan, who was just 8 when he arrived in Malaysia, said he was targeted by bullies who sometimes resorted to throwing rocks. With few education options, he taught himself English with help from TV shows and movies.

Eventually, the pair were resettled in New Zealand under the Refugee Quota, spending time at the Māngere Refugee Resettlement Centre before moving to Masterton.

Khan recalled “feeling [his] shoulders drop with relief” when landing at Auckland Airport. However, it took time before he could go out in public without the weight of trauma following behind.

“When I was at the Māngere centre, I asked if I could go out for a walk. The staff were like, ‘sure, you don’t have to ask!’ I thought, ‘don’t I have to take my passport and ID?’

“It was so strange. It took me a while not to tense up every time I saw a police car.”

In Wairarapa, Khan and Yahya were now thriving. Yahya worked as a youth leader within the Ahmadiyya community, while Khan had been offered a job with the New Zealand Red Cross.

They were both looking forward to this weekend’s celebration, which they hoped would be a joyful tribute to the many cultures that called Wairarapa home.

The programme included Congolese drama, kapa haka by local students, music from Mākoura College band Shuttle, and stalls hosted by migrant communities.

The Pakistani community would be represented through Ahmadiyya poetry — read in both Urdu and English — henna tattoos, and demonstrations of traditional dress, with wearers sharing the cultural meaning behind what their outfits.

Khan said he was particularly looking forward to the shared lunch, featuring traditional Pakistani and Congolese dishes, and Pakistan’s “famous” ceremonial pink tea, known as Kashmiri chai.

The team said they were grateful to the many organisations supporting the event, such as Masterton District Council, Wairarapa Women’s Centre, Arrow FM, New World Masterton, and Business Wairarapa.

Jordan Alexander, who delivered the leadership course through Pangaea Consulting, said the team had shown “immense drive”.

“They’ve asked themselves: ‘What do we want people to feel when they leave?’ And the answer was simple — connection. They wanted people to hear, taste, see, and truly feel a sense of belonging.”

And Khan and Yahya had no doubt they had found that sense of belonging.

“I thank God — life here is so different,” Yahya said.

“New Zealand means freedom. And a normal life.”

The World Refugee Day event will be held on Saturday, June 21, from 10am to 3pm, at the War Memorial Stadium in Masterton. All are welcome.

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source https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/360721017/celebration-culture-and-courage