Jobs in NZ transform village life

Children at a local school in Vanuatu where locals leave to work in New Zealand each summer. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Concrete buildings are popping up in the poor village of Mele, in Port Vila, Vanuatu. One belongs to Alex George, 42, who spends his summers working in the orchards and vineyards of Central Otago.

The more common building materials in Mele are dried leaves or corrugated iron, which are surrounded by dirt roads, banana palms, drying taro and brightly coloured lines of laundry.

Between the houses run chickens, emaciated dogs and pigs varying from tiny to the size of a small submarine. There's a shopping centre that looks more like a run-down detention centre for wayward youths.

But inside one of the concrete houses, a television and DVD player sit alongside a stereo blaring reggae.

These are the fruits of labour in New Zealand. The Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme brings 2500 Vanuatuan workers to New Zealand every summer to work for up to seven months.

The scheme fills labour gaps - without crowding out local workers - while providing valuable income to poor Vanuatuans.

"I love the scheme," Mr George says.

"Without it I would not be this person today. It has affected the way I live."

He does not look like your average citizen of Vanuatu. He wears black slacks and a well-cut shirt, boat shoes and Oakley sunglasses.

The scheme has also allowed him to send his daughter Robyn, 14, and son Ross, 12, to secondary school, despite fees of $350 a term.

About 40 of the 4000 village population have been working on the RSE scheme, and Mr George has set up a pool of money; every worker adds 1000 vatu (about $15) a season to a community fund to improve the water supply.

Alistair Jamieson, labour manager for Hawkes Bay-based Mr Apple, says he hires about 850 people - mainly from Tonga and Samoa - on the scheme every year to pick apples.

Wages vary from the minimum to $20 an hour, and one worker earned $20,000 on his last stint.

Prime Minister John Key has said he hopes to extend the number of people on the scheme.