New Zealand Refugee Takes Top honours
25 Mar 2008
A 12 year old Tampa refugee who has spoken English for less than six years has been judged New Zealand's third-best speller.
Abbas Nazari is one of a group of 400 refugees who made world headlines in 2001 when they were rescued from a distressed fishing vessel north of Australia by the Norwegian freighter MS Tampa and refused permission to land on Australian soil. Abbas was one of the lucky ones who was taken to the Pacific Island of Nauru and then flown on to New Zealand with his family.
Though he spoke no English Abbas soon made up for lost learning time.
"When we came to New Zealand we were so deprived of knowledge. Because I didn't know any English I stayed at home and could only watch TV or study, so I studied and caught up with all the rest."
"We had heaps of books at our house so I just read them."
Abbas is a pupil at Burnside High School in Christchurch and beat thousands of Kiwi students to make the final three in the national spelling bee. He came to grief in round five when he missed out a 't' while spelling "silhouetted" - a mistake he puts down to nerves as it is a word he knows.
"You could feel the tension, it was cracking with electricity," said Abbas.
At home the family still speaks their native Afghani language, Dari, so Abbas only speaks English at school and with friends. He's a keen reader and football player and is intent on a career reaching for the stars.
"I have a passion for astronomy but if that doesn't work out then I have literature as a back-up plan," he says.
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