Human migration is not a new phenomenon. Studies show that human migrations started some 1.75 million years ago with the movement of Homo erectus out of Africa across Eurasia. However, early humans migrated due to factors such as a changing climate and landscape and inadequate food supply in those regions. People now migrate for many reasons, including a search for a better life, for safety, or for new adventures.
I also migrated from Fiji to Australia in 1999, but not for a better life or my safety. It was to fulfil a duty to my family and to the village that I grew up in.
In Fiji, it is an unspoken expectation for those who are educated to migrate to Australia, New Zealand, or Canada. It is considered a sense of achievement and pride for the whole family.
I felt this expectation was placed on me when I was only five years old. My Dad’s cousins had moved to Canada, and I could sense how proud my family was. I had no idea what Canada was or how far it was, but I wanted my parents to be proud of me, too. So, I said to my parents that I would move to ‘Canadia’ when I grew up. (I could not pronounce Canada).
I still remember how excited my parents were to share my childhood admission with the rest of our family and friends. So, it was no surprise that after completing my education and working in Fiji for four years, I decided to move to Australia.
Once I arrived in Australia, I realised that settling in a new country came with many challenges that I was not equipped to face. This article includes some of the challenges I faced and what I learned from them.
1. Migrants underestimate the cost of living in Australia
Like many migrants, I also believed that I would have no problems finding jobs in Australia as a university graduate and earning a reasonable salary. So before settling in Australia, I ended up going to India for three months.
As I described in my earlier blog “Finding my purpose in life”, I was very committed to my spiritual life at that time. So, I ended up donating most of my savings to the ashram I lived in.
When I finally returned to Australia in May 1999, I only had $4000 left in my bank account.
I was lucky to find cheap accommodation at a distant family’s place in Sydney where I only paid $50 a week in rent and my contribution to the groceries. But I had not budgeted the cost of transport and access to other services. And, it was not long before I came close to running out of most of my savings.
Finding a job was not easy! As a skilled migrant, I was not eligible for any Government support either. I also did not have access to any other financial support from my family.
Going back to Fiji was not an option. It would mean that not only would I fail myself, but also let my whole family down.
I was fraught with distress.
Luckily, before I exhausted all my funds, I was able to secure some casual jobs in time to be able to continue staying in Australia. But the trauma I faced from those days has stayed with me.
2. It is not always easy for migrants to know about local services and how to access them
Every country has a different type, range, and quality of services available. It is not always possible for immigrants to know what services are available and how to access them quickly.
Most of the connections of the family I was living with were people working in factories and localised jobs. They could not help me connect with the areas of my interest. However, they referred me to the nearest Government service centre (Centrelink) and the local library.
I had to make the best use of the services I had access to. So, I used both Centrelink and the library for my job search.
I could not afford to buy newspapers, nor did I have access to a computer or internet facilities at home to find jobs.
My daily routine became leaving home at 8.30 am and spending most of my day between the Centrelink office and the library, searching for jobs, and typing out my applications.
I applied for over 200 applications in the first six weeks of my arrival in Australia.
The Centrelink staff also offered me additional tips on searching for jobs and about training opportunities to strengthen my computer skills.
3. You need local experience to find jobs in Australia
I received over 100 rejection letters in just a month!
I expected that many migrants would not find suitable jobs due to their credentials not being recognised in a new country. But what shocked me was that I had an Australian degree, and yet I still struggled to find a job!
Employers wanted local experiences, but no one was prepared to let me get that experience.
I regretted leaving a great job in Fiji and coming to Australia, but I could not go back either. I could not let my family down. I also could not share my frustration with my family. People in Fiji believed Australia to be a ‘land of plenty’. They would not understand my struggles. I felt helpless!
Then, I remembered a wise gentleman named Munesh whom I met in Canberra, where I had studied before. I used to call him ‘uncle’. I decided to call him for advice.
Uncle Munesh told me that he, too, struggled to find jobs when he first arrived in Australia, and he started with casual jobs at Woolworths. Munesh now held a senior corporate role and owned multiple properties. He reassured me that with patience and perseverance, I will succeed.
Perhaps I just needed that assurance and a role model. I went back to my job search, but I lowered the expectations of the kind of jobs I was searching for.
Finally, I secured a casual job in a hardware store called Hardwarehouse. The job at Hardwarehouse gave me enough money to become independent while I kept applying for jobs in my field.
Slowly, I started getting interviews in my field.
Again, people with local experience outperformed me in the interviews.
Then one day, one of my interviewers from a rural town in Australia (Alexandra), who was impressed by my reference from Hardwarehouse, forwarded my resume to their Melbourne office.
A month later, I got a call from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment about a possible job in Melbourne. I applied and finally got the role in my field!
I guess local experience does matter! But it does not have to be in your field. Employers trusted local referees over international ones and Hardwarehouse helped me get that reference!
4. Access to transportation and affordable housing do not always align
I was grateful to be able to live with a distant family in Sydney, but our lifestyles were very different. Their apartment was also rather small, which meant I had limited privacy. I shared a bed with their five-year-old daughter in a room that the rest of the family used for storing their clothes. I also had to travel an hour, changing two trains and walking for 30 minutes to get to work. So, when I found a job, the first thing I did was to look for accommodation. But then I faced another challenge – I did not realise how restricted I was without having access to appropriate transportation.
Some migrants find getting their driver’s license recognised as a real issue in a new country. But I had an Australian license that I had obtained while studying in Canberra. I just could not afford to buy, or even rent, a car.
The only choice I had was to walk for hours looking for accommodation. However, by the time I would reach these places, they would be taken. Other times, the agents preferred to offer accommodation to those with permanent jobs.
Then one day, one of my work colleagues introduced me to ‘Satya’, a friend they had met online. Satya was also originally from Fiji, and he had a car! He certainly understood my challenges and offered to help me find accommodation.
Finally, I found a place for myself – a small studio apartment. But it was mine. I was also able to walk to my workplace and saved both time and cost (fares).
5. Local climate can be a shock to the system
I moved to Melbourne in July 2000 when I finally found a job in my field.
Melbourne was cold, wet, and gloomy. Or that’s how it felt to me. Perhaps most migrants overlook the potential impact of harsher weather in a new country. Or perhaps it may not affect those people who were moving between countries with similar weather conditions. I, on the other hand, was born and brought up in Fiji, where it feels like summer throughout the year! I certainly felt it.
My workplace had paid for only one week’s hotel accommodation, after which I moved to a friend, Mala’s, place to stay for another two weeks. Mala was from the same religious group that I belonged to and only had single-bedroom apartment. So, I had to find an alternate accommodation quickly.
I was a little familiar with Sydney, but Melbourne felt a lot more foreign to me. There was no Satya! I had to figure out Melbourne by myself. It felt too cold to walk, so I had to figure out how to use the trams, trains, or catch the bus. I bought a road directory that I could carry in my handbag and travelled across many parts of Melbourne.
I was lucky to find a reasonable flat within two weeks, where I could move in straight away, but then I had no furniture, utensils, or warm clothes.
The heater in the flat was not working. I had a sleeping bag, and I slept on the floor wrapped in that sleeping bag. It was not enough!
I ended up catching a cold that lasted for almost three months. Seeing that, one of Mala’s friends gave me a heater. I still remember sitting wrapped up next to this small blow heater every night when I arrived home! It saved me from those freezing nights.
6. Politics, prejudices and cultural differences exist in workplaces
Many migrants experience a cultural shock when they arrive in a new country. This can range from social customs to more significant issues such as attitudes towards gender, religious diversity, ethnicity, and sexuality, which can all be vastly different in a new country.
Navigating through these cultural differences can be a challenge. It can create confusion both for the immigrants and those with who they associate. It can also create a sense of isolation for immigrants and even negatively affect mental health.
I had studied in Australia, so I thought I was familiar with the Australian way of life. I soon realised that fitting in as an international student was much easier than fitting in as a resident.
Morning teas at my workplace caused many awkward situations. My colleagues would discuss the weekend’s footy results, which I had no idea about.
Some of my colleagues also tried to include me in conversations about cricket, assuming that I was of Indian descent, so I would be an avid fan. However, no one played cricket in Fiji, making it difficult for me to contribute to these conversations either.
I felt isolated and uncomfortable.
I also struggled to navigate through office politics, which sometimes resulted in me being left with an unfair workload and pay levels. For example, one of my senior work colleagues (let’s call him David) and I shared office space, away from the rest of the team.
David used to come in late and leave early. When he was in the office, he would spend most of his time on the phone talking to his mates. When he did not complete his tasks, my manager would pass those tasks on to me. I often stayed late completing David’s work after I completed mine.
When I finally gathered enough courage to raise the workload issues with my manager, he recruited another person and offered her a much higher salary than I. He also asked me to train her.
I felt discriminated against.
I also found it hard to train the newcomer.
The new lady was vivacious but certainly not interested in learning or having any qualifications. But what affected me the most was when my manager gave her my computer and password.
Enough was enough! I told my manager that I was planning to resign from and leave work.
The next day, my manager called to meet me off-site. He knew I was the only one who could deliver many of the tasks. But by then, I had learned my lessons. I only returned to the office when he agreed to clarify the roles and responsibilities for everyone in the team.
Later, I was recognised for my efforts. I also managed to secure more senior roles in the Department.
7. Language can be one of the biggest barriers for many migrants
In Fiji, most high school and university education are undertaken in English, but there is more to communicating than speaking high school English. The way people spoke in Australia was somewhat different from the textbook version I was taught in Fiji. Hence, I found myself struggling to understand others and even at times getting myself understood at work.
Aussie slang can be the worst nightmare for people from non-English-speaking backgrounds. For example, once, early in my career, I attended a meeting where my manager asked me, ‘What’s the ballpark figure?’ I never heard about the term ballpark and didn’t feel brave enough to ask. He was actually asking for a rough cost estimate for the project.
I started staying quiet in meetings. I felt if I could not speak the same way as everyone else, I would be laughed at. So, I would not speak up on important matters. The feedback that I got from my manager was that others saw me as a poor performer because of my inability to communicate in meetings.
At times, my manager would find many grammatical mistakes in the briefs and reports I had written. They would come back with red pen marks all over them. I used to be the head of a government division in Fiji, and here I felt I could not even write properly.
My inability to communicate effectively was seriously affecting my self-confidence. I felt overwhelmed with the challenge of fitting in and ‘doing a good job’.
Finally, I took matters into my own hands.
I signed up for training programs in speaking with confidence, effective writing skills and presentation skills, some at my own expense. I also observed other good communicators in meetings and learned to emulate their style.
8. Many things can trigger anxiety and depression in migrants
Many migrants feel a sense of isolation in a new country. This is particularly common for those who come from societies where traditional support structures within communities are strong. They can feel lost, alienated, and disorientated when moving to a Western country where individualism is often prized over family.
I was also brought up in an extended family with about 25 people living in one compound. Work colleagues in Fiji also interacted with each other like family. So, Australian life felt very lonely. It was hard to make friends quickly.
My loneliness at times led to unhealthy relationships as well. For example, when I was in Sydney, I made friends with another young migrant who mistook my friendliness as something more. He started stalking me and even followed me to Melbourne. He said in his country, a woman only made friends with a guy if they was interested in them. (I had to get support from the police to get him off my back.) This led me to become quite anxious and live on the edge all the time.
In that confusion, I also reached out to someone I had known in Fiji.
I knew this person would take my calls. But he was also someone who had previously abused me in Fiji. And the abuse continued.
I also had additional financial stress. My younger brother was joining me that year. And, I had to find an affordable University and quickly secure enough funds to pay his fees. But I only had a two-year work contract, and I was anxious about not being able to secure enough money or be able to secure any further employment after my contract finished.
All these challenges in a new country were taking a toll on me. So, one night I felt like giving up. But then I went and bought some alcohol instead. For someone who never drank this felt like a big move. It only took me a couple of cans of beer to collapse on the floor.
When I woke up, I knew I had to do something about it. That is when called the Employee Assistance Program offered through my workplace.
The counsellor helped me get medical support. She also referred me to two books by Louise Hay: ” You Can Heal Your Life” and “The Power Is Within You”. These books opened my eyes. Perhaps it made me feel that I was not alone and that many people suffered the same issues.
Over time, as my finances stabilised and I made some new friends, I healed!
I now have a great life in Australia. I fought a good fight. I am hoping others planning to come to Australia can read my blog and prepare themselves a lot more than I had before I came.
2 Responses
This is a topic which is near to my heart… Take care!
Exactly where are your contact details though?
Hi Paito, my contact is on the top right of the page (in the menu) and the bottom right of the page.