Justin | Mount Eden, Auckland
“My name is Justin; my home in Auckland is Mt Eden. I’m from a tiny island called Trinidad and Tobago. It’s an archipelago in the Caribbean Basin.
The reason for my coming to New Zealand is actually to experience a new culture and to undergo my PhD research in law, because I am a lawyer by profession, and I’m interested in environmental law and the rights of nature. So, I think New Zealand is the perfect place to be, and I just thank New Zealanders for welcoming me and receiving me here.
Well first of all, I love being in outdoor New Zealand. New Zealand is a beautiful country. It’s lush. It’s great. People are friendly. This reminds me just as home in the Caribbean, you know, I’ve been, for example, when I go to Waiheke island, it reminds me of one of the Caribbean islands, where I come from, but I moved to New Zealand about two years ago now. February will make it two years, and I enjoy being in New Zealand; but the thing is when Covid happened, that changed my whole perspective in New Zealand, because I came as a PhD student researcher. I came on a student work visa, and I came with my wife, and my wife went to visit her family. She’s from Switzerland, and when she came back, well she was planning to come back to New Zealand in March, but unfortunately Covid happened, and the borders got locked. So now, I’m here in New Zealand, but I’m really fortunate in a sense that where I live; I live with my landlord and landlady who live upstairs. We rent a small studio apartment, and they really brought me into their bubble. So, I was part of their whānau, in New Zealand. During the lockdown, we had dinners together, we played cricket with her son. So, it was really a family time, orientation time for me integrating in this family unit, but still I’m alone still in the way that I miss my wife.
It’s been almost nine months now I haven’t seen her, and so that was a bit of a strain for me. In fact, I miss all my family. Yeah, because you know, you can’t really travel. I miss my mum and my brothers in the Caribbean. So that’s I think one of the struggles; because I’m not a permanent resident of New Zealand. I’m just on a work study Visa with the University of Auckland. So, the challenge is that as, in my category in terms of being a student, you are more vulnerable because you know you don’t have that family support really. As I said, I’m thankful that I had my landlord and landlady, but I think the Government should have a little bit of empathy for the situation, for those partners who were stranded abroad, and want to meet with their loved ones. It’s going on to nine months and I hope that I can see my spouse, my wife, before Christmas, but we’ll see how it goes. But you know, I realise its not only me in this situation. There are a lot of persons really who are in similar situations like mine, and I joined like Facebook groups and so on, and we speak about these – it brings a lot of comfort to you that you know, you can integrate and discuss this feeling of being lonely, and then you’re not really alone. But still, I do miss my wife, and I hope the Government one day would probably try to put policies in place so that spouses of persons like myself, in this category, would be able to reunite with their families, especially before Christmas.
This whole experience, I learned that even though you don’t have blood-related family, and New Zealand is a very family-oriented country, I would say, so even though I felt like an outsider in a sense, during that lockdown period was a time of reflection. So, I was really happy to integrate in that whānau; that family, but still, I think the, the lockdown brought all of us together but you know, it may sound a bit ironic, but I think I also miss having that family as well, to share or integrate that time together, and it’s been 233 days last, when I counted, that I was last with my family. So, being a foreigner, that is something. You know, it works two ways, but I can never really get that back, and I think New Zealand as a country, which I must say is very family-oriented, should take family into consideration when especially opening up its borders, and bringing back persons. Doesn’t matter if you are a citizen or a resident, or a permanent resident or a student. For me, it’s the same blood that pumps through your heart, and everybody longs to be with their family. You know? I wish my family could come across to meet my adopted family in New Zealand, which is in Mt Eden, and as I say, it’s a beautiful place, but sometimes you still feel like you lack something.“
