Deena Dayalan Shanmugam – an Indian migrant from Australia with mental health issues and living in the remote South Island for the last many months, will finally return home after a network of complete strangers, passionate community activists and close friends resolutely refused to give up on him.
After having first emerged in the wilderness of the remote Southland rural community of Riverton, and then in Tuatapere (a rural region of Southland) a few months ago, Deena found the initial support from a kind Pakeha couple – Jarred and Emma – and an Invercargill based Kiwi-Indian community activist Himani Galbraith Mishra, who worked together to keep him afloat while desperately trying to locate his origin and family.
The search into the unknown that began a few months ago was completed a recently when Himani was able to locate Deena’s close friend Raju Dhamodaran living and working in faraway Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, who revealed that Deena had a fairly normal and successful life before coming under the grips of suspected mental health issues and going off-radar for many months.
Raju Dhamodaran arrived in New Zealand on Wednesday, April 20, along with another common friend and is scheduled to take Deena back to Australia while Australian authorities work to issue a fresh passport for Deena to facilitate his further travel to his original home in India.
This would bring to the conclusion what could be described as the first part of months-long frantic efforts from Jarred, Emma, Himani and their extended support network in and around Invercargill to provide care for Deena, while the next part still remaining of ensuring that he is safely handed over to his family back in India (Tamil Nadu).
Himani Mishra is the director and Chair of The Southland Migrant Walking Together Organisation and Multilingual and Activity Centre Charitable Trust (SMWTO) – a community-led initiative that provides social and cultural support to new migrants living in Invercargill and across rural Southland.
Speaking to Indian Weekender Himani said, “We all are stoked that Deena is finally able to be with his close friends and will eventually begin his long haul back home in India – with a short stay in-between of a month in Australia with his friends – where hopefully he can get better care and support from the family.
“It has been an emotional journey for many of us here, including Emma and Jarred, after getting to see Deena living a life of destitute in a remote region of Southland and extending as much support as possible from our end,” Himani said.
Apparently, not much is known clearly about how Deena reached Tuatapere – a region that sits on the edge of wilderness amid spectacular unspoilt scenery and lush rolling farmland on the Southern Scenic Route – as he barely speaks and communicates with anyone except for signs.
However, what is now firmly known is the fact that Deena is an Australian citizen who used to work as a Detention Officer in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, and was studying to be a community worker.
How did it all begin?
“I first received a phone call from Jared’s mum around December 2021 about the story of an Indian-origin person being supported by his son and his wife at their rural property, who have been trying desperately to find any connection about the person, who clearly needed help,” Himani said.
“I got to know that Jared’s sister found Deena in Riverton and brought him to her brother’s rural property in Tuatapere.
“Little was known about his previous twelve months stay in NZ except that he was also seen previously in Nelson and Bay of Plenty (Jared has been trying to find information through his social media channels),” Himani said.
“Then we reached out to NZ police to find out whereabouts of the person and establish his identity, where subsequently we were told that he was Deena Dayalan Shanmugam – an Australian citizen who had first entered into the country in January 2021.
“Subsequently, we spread the word around in social media groups of the Indian community in Australia and from there, we were able to connect with Raju Dhamodaran of Darwin – a close friend – and got to know about Deena’s past.
Apparently, Deena had first arrived in Australia around a decade ago to pursue his Master's studies and had since then settled permanently and acquired citizenship and working as a detention officer in Northern Territory.
However, little is known confidence about the circumstances when he left Australia to travel to New Zealand early last year.
Fundraising to support Deena’s return travel and bearing expenses
Once contacts were made between Raju from Australia and Himani, Jared and Emma in New Zealand, plans began to be made about the possible next steps of reuniting him with his friends and subsequently with the family back in India.
While in NZ, Himani’s Southland Migrant Walking Together Organisation continued to bear some expenses and share some financial burden along with kind couple Jared and Emma, Raju created a Gofundme page in Australia seeking support from the wider community to pay for air tickets to bring back Deena. (https://www.gofundme.com/f/getting-deena-home-for-treatment?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=email&utm_source=customer-andr)
At the time of publishing this story, $4170 (AUD) were raised through fundraising.
Plans to travel directly to India deferred due to passport issues
When Indian Weekender last spoke with Himani, it was learnt that the plans to take Deena directly to India were deferred as the Australian authorities were sending an emergency travel document only – that facilitates a one-way journey to the home country only (Australia in this case).
So technically, Deena will be taken back to Australia by his friends in a day or two as soon as they get emergency travel documents, where he will be staying with them for a month or bit more to get a fresh passport and then a subsequent travel to India will be planned.
Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
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