![]() Nazari, 23, says the intense scrutiny that has come with his achievement mildly bugs him, with its suggestion that his academic nous is somehow exceptional, rather than a broader indicator of the potential of all refugee kids to thrive when given a chance. The scholarship was awarded just days before World Refugee Day, marked around the world on Thursday. This week Nazari, a first-class honours graduate of international relations and diplomacy from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, was awarded a prestigious Fulbright scholarship, granting him a year’s postgraduate study at Columbia University in New York. Who the hell is New Zealand, and where is that? That was quickly dispelled by ‘at least it’s as far away from this boat as possible’.” “One day we were told that little old New Zealand was willing to accept us … that news was a huge, huge blessing. “Every day we received updates that ‘sorry, nothing has happened, no country is willing to accept you guys’,” remembers Nazari, now a civil servant in Wellington. ![]() Marooned at sea, Nazari and his family were at the mercy of international goodwill, in the same week as two planes flew into the twin towers in New York. ![]() Abbas Nazari with US ambassador to New Zealand Scott Brown and NZ’s deputy PM Winston Peters. ![]()
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