NEW ZEALAND – Six years after Christchurch’s destructive 6.3 magnitude earthquake the rebuild programme is now being used to provide training for workers from the Pacific.

Twenty-four workers from Fiji, Tonga and Samoa are helping rebuild the city while learning new skills and earning money they send home.

Arriving in Christchurch for the first time in October last year, Fijian native Semi Gaga says it was so cold, he considered turning back.

“We had a thought in the plane, when they mentioned it was going to be six degrees as we landed, but we came here anyway in just our t-shirts and straight away we stepped outside the airport door and we could feel it and we nearly run back inside.”

But Gaga has now learnt to cope with the weather.

He and 23 other tradespeople from the Pacific are half way through a 12 month programme, working on rebuild projects in the city.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment initiative is based on a seasonal workers programme, that has been running for 10 years.

The Ministry’s manager for skills and investment, Matt Hoskin, says the aim is to fill employment shortages here, while supporting development across the Pacific region.

“It’s been great for New Zealand industry. It’s been really positive across the Pacific, because workers have new skills, remittances are going back. New businesses are springing - up started by the workers who access training that is provided here.”

Hoskin says Christchurch was the obvious choice for the pilot programme, with strong demand in the construction industry, and qualified carpenters available in the Pacific.

He says the Kaikoura earthquake is providing further demand.

“The demand for carpenters and the like is still ongoing in Christchurch and we do expect to see that different way of eventually but there is this ongoing demand of skills and this was never about displacing New Zealanders, this is about additionally so these guys are really welcome.

Semi Gaga is helping to build a justice precinct in Christchurch, which will open later this year. He says he has learnt a lot from working on construction sites here.

“Health and safety was the main thing, which is more strict, like back at home we can just pop into any work site just in our bare feet.

“But here safety is the main priority so we learn a lot about being mindful of yourself first.”

Ara Polytechnic in Christchurch has been providing pastoral care for the men and helping them gain New Zealand trades qualifications.

It’s spokesperson, Dave Dixon, says the men will improve construction practices in the Pacific, when they return home.

“Most of these people were in positions of employing people back in the islands so they’ll go back to similar positions and, hopefully, their new skills and their new way of dealing with things, whether it be materials or the methods they use or the health and safety.”

Gaga says the opportunity to work overseas has been a dream come true, and the money he has earned has helped him support his family back home.

“I am very proud of myself and to come from Fiji and also the boys be the first from Fiji to come over here to do this work here in Christchurch.”

Hoskin says other labour hire companies in Christchurch have expressed interest in taking on workers from the Pacific.

He says it will assess whether the programme should be extended, when the pilot ends in October.

- RNZI