INTERVIEW WITH HIRUSHI
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Riya: What is your name and your date of birth?
Hirushi: My name is Hirushi and I was born on the seventh of January, 2004.
Riya: Where were you born and where are you currently?
Hirushi: I was born in Sri Lanka and now I live in New Zealand.
Riya: What does home mean to you?
Hirushi: Home is where my family is – somewhere, yeah. Where my family is.
Riya: What are some of your earliest memories of home and which country do you consider your home?
Hirushi: Currently, I think it’s New Zealand.
Riya: When did you leave Sri Lanka and travel to New Zealand?
Hirushi: The first time I left Sri Lanka, I was two years old. And I traveled to New Zealand when I was about ten.
Riya: Did you travel anywhere else in between?
Hirushi: Yes. Umm… well Not really. Like – wait, no not really.
Riya: Well since you moved from Sri Lanka, like you’ve lived in several places, right?
Hirushi: Yes.
Riya: So could you tell me a little bit about those places and how was it in those countries?
Hirushi: So Sri Lanka –like it’s like an Asian country…School is quite challenging and tough and it’s not like equal opportunities and it’s not the best country to study. So we moved to Dubai. Dubai was a good [city]. I did well in school. But it was too expensive, so when we moved to Libya it was like the perfect country. Like education and everything was good. The people were good. The culture and everything, yeah it was fine. But we had to move because of the war. And we went to Qatar. Qatar was very similar to Dubai. The education, the culture. It was also expensive, so we decided to move to New Zealand. It was more – equal opportunity and there was more freedom of what we wanted to do and it was cheaper.
Riya: When you mentioned you moved from Libya because of war, could you specify a little bit more about that? Maybe how – in what conditions did you have to live? And how did that make you feel? And just expand on your experience in Libya maybe?
Hirushi: So, in Libya I made really good friends in school. And I did well in school. So, when we had to leave like the day before…we heard gunshots outside and the next day we had to evacuate so we quickly packed our bags and then we went to the airport. And we had to leave behind half of our bags, so it was pretty devastating for me and my family.
And when we got off the plane, we went to Malta as an emergency – in an emergency flight. So we were refugees for two days in Malta. And when that happened, our bags somehow went to Egypt, so yeah. We didn’t have our bags or anything. But then two days later, they came back to Malta. So it was fine. The bags had all our documents, all my parents’ work and everything from all their lives, so it was pretty devastating for them. But they got them, so it was fine.
And then, we went to Sri Lanka to basically start our life again.
Riya: When you moved out of Libya did you have any issues with the law? Did you have trouble getting out – having a tough time getting a flight?
Hirushi: Since we weren't born in Libya, we were allowed to get out of the country. Obviously, in a lot of Middle Eastern countries migration is strict.
Riya: Do you plan on traveling back to Libya to meet your friends or have you already done that already?
Hirushi: I haven’t. No, we haven’t been to Libya. In university, when I grow up I look forward to going back and seeing all those Middle Eastern countries I lived in.
Riya: To what extent did you feel protected by the law in Libya? Did you like the way things were?
Hirushi: In Libya?
Riya: Yeah.
Hirushi: Yeah, like I said before, I really liked the culture. The food was good, the people were nice and I really liked the Asian Greece culture they had.
Riya: And what sort of differences do you feel from moving from Libya to New Zealand and differences in law and maybe how the country’s organized?
Hirushi: It’s way more equal and stress-free in New Zealand, because women are more equal to men. There are more Europeans. Other than that, the scenery and stuff is kinda similar. It’s mostly just the culture and people that are different.
Riya: Have you ever felt discrimination as an immigrant? Like maybe in New Zealand? Or maybe when you traveled back to Sri Lanka? Or any of the other countries you’ve lived in? Have you ever felt like you were discriminated [against] because you were from the outside and not from the country?
Hirushi: Yes. I think in New Zealand. Because, it was the first country that had white people. So, I was kinda different. Yeah.
Riya: Could you tell me what happened? Why did you feel left out? Or Discriminated [against]? What exactly happened that made you feel [as though you were being] discriminated [against]?
Hirushi: Most of the students in school. They haven’t been to other countries or lived in other countries. They have…very little Asian students, so I was…yeah.
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Riya: And what barriers exist towards settling in New Zealand or becoming a citizen in New Zealand? Are you a citizen in New Zealand?
Hirushi: End of this year, I am.
Riya: Oh that’s nice, congratulations!
Hirushi: Thank you.
Riya: If you had total control of the future, would you like to remain settled in one of the countries you’ve visited, or would you like to move somewhere else? And if so, then where? You can think about it. You can take your time.
Hirushi: I would go to work in America, because they have a lot of opportunities – like jobs. If I want to work in NASA and those sort of stuff.
Riya: And what about? Where’s your family? I’m guessing that your parents are with you?
Hirushi: Yeah.
Riya: What about the rest of the family? Where are they located?
Hirushi: My grandparents [are] from Sri Lanka, but they come to visit us every year. They’re here at the moment, because of the virus. Our aunts – both of our aunts and uncles – they also came to New Zealand in the past couple of years.
Riya: What does freedom of movement mean to you? To you in particular.
Hirushi: Pardon?
Riya: What does freedom of movement mean to you?
Hirushi: I think it’s the ability for any individual to move wherever they want for whatever reason. Whether it be education or they just like the culture.
Like if I wanted to move to England for education, I couldn’t – I was from like a lower economically developed country. Then like, it’s like I don’t have the right or the ability to go to England. But I think everybody should have the freedom to go to whatever country they want. But they should still have the ability to speak English.
Riya: Yeah, of course. And just like to come back to like the Libya experience that you had – when you said that you were a refugee for about two days, what exactly happened there? Where were you? What was going on and what were your surroundings? Where were you living and everything?
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Hirushi: It was more like a holiday. My dad’s – the company he worked at – his boss allowed us to stay in his hotel or whatever. So, we stayed there for two days with other people and families. And we basically – we had little money. Since all of our luggage – we didn’t have them until the end of the two days so we bought some clothes from a two-dollar store and went on tours.
Riya: You were saying, go on.
Hirushi: Food and water [was provided by] the hotel. It was honestly [a] holiday.
Riya: Yeah, I get that. When you were a sort-of refugee, what happened to you legally? Did you not have your passport with you? Or were your passports taken away from you? Or were you not allowed to travel? I’m missing some information. I don’t understand exactly how you were a refugee. You know what I mean?
Hirushi: No, everyone had to evacuate part of the country, so we were kinda refugees because we didn’t have any home. And like no money and like nothing.
All our documents – passports, everything were in our baggages and when we were waiting in the airport, someone sat on our laptop, so the laptop was cracked. There was no digital copy of anything. So, it’s like all of my parent’s lives [and work] they did not exist at that moment.
Riya: Okay, yeah that makes sense. Do you feel as though you enjoy the same human rights as citizens do in New Zealand?
Hirushi: Pardon? Can you repeat the question.
Riya: Sure I said, ‘Do you feel as though you enjoy the same human rights as New Zealand citizens do?’ Do you think there’s equality or do they treat foreigners differently?
Hirushi: In New Zealand?
Riya: Yeah.
Hirushi: I think it’s quite equal. Obviously, people who come to visit can’t have permanent jobs and that sort of stuff. Yeah, it is quite equal. Yeah.
Riya: Before we finish the interview, is there anything else you would like the listeners to know? [Would you like to] expand on any of the experiences? Anything specific you’d like to mention?
Hirushi: Not really.
Riya: No. Okay thank you so much!