The Star: January 20, 2022

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8 The Star Thursday January 20 2022 STYLE & QUALITY FOR LESS STOREWIDE SALE CHRISTCHURCH’S MOST AFFORDABLE NZ MADE LOUNGE SUITES SUPER SALE Manatee Corner Recliner Suite Extra Section Available $299 WAS $2299 $ 1999 Storage Cup Holder SUPER SALE WAS $519 $ 479 Lennox Dining Chair Ackley Dining Table Ash Acacia Birch WAS $139 $ 129 500 DAYS Lending criteria, $50 Annual Account Fee, fees, Ts&Cs apply. Standard Interest Rate (currently 25.99%p.a.) applies to any outstanding balance at end of interest free period. Offer ends 31 January 2022. Min spend and exclusions may apply, $55 Establishment Fee or $35 Advance Fee applies to Long Term Finance Purchases. SUPER SALE FROM $ 449 Lift Up Base Mattress not included Single $489 $449 King Single $509 $459 Double $689 $629 Queen $739 $659 King $899 $759 SUPER SALE FROM $ 449 Sumata Fabric Headboard Queen $479 $449 King $489 $459 California King $589 $539 SUPER SALE Moeraki egg chair SUPER SALE Raglan Egg Chair East Cape Table Piha Extension Outdoor Table Black or White WAS $999 $ 779 SUPER SALE Akaroa Lounge Setting WAS $699 $ 649 Available in: Black, White QUALITY WAS $2699 $ 2499 Marley Outdoor Dining Chair FURNITURE NEW OUTDOOR PRICE TAG ARRIVED Affordable SUPER SALE WAS $179 $ 149 WAS $1899 $ 1729 Marley Outdoor Dining Chair Palm Beach Lounge Setting WAS $179 $ 149 WAS $2699 $ 2599 LIMITED STOCK WAS $3299 $ 2999 FREE CARPARKING SOUTH CITY BATH ST WE ARE HERE 255 MOORHOUSE AVE REBEL SPORT COLOMBO ST MON-FRI 9:30AM – 5:30PM SAT-SUN 10AM – 5:30PM 0800 268 264 500 Days Interest free terms: In-store only purchases $499 & over. Ends 31 January 2022. Exclusions may apply. Lending criteria, $50 Annual Account Fee, fees, Ts&Cs apply. Standard Interest Rate (currently 25.99% p.a.) applies to any outstanding balance at end of interest free period.$55 Establishment Fee or $35 Advance Fee applies to Long Term Finance Purchases. See in-store for full T&C’s
Thursday January 20 2022 The Star Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz NEWS 9 Mum’s fight to bring baby home A Christchurch nurse has finally been reunited with her young son after Covid unexpectedly separated them. Qiuyi Tan reports EMOTIONS: Rajdeep Kaur has been reunited with her son after a two-year struggle to bring him to New Zealand. PHOTO: GEORGE HEARD BABY HARBAAZ was five-months-old when he left New Zealand shortly before a pandemic closed the border. He had the green light from Immigration NZ to enter during the lockdown, but no one could take him. It was last call for passengers and the clock was ticking. Rajdeep Kaur Dhaliwal was at the departure gate of Auckland International Airport wishing time would stop, a baby boy fast asleep in her arms. She had been crying since she woke up that morning in December 2019, dressing her son Harbaaz and packing what he would need for his first flight on a plane. He was going without her. “My husband was saying: ‘Give him to Mum, they’re getting late’,” Rajdeep said. “I was like no, no, I don’t want to.” The whole family was in tears but reassured one another it would be all right, they would be back in no time. Rajdeep handed her sleeping baby to her motherin-law, and the rest was a blur. She didn’t know it would two years before she would be able to hold her baby again. Rajdeep’s family ultimately became one of thousands of migrant families separated by an extraordinary border closure to stem the outbreak of the coronavirus that entered New Zealand in 2020. The rigid border was part of an elimination policy that would serve the country well, defending its population of five million in the first year of a raging pandemic that would go on to overwhelm public health systems and kill millions around the world. Migrants on temporary visas who were not in New Zealand at the time were caught out. Immigration New Zealand says this data is not held in a reportable format so the number of migrant families separated by the border closure may never be known. But the agency says it has received tens of thousands of appeals from people desperate to enter. Over their long months of separation, Rajdeep would often wonder if sending Harbaaz to India was the worst decision of her life. “Why did I do it? We have no one to blame but ourselves.” The Kiwi dream looms large for many in India, one of New Zealand’s biggest sources of international students. A trained nurse from the city of Jalandhar in India’s Punjab state, Rajdeep and her husband Sarbjit gave up their comfortable middle-class lives to seek out the dream in 2017. They came, studied and worked for three years in Auckland, where Harbaaz was born in 2019. He was five-anda-half-months-old when the family had to move. Rajdeep was offered a place at Ara Institute in Christchurch to obtain her qualification as an enrolled nurse, bringing the family one step closer to their residency dream as the family of a critical health worker. “Why did I do it? We have no one to blame but ourselves.” – Rajdeep Kaur Dhaliwal The Dhaliwals had no friends or connections in Christchurch and would have to find a place to live and a job for Sarbjit so they could pay the bills while Rajdeep studied full-time for three months. The couple made the difficult decision to send Harbaaz to India to be cared for by his grandparents. They were already in Auckland helping to care for the baby since he was born, and were heading home at the end of their six-month stay on visitor visas. “I still miss those days when we were all together, those six months were gone so fast,” Rajdeep recalled. Harbaaz and his grandparents left New Zealand on Boxing Day, 2019. The plan was to go and get him at the end of Rajdeep’s nursing course in April or May. Four or five months at most and they would be more or less settled in Christchurch by then, she thought. On March 19, 2020, at 11.59pm, the New Zealand border closed to anyone who was not a citizen or permanent resident. The Dhaliwals were still waiting to file their residency application at the time, which would eventually get stuck in a ballooning backlog as the pandemic progressed. As temporary visa holders, there was no guarantee they would be allowed to return if they left the country to get Harbaaz. They had invested into their lives here, spending upwards of $40,000 on education, expenses and flights. They wanted to stay and give Harbaaz a brighter future, see him grow up in a country free from systemic corruption and pollution. Friends and family advised them to be patient, wait it out. Rajdeep went on to qualify as an enrolled nurse and started work at the St John of God Halswell residential care home, while Sarbjit worked as truck driver at a steel company. The couple worked through lockdown as essential workers, sometimes double shifts, fending off depression and waiting for the border to reopen. The young parents copped criticism from a small number of friends and relatives who thought they were selfish or money-minded to send their baby away. In September 2020, they applied for Harbaaz to enter New Zealand as the child of a critical health worker. The border was closed but exceptions could be granted for people considered to have a critical purpose to enter. Immigration approved the application the same day. Harbaaz was just 11-monthsold. The long-haul journey from Patiala to Christchurch could take up to two days including transit. How would he travel? Who would feed him, hold him, and change his nappy on the plane? The impossibilities dogged Rajdeep. Someone suggested asking the flight attendants to look after him, which she thought ludicrous. “I can’t take that risk.” They sat and waited, and could not see the light at the end of the tunnel. • Turn to page 10 Classic AP25 Air Conditioner Cooling 2.5kW | Heating 3.2kW $2,349 INSTALLED * * Standard installation, conditions apply. Call us for a free quote
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