I met Eyad Masoud during a year I spent coaching in Saudi Arabia. He is Syrian. His family fled the destruction of their homeland to live in Jeddah. He loves swimming but could not swim in Syria. The Americans, the Russians, the Turks and Assad’s army are in the process of destroying his country in order to satisfy Trump and Putin’s world bragging rights. Eyad has had family members killed in the conflict and his home has been bombed into a pile of rubble. The closest thing to a swimming pool in Eyad’s home town is a water filled bomb crater.
Saudi Arabia offered better, but still far from perfect, training conditions. Because he was Syrian the Saudi authorities refused to let him swim in any public swimming pool. The apartheid practiced by the Saudi royal family is breath-taking. The only pool available was in the British International School. The school let Eyad train in return for taking swimming lessons.
But even that was not going to last. To stay in Saudi Arabia Eyad needed a new Syrian passport. To get a passport he had to return to Syria. If he went to Syria he would automatically be conscripted into fighting for Assad. Life in Assad’s army promised to be nasty, brutish and short.
And so when I returned to New Zealand I invited Eyad to swim in the New Zealand Championships. While he was here he resolved to apply for refugee status. He has been here four months and I have to say I have been unreservedly impressed with Immigration New Zealand and my country in general. The title of this blog is the last line on America’s Statue of Liberty. The whole poem says this:
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Those words don’t mean anything in Trump’s America but they describe perfectly Eyad’s experience in New Zealand.
But it began with a stroke of good fortune. An Auckland journalist recommended that Eyad contact Auckland barrister, Deborah Manning. If you are ever in need of immigration advice, call her firm. She explained the process and then carefully guided Eyad through the minefield of his refugee application. He could not have asked for better legal care.
Immigration New Zealand has also been unbelievably good. They have a difficult job. Genuine refugees, like Eyad, need to be welcomed. Bad buggers and spongers need to be sent back to wherever they came from. In all Eyad’s contact with the Department I have been able to detect their efforts to determine which of those categories applied in Eyad’s case. Their attention was polite, rigorous and thorough. Eyad is still waiting for the Immigration New Zealand decision on his case. Whatever happens, he has been treated well.
And Eyad’s New Zealand journey took another important step forward this week. He signed his first ever employment agreement and began working as a teacher for the Millennium Swim School. Two things are important about that. First the Millennium Pool staff have been open and welcoming. Their pool is certainly a lovely place to go for a swim. It’s clean and the staff are delightful. And the Millennium Swim School seems to exhibit the same happy, welcoming atmosphere. I have watched a hundred swim schools around the world. You get a feel for schools that provide a constructive and busy learning environment. You also quickly pick the signs of swim schools that don’t. The Millennium Swim School is first rate. You won’t go wrong enrolling your children in that school.
Actually, while I’m on the subject of swim schools; west Auckland also has a very good swim school at the Waterhole Pool in Parrs Park, Henderson. So if you are looking for swim lessons “out-west” drive past West Wave and enrol at the Waterhole.
In fact the only cloud in New Zealand’s welcome to Eyad has been the West Wave Pool. In spite of the fact that Eyad was banned from pools in Saudi Arabia and in spite of his family home being destroyed by the Russians, or was it the Americans, or was it Turkey, or was it all three; in spite of all that, because the West Wave pool manager doesn’t like me, I was forbidden from taking Eyad to the West Wave Pool. They were prepared to hurt an innocent refugee in order to get at me. Auckland has a first class Labour mayor with impeccable liberal credentials. I am sure Phil Goff would be appalled at the deception of his council’s West Wave Pool.
And so, with all that immigration stuff going on, how has Eyad’s swimming progressed? He has been here, training regularly, for four months. When I met him in Jeddah his training amounted to a pretty unstructured 10 kilometres a week. The next table shows how this has improved since he arrived in New Zealand. His peak mileage has gone up to 71 kilometres and his average weekly distance has more than doubled to 38 kilometres.
Date | Distance kms | Comment | Date | Distance kms | Comment |
11 Sept | 27 | Arrived NZ | 20 Nov | 30 | Speed |
18 Sept | 23 | Speed | 27 Nov | 30 | Speed |
25 Sept | 15 | Speed | 4 Dec | 19 | Auckland Ch |
2 Oct | 16 | NZ Champs | 11 Dec | 10 | Holiday |
9 Oct | 11 | Holiday | 18 Dec | 70 | Aerobic |
16 Oct | 63 | Aerobic | 25 Dec | 63 | Aerobic |
23 Oct | 59 | Aerobic | 1 Jan | 71 | Aerobic |
30 Oct | 49 | Anaerobic | 8 Jan | 70 | Aerobic |
6 Nov | 46 | Anaerobic | 15 Jan | 23 | Ant Mosse |
13 Nov | 30 | Speed | 22 Jan | 26 | Counties |
Eyad’s competitive results have reflected his improved training. When he arrived in New Zealand his Saudi best times were 58 for 100 freestyle, 25 for 50 freestyle and 29 for 50 butterfly. By any measure those times are pretty average. In only four months Eyad has improved his PBs to the times shown in the next table.
Event | Short Course | Long Course |
50 Free | 23.66 | 24.47 |
100 Free | 52.50 | 54.10 |
50 Fly | 26.04 | 26.25 |
I suspect Eyad is also the first refugee to win a senior Auckland Championship – the 50 freestyle and the Anthony Mosse Classic 50 freestyle. Of course, there is a long way to go. However Eyad has talent. Who knows how fast and how far his New Zealand journey might be.
Whatever speed Eyad swims in the next few years, it is important to recognize Deborah Manning, Immigration New Zealand, the Millennium Pool, the Millennium Swim School, Swimming New Zealand and the Waterhole Club for making Eyad feel welcome; for giving hope to a guy who arrived with only the dream of a better life. Your example represents the very best of the place Eyad now calls home.