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Inspirational book gives refugees a voice

1 December 2011

A book featuring 23 exceptional stories from former refugees now living in New Zealand was launched on Monday 28 November at the AUT Refugee Education Conference.

The book, 'Refugee Stories', is a compilation of stories related by the refugee writers themselves, at either the AUT Refugee Symposium (2010) or at the AUT Refugee Health and Wellbeing Conference in 2009.  

The stories were compiled and edited by Maria Hayward, the manager of the AUT Centre for Refugee Education, who also ran the workshops to help individuals with the transcription of the stories.  

"The stories are, in places, grueling, but they are, by no means, solely concerned with pain and suffering. 

"Each one conveys resilience, strength, compassion, endurance, hope and - for all of us – inspiration for overcoming adversity."

The launch, at AUT University’s North Shore campus saw contributors from the book mix and mingle with those attending the conference.

There were cultural performances and readings from four of the refugees which had the crowd enthralled.

A copy of the book was presented to each contributor and those that helped make the process possible.

During the course of the two-day conference, on November 28 and 29, researchers from both AUT and other universities across presented papers and attended workshops.

Keynote speakers for the conference were Richard Towle, the UNHCR Regional Pacific Representative, Dr Melika Yassin Skeikh-Eldin the manager of the Settlement Delivery Support Service in Melbourne, Australia and Mitchell Pham, a Vietnamese refugee, who says he was “born in Vietnam but made in New Zealand”.

The Mysterious Maya - an ancient American civilisation

July 2011Professor Norman Hammond.

The Mayan civilisation is the focus of a free public lecture to be held by the Royal Society in August.

As part of the 2011 Aronui Lecture Series, Professor Norman Hammond - Archaeology Correspondent for The Times, London and Fellow of the British Academy - will discuss recorded Mayan history and how the Mayan's survive into the 21st century.

Event details:

  • 6pm Thursday 11 August
  • Auditorium, Auckland Museum, The Domain, Parnell. Entry via the Southern Entrance, car parking available in the Domain and the Museum underground car park for $8.

These lectures are free and open to the general public. However, to ensure a seat, please obtain a ticket via the Royal Society website.

Enquiries: (04) 470 5770 or email lectures@royalsociety.org.nz 

Events to put spotlight on translation, interpreting and NZ Sign Language

May 2011

The importance of interpreting, translation and New Zealand Sign Language were made more apparent with the popularity surrounding Jeremy 'the sign language guy' Borland and the Christchurch earthquake.

So it is fitting that Borland was the guest speaker at the New Zealand Society of Translators and Interpreters pre-conference event, coinciding with AUT University celebrating 20 years of teaching in interpreting, translation and New Zealand Sign Language. AUT hosted the 2011 NZSTI Annual Conference for the first time this June.

Borland was one of the main interpreters working during the Christchurch earthquake at Civil Defence briefings and for the council. He has recently been awarded the New Zealand Sign Language Interpreter of the Year award.

His success so far this year follows on from studying at AUT, where the first ever translation course was taught in 1988.

The first Community Interpreter course in New Zealand was developed and taught by Dr Sabine Fenton at the then Auckland Institute of Technology.

This was the first step. By 1990 health care and legal interpreting courses were also running. The effect of having trained interpreters in Auckland caused ripples around New Zealand, so after requests these courses were also taught by AIT’s lecturers in Hamilton, Hastings, Palmerston North, Wellington and Christchurch.

As time has passed the course has been updated and improved and AUT now offers qualifications from foundation Certificates in both Interpreting and Translation, taught online so anyone in New Zealand can access them, to a professional level 6 Diploma in Interpreting and Translation, BAs and Graduate Diplomas in both disciplines, through to a PhD in Translation.

These qualifications are based on consistent assessment criteria with external professionals marking E-LOTE (Language Other than English) exams in both interpreting and translation.

 

AUT student takes out top honours in speech competition

May 2011

AUT student William Walker won the highest honour with his speech at the 10th NZ Chinese Bridge Speech Competition held on Saturday 14 May.

Mr Walker competed in the tertiary category and will be representing New Zealand at the 10th Chinese Bridge Speech competition for Foreign College Students in China in July.

Mr Walker is currently a second year student in the BA (Chinese) program at AUT after "cross-crediting" into AUT's second year Chinese program after graduating from high school last year.

He also won the top prize last year in the secondary school category which resulted in him competing in China last year. His speech this year is about aspects of that trip. 

The speech was in a foreign language, and it may seem a bit simple, but it earned big cheers and a lot of applause on Saturday with its beautiful use of the Chinese language and the thought-provoking theme. 

The event was organised by the NZ Chinese Language Foundation and the Confucius Institute in Auckland.

AUT 10 years on - Languages and Social Sciences Alumni celebration

10 year celebration alumni event.

To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of AUT University, the Languages and Social Sciences School held an event on 13 October to celebrate its Alumni. The event was also an opportunity for current students to listen to the experiences and advice from those who had been in their shoes only a few years before.

The event began with a panel in which a cross-section of the school's Alumni spoke on the theme of "Graduates for the Changing World: Looking back, looking forward". The presentations, were informative and inspiring, both for students and staff.

One notable presentation was Skyped in from Shanghai by a graduate who has set up a New Zealand restaurant there.

The second half of the event was a vibrant mingle and networking event at AUT's PIKO Restaurant.

The success of this Alumni event inspired organisers to look into the possibility of staging further events of this nature on an ongoing basis. 

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Last updated: 02 Dec 2011 6:46pm

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