Our Place: an emigrant's take on Aotearoa New Zealand

Thabi Sibanda and his family moved from Zimbabwe to England in 1997. In 2007, they moved to Aotearoa New Zealand, just before he turned 12. 

“I remember when we first moved here, driving out of the Wellington airport along Lyall Bay. We had just lost to France in the quarterfinal of the Rugby World Cup,” Thabi says. “I remember people complaining, like hearing a specific story about someone who had a farm driving their tractor into the lake because they were so pissed off.” 

He laughs. “I was like…why are we here?” 

Attractive because of its better work life balance, family-friendly lifestyle, and socio-political environment, The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment say New Zealand stacks up favourably on just about every international metric of a happy and safe society – all common reasons why many migrants decide to move here. 

In the past year, the majority of those who migrated were from India. Australia and China were next with almost three thousand each.  

McLeish Martin, the General Manager of Customer at MBIE, says compared to many areas of the world, New Zealand is an open, friendly, and tolerable society.  

Thabi’s family moved to Aotearoa for the lifestyle. He comments on how New Zealand marketing “did a really good job”.  

Apart from the Rugby World Cup, Thabi, once a shy child, distinctly remembers being asked if he spoke English.  

“I remember feeling kind of embarrassed, a little bit insulted, when people asked me if I even spoke English because of course, they see me and they see that I’m black and automatically assume I can’t speak [it]”.  

From the age of 2, Thabi had lived in predominantly white spaces and had never thought it was out of the ordinary. Describing his early twenties as introspective, he thought a lot more about his ethnicity, manhood, and privileges that were afforded to him by his family. He says he has only become self-aware of his position in being black in New Zealand these past five years. But the questioning of his English skills is still a lasting memory.  

Dorian Ghosh, a student from the University of Canterbury, moved to Ōtautahi from Lucknow, India three years ago. Choosing to move for their tertiary education, Dorian studies a Bachelor of Arts in English and Cultural Studies.  

Their ability to speak English has also been questioned. 

“There’s so much of an emphasis on speaking good English in India. So, whenever someone commented that [my] English is really great, I would take that as a compliment,” they say. “But now that I have been here for three years and studied in Aotahi School of Māori and Indigenous Studies and in the Department of Arts, I know that’s not a good thing anymore.” 

During their time in New Zealand, Dorian has had several people comment on how well they speak English – for a ‘foreigner’. They have also experienced discrimination in employment. 

When Dorian applied for a receptionist job they were initially accepted on the basis of their CV. But after meeting the employer the job offer was retracted and Dorian claims their slight Indian accent was to blame.   

They say the biggest stereotype placed on their ethnicity is that Indians don’t speak English well. 

Dorian asks why you would assume someone who does not look white would have problems speaking it. 

They say it is interesting that people are not even conscious of when they’re being racist.  

University of Auckland senior lecturer Angel Chan says if you are non-white looking (except Māori) in New Zealand, some people often assume you are a migrant - a ‘visible migrant’, even if you were born in Aotearoa. Angel has done a lot of research in the field of Chinese immigration and New Zealand education.  

The Human Rights Act 1993 states it is unlawful to discriminate based on colour, race, or ethnic or national origins. The Human Rights Commission defines racial harassment as repeated behaviour that is racist, hurtful or offensive and serious enough to have a harmful effect. Racial harassment can be displayed in many different situations, whether it’s making offensive remarks, using racial slurs, or mimicking the way someone speaks. 

The Human Rights Commission reported that in the last year, 30 complaints were made on the grounds of racial harassment. The report also found a total of 181 complaints were made related to race.  

Of course, much racism that happens every day goes widely unnoticed.  

The Human Rights Commission says racial harassment may also be unintentional, and although the person who is being offensive may be unaware of its effect, they can still be held responsible.  

PHOTO ABOVE: Dorian Ghosh, a student at The University of Canterbury.                                                                                                    

Discrimination is something that Thabi has experienced throughout his time here in New Zealand. While playing social football, Thabi was called the n-word by a member of another team.  

“There’s a bit of a culture of like a lot of teams turning up and just not having enough numbers…so some people just like stick around the entire night just saying ‘hey, did you need a number? cool yeah jump in or whatever’. It's quite cool, quite community vibes,” Thabi says. “[But] there was this one time where there was this person just wanting to take part and fill in and we said, 'hey, we have enough numbers, don't worry about us.' And they just did not take that very well.” 

Hurling abusive n-word this and that, the person was pulled off the field and the police were called.  

Thabi says he didn’t necessarily vibe with the police being called either. The abuser was behaving erratic and irrational, he says, and he was more concerned for their wellbeing.  

When it comes to support in those situations, he says it depends on how you define it. 

“You could look at it and say somebody should have come and like consoled me…I would hate that. Because in that moment, there’s going to be attention on me because the second they say the N word, everyone's gonna look at me and be like, 'Whoa, shouldn't say that'. Let's just all stare at Thabi and see what he does,” he says.  

“[It’s] the worst feeling because then people look at me and they expect something, they're looking for something. Looking for whether I'm going to have a cry, whether I'm going to lash out or whatever, all of the attention is on me. And in that moment, right there, I hate that more than anything else. I can chart you 10 other similar experiences, where there's that switch towards you. And that is the worst feeling.” 

Thabi says it’s the subtle discrimination, or the racism you’re not in the room to hear, that will really get to you. 

He believes New Zealand prides itself on not being a racist country, but instead, offers a very subtle, nuanced version of it. 

“I'm definitely not going to say it’s worse than outright abuse, but it is horrible because it will just grind you to a halt.” 

Thabi says there'll be ten micro statements that no one understands they’ve said.  

“It’s not all good.” 

Having lived here now for fifteen years, Thabi considers himself a New Zealander. He puts that down to longevity, rather than a socio-cultural connection.  

He says he’s found belonging through his own social development and understanding of the world, as well as the media he consumes and the people he hangs out with. But a ‘kiwi’ and a New Zealander, he believes, are two different things. 

“I feel as though a kiwi really, really, really loves New Zealand, almost to a fault. Any form of ridicule or criticism towards New Zealand they take that personally, and [reflect] traditionalist values of the country.”  

“Regardless of how I feel, because of the way that I look, I will never be considered a kiwi. Most people won’t even consider me a New Zealander...there’ll forever be a barrier of me being black, where I will just never ever be publicly considered a kiwi.” 

But would he recommend others to migrate to NZ?  

“It depends who they are. I could sit here and caveat 50 different things – depends on their ethnicity etc. But generic friend X? Yes. With a massive asterix.” 

Dorian, an international student, is currently applying for a work visa to become an immigrant.  

They’ve found belonging in the Cultural Studies department at the university, as well as in the rainbow community.  

“I feel like I have so much to contribute. The Cultural Studies Department intersects with the Māori Indigenous one and I do most of my archiving work there. So it feels so much more of a community [where] I feel heard, [and] I feel listened too.” 

Dorian says two years ago they would have encouraged others to migrate to New Zealand. But now, they are not so sure. 

Angel says people migrate to New Zealand for many different reasons, but through her own research, she has found that migrants come here mostly for education and the upbringing of their children.  

She has found the school systems and teachers here are very accepting of diverse identity, and that generally children feel very comfortable expressing it. 

The Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand introduced ‘Unteach Racism’ last year, an app full of tools and resources for teachers to reflect and self-identify where they may need to shift their understanding of racism.  

But nothing is perfect. 

“There will always be discrimination or racism, even within education as well,” Angel says. “[But], there’s a lot of research happening now.” 

McLeish from MBIE says New Zealand’s environment keeps evolving. But manaakitanga comes first. 

What represents this country is less about ‘clean green New Zealand’, rugby, and the outdoors, and more about the quality of life. 

Something that, as Thabi said, New Zealand has marketed well.