Fatima’s Story

Fatima Atti Bish didn’t seek refuge 16,000 kilometres around the world to be denied guests in her own home.

Even while her world sometimes seemed to contract, the family has continued to expand. One of her sons has married since the family came to New Zealand, in 2019, as refugees.

But in emergency housing, where she lived for over a year, the rules were clear: no guests, not even her three adult sons.

“I want to bring them into my home – and cook for them. It’s what we do, but it’s against the rules.”

She didn’t mind the temporary accommodation otherwise. A standalone house, rather than a motel. And quieter than anticipated, perhaps due to those same rules.

The family has endured long periods of separation, some of which are still ongoing.

Idlib is their home. It was the focus of fighting in the early phases of the Syrian civil war. Caught in the crossfire of those initial attacks, Atti Bish’s husband lost his life.

In 2011, the family fled across the border to Beirut. They lived there for eight years, a period during which her children weren’t able to go to school.

Atti Bish’s daughter would eventually seek asylum, with her husband, in Switzerland. She has three sisters, one of whom is now in Germany. The other two remain in Syria.

Atti Bish came instead to New Zealand with her four sons.

But life in the new country, she soon discovered, was even more expensive. Rent – at $800 a week – was more than she could afford. Eventually, she ended up in emergency housing, with her youngest son.

Before the family left Syria, she worked as a hairdresser. Now, with rent no longer an existential worry, she thinks about working again. “Language is a big barrier,” she tells the reporter, through a translator.

Eventually, she hopes to save enough money to help her sisters move from Idlib.

In the meantime, she is creating a small bridge across language barriers, getting to know her neighbours across the hall.