Pledge for Car for Community Driving School

Pledge For Car For Community Driving School

Project 2017-12-01 17:21:49 +1300

Who are we?

For Sri Lankan refugees like father and son Mickle and Roshan Arulesebastiyan who are struggling to settle in a new country, and for many migrant job-seekers like Nurhasanah Tian, it’s important to get a driver licence because many employers give preference to someone with a full licence.

Twice caught by police while driving unsupervised with a learner licence, Abdullah Ahmed, a Somali refugee, stopped driving to avoid paying fines. Abdullah and his children walk to and from school everyday.

The Puketapapa Community Driving School was set up to help young people, new migrants and resettled communities (forme refugees) to gain independence and confidence, and increase their chances of getting a job.

Check out our website www.pcds.co.nz

Why are we doing this?

We know that having a driver licence means:

• Increasing employability 3 x more for a young person, migrant or former refugee.

• Reducing entry of youth into justice system by avoiding driving-related offence.   

• Increasing confidence and safety for families and communities.

We also know that barriers exist for many learners like the cost of driving lessons and sitting the tests, lack of practice car and driving mentors. PCDS aims to make driving lessons more accessible and affordable with the help of volunteer driver mentors.

Shreya Rao shares why she volunteered for PCDS:

I work in mental health and I’m very passionate about helping people to help themselves. I think it’s very special to be a person who helps another person get the tools to succeed. Life can be even more challenging when you are a young, ethnic woman so I felt really empowered when I finally got my driver licence. I’m hoping to help others feel the same sense of achievement and confidence.

Check out news story on PCDS:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/96765412/driving-school-for-young-people-migrants-and-ethnic-women-calls-for-more-volunteers

Where will your money go?

We need to have at least two practice cars available. Your donation will go towards purchasing the second dual-controlled practice driving car.

How else can you support PCDS?

1. Book your driving lessons through PCDS to help learners from low-income families to get their licence too.

2. Join our team of volunteer driver mentors to support learners like Roshan, Mickle, Nurhasanah and Abdullah.

3. Donate towards petrol and car maintenance costs.

Our Team

Honey Rasalan, Manager of PCDS and Migrant Action Trust

In her first three years in NZ, Honey relied mainly on public transport to and from work as well as grocery shopping. Things changed when her three school-aged children joined her in NZ. That’s when she realised that she needed a driver licence to drive her kids to school and after school activities. Being able to drive also means shorter travel time to work, collecting the kids and having her family enjoy sightseeing around Auckland.

Honey has been facilitating Start Right in NZ Job Search workshops and one-on-one tips for CVs, cover letters and preparing for job interviews. She saw the need for a community driving school after hearing a lot of job-seekers who wished they had driver licence meet job requirements.   

David Rule, Manager of RULE Education Trust

Since 1995, David has been delivering literacy, numeracy and driver license training programmes in our communities. For some of the former refugees who have very little English, David patiently spent 6-8 months to support them in classes to help prepare for learner theory test. David is one the Auckland local heroes acknowledged this year by Kiwibank for using his passion to make a difference to grassroots communities.     

Amie Maga, Project Coordinator of PCDS

Amie knows how difficult it is getting stuck with a learner licence for many years. She always worry about her kids getting seriously sick whenever her husband is away for overseas meetings. Last July, Amie’s mother-in-law suffered stroke while her husband was away for 5 long weeks. Knowing how stressful it can be for migrant/refugee families without a driver around, Amie eagerly accepted the role as Project Coordinator for such an important community programme.

PCDS is an initiative of The PETER Collective, a collective of organisations and enterprises working together to improve the education and employment readiness in Puketapapa. Check out https://www.petercollective.org.nz/about-us/

With seed funding to start set-up from Todd Foundation and Puketapapa Local Board, PCDS has been developed by Migrant Action Trust, RULE Education, Umma Trust and Wesley Centre.  

PCDS has 1 Qualified Instructor, 1 Former Testing Officer and 29 Volunteer Driver Mentors, and recruiting more! Register here https://tinyurl.com/pcds-dm to join our team of volunteer mentors.

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