Continuing in our popular Migrant Tales series, first hand accounts of the migrant experience of New Zealand taken from locations around the net.
Today’s tale was first published on a NZ forum which has since closed down. The author is in their early twenties and emigrated to New Zealand with their parents about 7 years ago. Their dream very soon turned into a waking nightmare for all involved.
I am young and I want to get out, Can you help me?
Hello. I have been lurking this forum for the past 2 years. May I post if you don’t mind, so some of you older folks could give me some advice on finding a way out.First of all let me say thank you for this site and taking the time to read my story and cry for help. Please forgive the English, it’s not my first language. Secondly for Political and Private reasons I won’t say where exactly I am from but it’s a very very culture rich country with many thousand years of history with some of the most hospitable people you will meet.
Background and Moving Here
I moved to this utterly rubbish culture void 4th world country about 6 – 7 years ago with my Parents as PR, I was 15 then. I don’t know what my father saw here, I know he had ties to some travel agency who had strong ties to NZ emigration office and they all encouraged him while literally robbing and cheating him out on tens of thousands, selling retirement dreams. My Father was a very high ranking Government official and highly educated, He sold his house, gave up his job disregarding the advice of his colleagues about NZ and Australia and came here as a skilled migrant, which is funny because most of his savings money ran out within the first year on his subpar wooden leakey housing and crap over priced furniture. And when he went looking for a job they said “You are too qualified” or “We dont have any work or industry in your field”. He now works as a clerk in Grocery Chain markets with the wage of a slave.About 6 Years Fast forward, my family has been destroyed, we have arguments every other day, my mother sent to the mental institution two times for psychotic depression, my father who used to be a fit and strong proud man has his health turned upside down, he is as in a state of dying slowly, his dignity died a long time ago. He is not the guy I knew, we had a fight a couple of years back…I hate the man now for bringing us here.
My personal life has been put on a coma, I have no Higher Education, I am finished. the few people I knew from school (non kiwi thank goodness) moved to Australia with their family, I have maybe 1 or 2 good friends and we rarely meet up anymore(Non kiwi). So called Kiwi’s are terrible people, They Boast about the Word Kiwi as if it was a Magical word, with some added air of superiority to it, It disgusts me. And lets not even mention the entitled over aggressive low life behavior of the Maori and Pacific Islander people and their crap or I will be labeled a racist, Oh how I hate those cowardly kiwi bastards that lie about their country to trap people in this prison. One of my friends is aiming too low with his studies in uni and another was a school dropout lives off his father living in a garage doing odd jobs here and there, just wondering the streets by himself. I can no longer see the light of hope they had when we were in school. Education here suck’s, Teachers are idiots, The Al Jebra, Math and Science that I was taught in Class 5 and 6 in Taught in 11th and 12 Grade here even at polytechnics and universities. I was always weak with mathematics and I always seem to fall behind. And did I mention the teachers suck? And the students don’t care…Because at the end of the day the unqualified kiwi gets the job over an immigrant, regardless his skills. There was a high qualified Sri Lankan Guy who lived next door to us, He worked 13 – 15 years in a Petrol Pump Station!! I cant get a job, last time I worked they would calll me 4 – 5 times a week for a few hrs of work and it would cost be more on petrol then I made in the end of the week. I have stopped going out of the house entirely since last year, was diagnosed with depression. Thinking of a plan to Get out.. I don’t think my father will last past a few more years…
NZ Medical and Dental is also very expensive yet highly substandard to what I would call 3rd world countries. Did you know that I knew two guys at Uni(Mix Bred Kiwis) One of the guys dad Jumped off the Harbor Bridge and committed suicide, and the other one when he was in year 11 he was called to the operation theater from school because the Doctors/Surgeon “Accidentally” Botched up the job, his father died in front of him, “The SOB” killed him” he said..
I was doing a bachelors in computer engineering last year, I failed one of the classes/subjects (second try) and they dropped me out. My Mathematics is not very strong, and Its hard to put focus with so much ongoing stress, I don’t know what to do, How do I get out? My Home is in ruins, so going back is not a big option, what will I do going back clean the streets? So that’s not an easy option. NZ is like my own personal hell. The Kiwi Dream is best described “Good Enough”, Maybe for them not for us, Its like Working a few different Crap Jobs through your life time, Going on Dole, Driving a Poorly tinted Japanese Car with a Loud Muffler, Getting Drunk, Drinking just to get intoxicated, Knocking up some random Kiwi Sluts, Going on Dole and eventually in a Nursing Home. Good Enough Aye? I don’t see much point in that kind of life, let alone be at peace.
Can anybody give me some advice please, I am thinking to go back to Uni, AUT or Unitec and getting an Education that I can use to get a Job Overseas, Anywhere eg. EE,SE,ME,Asia I dont care. Just an Education that I continue overseas or use to just grab on to a Job OUT of NZ and then get a visa for that country and work my way from there. Wherever I go I will need #1 a Visa and #2 a way to support my self. Any Suggestions what I can do? What Subject I can study?
E2NZ.org 
Thank you to you for allowing us to publish it. Please accept our best wishes for a successful future.
Please continue to help getting the message out so that other young people don’t have to go through the same experience as you.
Thank you E2NZ for publishing my story and providing us with a good collection of information and personal first hand accounts on this site, I have read the comments and wanted to Thank to all of you understanding commentators who have faced similar situation for your support and advice. I hope our message will reach many other people and their fathers such as my father and many students in my age group who are thinking to move here. I wish this site existed before we moved here. Everything is so overhyped here, Culture is non existent, The Weather is wet and yuk…. Scenery, Climate nothing too special, Education & Lifestyle, you better look elsewhere, everything is so subpar that NZ needs to boast and lie about it, even on TV beer commercials..if its too good to be true then chances are….it probably is..
Are you sure you’re in the right New Zealand?
1)Seriously, whose fault is it that you weren’t smart enough for uni? You blaming the government? You’re reminding me of the “maori and pacific low life”.
2)Yes, we are racist in NZ toward Maori and Pasifika people, but many of them do not work, and get special privileges.
3) Depends what school you go to, I went to an excellent one.
4) All 5 of the migrant families I know love NZ, and consider it home.
6)Try doing an apprenticeship eg. building, if you’re not scholarly.
Are you sure you’re in the right New Zealand?
The racism in your post is appalling. Were you taught that in your excellent school, or were you brought up that way? But thanks anyway for showing our readers what they’re up against.
We challenge you to give the URL for this site to the five migrant families you know. Let them speak for themselves, you may learn something.
Dear Curious New Zealander,
You come across quite defensive but I have come across many xenephobic ill mannered New Zealanders such as you, Why are you telling me all of this? What is it to me if you want to be racist to your maori or pasific islanders? From my personal experience both of you act in a aggressive all knowing arrogant way towards each other AND superficially ignorant to other immigrants. Actually you gang up and blame ALL immigrants in a pig headed way for everything. You are racist to British, Irish, Scotish, Italian, Romanian, Indian,..I could go on…..And then some of you have the nerves to say “and the mass Immigrants dont help either” As if we created your situation?? We are supposed to “help it” somehow? Your NZ Government sets up travel agents across the world and pleads, yes pleads skilled and high ranking people to come work here or retire here. It boasts on lies. The weather is like the kiwis, usually terrible and untrustworthy (just look outside the window today), the scenery is “good enough” but nothing too special either, and the education is subpar maybe worse then 3rd world central african countries and behavior of your citizens are mysteriously hard to understand. So Yes I am pretty sure I am in the right New Zealand(?) I live in Mt. Eden, Auckland. We have also rented houses for some time in 3 Kings, Mt. Albert and have spent months living on some other parts of your not so impressive country such as Tauranga, Themes.
1. I hate to play the blame game but its not a matter of being “Smart Enough”, State education has a lot to do with it, look at it this way, if you raise a child and never teach it how to read then when it grows up and can’t read, its not really the childs fault or that its not “Smart Enough”. I must admit the fault is partially mine too, but quite of your education system’s aswell? Won’t you agree? I was bought to your country at a time where I didn’t finish school, something that creates the strong backbone for further study’s, I was already weak with mathematics and when I moved here the learning curve and the teachers in NZ seemed substandard to say the least, they dont teach very well so it becomes harder for some one like myself, as mathematics as I mentioned is not my strong side, I have also never seen so many school dropouts.
2. I understand your point about racism, but the truth is “racism” is not limited between you and your pacific / maori people as you say, both of you carry your xenophobic jelous bigoted attitude and a pathetic aggressive lowlife behavior towards everybody else too, all emigrants, immigrant people who are usually higher qualified then you, we work for a living in hard labor and abide your laws only to get harassed because both of you have a inferiority complex? and its somehow the immigrants fault your country is in this state? So I can’t say if I like either one of you very much as you are hypocrites. If you had really taken the time to read my story that E2NZ published, I wasn’t even siding with your Pacific and Marori people, as I mentioned that I know they are not liked for reasons you state. I don’t really care for the sectarian conflicts you have with your pasific maoris because at the end of the day to us you are all Kiwi’s, you will band up and try to shift the blame to somebody else, you are equally disliked for this mysterious unexplained aggressive behavior.
What is it that you people want from us? Do you want to drink out blood because we are emigrants who invested time and money into your country? Because we save up instead of partying every week, because fail to live up to your expectations or accept a failed society? You want to go after immigrants because they are Spainrds, Italian, Greek, Brit, Romanian, Persian, Turk, Chinese or Indian..What is wrong with you people? “unfriendly, ungenerous, parochial small-minded, big-headed arrogant country” – describes you best. You want our money and then for us to leave, but if we want to work for a living and be left alone you must attack us because we are stealing your jobs.
3. I must say the kiwi standard of “Excellence” or “Good Enough” is what a lot of people in or out the western hemisphere would call bare minimum. I have gone to Mt. Roskill and then Mount Albert Grammar, the later is quite a reputable school but have a very nasty and lazy underbelly. I had friends who went to Auckland grammar, I failed in 3 subjects(Maths and Accounting Economics) in Year 11 and yet the school insisted to place me in Year 12 and in English A. Its as if You want to get rid of your students as soon as you can without teaching them anything. In school I once witnessed a crippled teacher follow an year 10 student and then get into a fist fight him. Its ridiculous, where I come from The teacher and Student relation is very high regarded and respected. Majority of the students I knew in schools knew very little about Geography, or History. I had a Friend who was Irish Heritage(Adopted), I ran into him into a McDonalds last year, he said he’s been working there ever since leaving school, I asked him why he wouldn’t seek higher education, he said he is collecting enough money to move to Australia. I remember Science teachers used to pick on me and a turkish friend (Who also moved to australia the same year) even though we were maybe the top students in the class. You want to know more about Education? 5 – 6 years ago in Mt. Roskill school a kid in my class got ganged up and stabbed to death. About 2 – 3 years ago one morning when I was starting at Unitec Mt. Albert the traffic was halted and I saw an 80 year old Indian Man laying in the street in front of unitec face down and Bleed to Death because some “New Zealanders” car got hit so he got out of his car and beat the old man to death with the street curb. It was on the news that night and on papers the following morning. The Indian man was an Immigrant who lived in NZ for 50 Years. Still an “Emigrant” Right?
4. Last month I saw a Vietnamese Family rented and move into a house next door, a mother a father and two teenagers, I am not sure how long they have lived in NZ but from their speech, not very long I would say, upon a small conversation yesterday they told my mother they are leaving for Australia in a few months. (lucky). I feel that many people despise you and they are afraid to even converse with you due to your hostile “Invasion” & “Blame all emigrants” attitude. Whoever speaks the truth you want to attack outcast and terrorize them. What good will it do for people like myself speaking my mind and giving the truth to someone like you? You would not change your mind because you can not handle the rear facts, you not accept the truth even if it was placed in front of you.
Kiwis for the majority are not reasonable people with pack mentality. You have serious issues with Italians, Indians, Iranians, Asians and Muslims. One just needs to go to that New Zealand Topix website to see the number of imbecilic comments and rhetorical bias of kiwis behaving like scum towards each other and in the end always attacking immigrants with their anti Italian agenda, There is even Nazi, NeoCon Zionist Kiwis preaching from Australia and Germany commenting how good their country is and how “New Zealand is for New Zealanders Only”, So is Italy Germany and Australia for everybody?? See the hypocrisy of these deranged imbeciles? I have seen them use the word “Mario” and other Italian names to insult your Maori and Pasific Population, sheer jealousy and envy towards Everybody but specially Italians is Astounding. Ignorance of them on any Global Geo Political Matter is astonishingly stupid. Where ever the kiwi goes it takes its disgsusting attitude with it.
I see the school you went to was so excellent that you lost count from 1 to 6 that #5 disappeared completely, just like your mentality disappears as soon as you land here. The only disappointment I have is with the agents I believe your country sets up in various countries of cultured decent people through out eeu,seu,me and asia to somehow sell a retirement dream in order to fool them and lore them in here to live among people such as yourself who have a savage attitude issues. Anyway, You are probably much older then I am and I am sorry if I am being disrespectful, trust me thats not part of my culture, but after years hyprcrcy, bias and harrasements, having seen things from regular Domestic Violence, to Bloody Murder in daylight to incest/abuse between neighboring father and daughter, “things NZ claims not to have” it becomes quite hard to maintain manners when you play the blame game and make claims with no baking. Anyway, thank you for your feedback.
Use getting out to motivate you.
I hate to use the “harden up” cliche, but work hard, save as much as you can, make plans to go elsewhere. Use the desire to move on to help get you out. Be determined.
I’ve found that thinking about going elsewhere has been a wondeful way to dream again.
Good luck.
Does your family share your desire to move? If they do, this can be a good family bonding tool, working together for a common cause.
I really feel for you. We were unfortunate enough to move to NZ 3 years ago but lucky enough to get out again. It cost us a lot financially and emotionally. We had planned to give our children a better life but quickly saw this was not going to happen. Please, please do not hate your Father for taking you there. He was doing what he thought was right for your family, and now like so many others he has found himself caught in the spiders web.
I suggest if you are able, to study for a nursing qualifiaction. That will be your ticket to work anywhere in the world. Failing that, Education is another good option.
Don’t succumb to depresssion. Just get even with NZ, work hard to get out, make peace with your Dad. He was doing what he thought was right at the time.
I agree with a lot of what you say. However, you can’t let it get you down, it is your life and you have to make the most of it to strive to achieve what you want no matter what the odds. You are correct in identifying that education is key to getting ahead and achieving what you want out of life. If you are interested, Vodafone are looking for 10 school leavers to join their Technology Apprenticeship scheme commencing April 2013. The apprenticeship is based in Auckland and they will spend the next two years (2013/14) working with Vodafone’s technology team whilst studying towards an NZQA accredited National Certificate in Telecommunications Level 3. Visit http://24-7.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=36e1af9eecf455c7d55c15319&id=d658f18d30&e=d271dedf65 or http://www.facebook.com/vodafoneNZcareers to find out more.
All the best and keep your chin up. Taking positive action will help you feel more confident about achieving what you want.
how about a degree in nursing, it really can take you anywhere.
Unfortunately there is a maths component (drug calculations), and if you are weak at maths, you are OUT!
Pick up an English course, or take up education as your major.
Graduate/complete, then apply to teach overseas.
I agree with lot of what you are saying (especially about education and how expensive is the country for crap services) … Unfortunately I have not many suggestions.