Proud Cadet Graduates
Kurdish man Kochar Abdullah’s childhood memories are filled with bombs, violence, fear and beatings. But since moving to New Zealand as a United Nations refugee, Kochar and his family, including older brother Lanawas, have been able to lead a normal life.
Kochar Abdullah with his brother
Kochar is so grateful for his Kiwi lifestyle that he’s potentially heading back to war to protect the country he considers his home. The 22-year-old proudly graduated from his Royal New Zealand Air Force cadet course last week, his brother proudly watching and capturing the moment for his parents with a video camera.
Kochar was born in Iran but is of Kurdish nationality. Kurdistan is an area in the Middle East that covers large parts of eastern Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Armenia. Iraqi Kurdistan is the only region which has gained official recognition internationally as an autonomous federal entity. The Abdullah’s home city in Kurdistan was Kirkuk, an oil-rich and therefore disputed area 250km north of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. Conflict in the area continues today.
The Abdullahs fled to Iran in 1983, then to Pakistan as asylum seekers in 1989. Here, the family had to fight for their rights, something which landed Lanawas in jail more than once, but there was no way the family could return to their homeland. Although he was very young, Kochar remembers his time in Iran as full of violence, bombings and fighting. In Pakistan, Kochar and his family were the victims of racist taunts and Kochar says he was beaten at school if he made a mistake.
The family applied to the United Nations to come to New Zealand as refugees and in 1998 they were granted their wish. Moving to Auckland at age 12, Kochar said his new life was a world away from the violence the family left behind.
‘When we got here we were so happy that we were in a safe land.’ And that’s why he joined the Air Force.
‘Coming here and seeing a country that’s protecting me against racism ... so I thought I’d protect this country that I love. This is my home country now so I’ll protect it against anything.’
With his 13-week cadet training behind him, Kochar said he planned to specialise in armament and was looking forward to his next year of training at Base Woodbourne.
Photo/article: The Marlborough Express