CRS since the ‘90s
Shirley Wright started working at CRS in February 1997, and has been the General Manager for the past 11 years. Shirley trained as a primary school teacher, but left the…
CRS Team Stories
Tashi delak
Mitra Kumar Rai, originally from Bhutan, is a Bilingual Community Worker at CRS. I acknowledge myself, how lucky I am being in such a beautiful country, lovely people, great environment,…
Collaborations, cultures, communities
Christchurch Resettlement Services offers a wide range of assistance to refugee and migrant background communities in Christchurch, but to run these services effectively requires the skills and expertise of a…
Providing mental health support
Lauren Brunt joined the CRS team in May 2019 as a Mental Health Social Worker to support people affected by the 15 March Mosque attacks. This role is funded until…
Social Work and sports
Peter de Boer has worked at CRS on and off for the past twenty years. He recently started in a new role as a Mental Health Social Worker in the…
One profession, many roles
Alastair White has been on the staff of CRS since 2009, in a number of capacities. In mid-2019, he took up a new role through the Integrated Safety Response team,…
Everything changed after 15 March
Meaning “the woman with lovely big eyes” in Arabic, ‘Maha’ is a common name in Egypt. Maha Galal has been working as a Social Work Assistant at CRS since mid-2019,…
Photography, people and a PhD
Rami Elsayed started working with CRS in August 2019 as a Trauma Community Worker, trying to help the Muslim community, particularly the males, cope with the events of 15 March.…
Humble people, majestic landscapes
The Lhotshampa (or ‘southern’) people are ethnic Nepalis living in Bhutan. Many were forcibly expelled by the Bhutanese government in the 1990s and spent several years in refugee camps in…
Language and compassion
In her native Kurdish, ‘Galawezh’ is the name of a summer month and also the planet Venus. Galawezh Noori has been involved with CRS ever since she arrived in Christchurch…
Finding meaning through work
Zeinap Hussein fled the civil war in Somalia and eventually arrived in New Zealand, via Kenya and the Netherlands. She has many roles at CRS, including as a Bilingual Community…
From Clay Huts to Brick Houses: Molding a Life in New Zealand
Christchurch Resettlement Services offers a wide range of services to the refugee and migrant background communities in Christchurch. But to run these services effectively requires the skills and expertise not…