Disclaimer: Views expressed are solely those of the author.
The Belonging Conversation
No Kiwi Experience!? No Local Experience!? How do you navigate this phrase during your job search in a new country? Starting afresh in a foreign destination, even as a matured professional can be quite challenging.
I invited some Kiwi As New Kiwis to my audio chat to share their stories of starting out in a new country.
These are stories of courage and resilience. Read on if you want to meet these people who share their experiences of living expat lives in Aotearoa or another country they moved to. In the Belonging Conversation, where Kiwi Kiwis, New Kiwis and Friends of Kiwis come together.
This is Part 1.
The Pepeha
The Pepeha is a way of introduction in Māori. It tells who you are by sharing your connections with the people and places that are important to you. Your greeting, your mountain, your river or sea, your place, your name, and family name. This is how we introduce ourselves in the Belonging Conversation... and here is mine...
Kia ora. Himalayas are my mountains. Ganges is my river. I am from India. Das Roy is my family name, and my name is Moumita.
He tangata he tangata, he tangata.
The cartoon in the cover image is a crowd of New Zealanders, Māori, Pākehā and people from other ethnicities on the Waitangi Day celebrations in 2011. 'He aha te mea nui tea o? He tangata he tangata, he tangata!' It is a Māori proverb. What is the most important thing in the world? 'It is people, it is people, it is
people!'
Meet the Storytellers
Resilience is a superpower. This ability to start life back from scratch is something that many people exhibit when moving to a new country. Here are some of them. They came with their mihi, their Pepeha, and they shared their journey.
Jam Mayer: It is important to take charge of one's loneliness and carry on no matter what.
Igor Portugal: It is good to have a mentor and the courage to get back up even after being knocked down.
Ren Saguil: I moved to a new country with 4 children and adjusted to a new culture and a way of life, I found friends on my way.
Raven Lester Garcia: I started getting familiar with the accent and learning the common lingo.
Amreen Naqash: I felt heard and included when I first came in as an international student.
Wanita Zoghby-Fourie: I felt at home the moment I landed in the country but found it very hard to secure work even with my experience. All I heard was I was either overqualified or did not have New Zealand experience. I started temping to gain NZ experience and finally found an amazing role.
Giyora Barzilay: I immersed in the newness and did not worry about finding something common. Rather, I embraced what I saw and then tried to fit in. I treated my move as an adventure, trying to figure out what I wanted from it.
Paula Ray: Even if I had international experience as a journalist with global media brands, and had a PhD, all I was offered initially was to write letters to editors.
Kenneth Leong: Success for expats is a matter of time, for we bring in a spirit of ‘run faster, work harder’. The key is to focus on what one can control, and not let discrimination overpower us.
Harshmeen Kaur: Do not fear, don't think what if, just think you must do it. New Zealand gives an opportunity for women to work hard and achieve what they want to achieve. So go out and about and keep doing your job.
Karpal Singh: I am a very proud Indo-Kiwi. Understanding the culture, getting to know people... it has been a splendid journey of two decades. NZ gave me the courage to pivot twice - from hospitality to banking and from banking to my heart's calling… film making.
Maria Dolores Rodríguez Loredo Ferrere: Moving from Argentina, I found everything closing at 5pm very strange, as in my country nothing ever shuts down. In NZ, I have been a receptionist and admin manager and sometimes wonder all that I did.
Tristan Bailey: Moving to any country means starting from scratch. It depends on friends, connections, your network relying on you, trusting you. Finding that first contract is the key. Sometimes it is easy, sometimes it takes more effort. (A Brit who moved to New Zealand and then back.)
Judith Mikami and Anna Himiona, both wāhine Māori and now settled in Japan and the UK, respectively, for many years, showed support and acknowledged the beauty of diversity.
Each story becomes a guide for another...
Northern Hemisphere to Southern Hemisphere Surprise
As an ethno-curious person, I simply love the little surprises, the different cultural nuances that every new place presents.
For example, when I moved from India to New Zealand, I was particularly surprised by a few things. In India, a tropical country, we had a distinct monsoon season. But in New Zealand, it could rain any time of the year, especially in winter. When I was looking for a place to rent, the property agents would show me north-facing houses. I would be so puzzled initially, as I was used to believing that the south-facing rooms are the ones to go after! It took me some time to realise, it is the other hemisphere, and everything is opposite here. It is the north facing rooms that keep you warm here and not the south facing ones. And do you know about the toilet test to figure out which way the flushed water swirled! It swirls anticlockwise and the reason is pure science! Due to the mismatched speed of earth’s rotation and which side of the equator you are on, the toilet water swirls in a different direction in the two hemispheres!
If you enjoyed reading this article, don't forget to stop by in comments to share your Pepeha:
Your greeting
Your mountain
Your river or sea
Your place
Your name and your family name
Nau mai haere mai ki Aotearoa Whānau. Welcome to New Zealand.
Moumita Das Roy is a cross-industry marketer with a wealth of marketing and communications experience in iconic global organisations. Connect with Moumita on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moumitadasroy/ or email her dasroymo@gmail.com
Disclaimer: Views expressed are solely those of the author.