Living in New Zealand as an Arab Woman

Posted on by Mariam Alzaabi

My experience living in New Zealand between 2018 till 2021 was simply: Healing, Reviving & Incredible.

But first: Back Story, how & why I made this decision.

I come from a very traditional Emirati family with my 3 other siblings. We didn’t have the best childhood growing up, especially for me following a Traumatic event that happened to me at the age of 7, which resulted in severe depression for my mom & dad (especially my dad).

Unfortunately, the 90s in the UAE was mostly picture perfect. People were too focused on leading a prosperous, problem-free world. Seeing my dad’s pain growing year by year had only made me, my mom & siblings want to stand by his side, take on his foot steps & learn valuable life lessons most people learn at a later stage in their lives.

I learnt to be intrinsic, secular & forgiving, to all living beings. Looking beyond the physical world & working towards the greater good.

Fast-forward to October 2015, my dad passed away, and I was emotionally destroyed. A big part of me had died with him, and it drove me to change. I stopped painting & playing the piano, and I focused all of my energy learning about how I can be a better human being for planet earth & on learning different kinds of sports.

Growing up, I had a huge amount of interest in Animal-welfare and the vegan diet. I never enjoyed the taste of meat or the feeling cows milk gave my tummy. That bloating was ugh…. and it was until 2009 that I learnt about the word “vegan” and the ethics around our food consumption & how it impacts our health & the environment. However, I didn’t know how to convey the message my family. I was perceived as “pushy” “arrogant” & “thinking too highly about myself” simply because I refused to consume animal products. For me I just… didn’t want to be part of taking another living being’s soul. Moreover, I love animals so much, especially birds. My dad used to call me Little Birdie & say: “I’m afraid you might fly off to a faraway land while I’m around”.

Working for the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi exposed me to many amazing people, and one person stood up the most was a fisheries manager from New Zealand. This was my first time hearing about a country named “New Zealand”. At the same time, I kept stumbling upon random viral videos from New Zealand on Youtube that exposed me to their culture, and I fell blindly in love. At the same time, I was doing my research, taking online courses on Environmental studies & sustainability. Luckily I was doing good enough. My mother had her doubts and used to say: “how I are you going to Convert yourself from being someone who only knew how to express herself through Drawing, painting & music, to using words to do so?” My mother and I never gotten along growing up, she had difficulty at understanding me for this very reason which gotten me into so much trouble. And it wasn’t until I was able to learn how to communicate my feelings & emotions in a way that helped her understand me in 2022 that we finally became best friends. So, when I told her that I WILL move to New Zealand and study my masters at Victoria University – Wellington (with a thesis research on vegan/vegetarian food choices for a better planet). I spoke to my family about it to get their advice and support but…

In November 2016, my mom said to me: ” Show me….”

And a fire was ignited inside of me. There started my journey to move to New Zealand & do my masters degree in something I was insanely passionate about. Even when all odds were against me, somehow I was able to make it! I was lucky to somehow receive a sponsorship from my work that helped pay off my study fees and I left on the 3rd of March 2018. I made lots of incredible friends, people I consider family, I was able to buy a car there, race an IRONMAN 70.3, had a hip stress fracture that took 6 months to heal, I almost lost my life due to an on-set tonic-clonic seizures on the 3rd of June 2019, lived through COVID-19 alone, done lots of road trips around the North & South Islands, done the Great Walk of Waikaremoana (66km, 2100m elevation) in 3 days fully self-sufficient, and finally! received my Masters Degree with Merit!

My Masters Degree Thesis. MEnvStud

Posted on by Mariam Alzaabi

It’s about time that I go back to writing, I remember starting this website with my name as the domain in order to publicize myself as a full-time artist. However, life does work in miraculous ways doesn’t it?

I had been reading about the ethics of our food consumption patterns for as long as I remember. Still, my family and colleagues figured that my knowledge was unreliable since I didn’t have the “experience” to educate them about it. Therefore, in 2017, I decided to change my career and pursue my master’s in environmental studies. I was fortunate enough to get a sponsorship at Victoria University of Wellington.

Hope you enjoy reading it! https://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/xmlui/handle/10063/9390

The highest form of human excellence is to question oneself and others.

Socrates, 469–399 B

Abstract:

Over the past few decades, rising meat and dairy consumption have had increased environmental implications, ranging from soaring greenhouse gas emissions to river pollution in Aotearoa New Zealand. Recent studies suggest the importance of altering meat and dairy consumption attitudes to reduce environmental damage. Researching people’s meat and dairy consumption drivers is crucial in understanding behavioural change and encouraging alteration in meat and dairy consumption attitudes. Changing people’s attitudes around meat and dairy consumption is vital to reducing environmental degradation. Furthermore, moving towards a less meat- and dairy-intensive diet can be beneficial not only for the environment but also for personal values and ethics. This research aims to understand how some people in New Zealand perceive their attitudes around meat and dairy consumption and its implications for the environment and contribute to behavioural change. The qualitative research methodology was applied to understand four drivers that define people’s attitudes towards meat and dairy consumption. These drivers stem from domain-specific value- and ethics-based attitudes. Face-to-face interviews were conducted to collect in-depth data on how individuals perceive the environmental implications of meat and dairy consumption from faith-based, health-based, environmental ethics and animal welfare viewpoints. Implications of these drivers and their combinations to inform behavioural change are discussed, as well as how findings from this research can inform behavioural change. Further, this research aims to contribute to future educational campaigns that encourage sustainable choices for individuals whose values and ethics drive their attitudes around meat and dairy consumption.

Vegan for life initiation

Posted on by Mariam Alzaabi

This is an initiation that I started as a meet up group to gather people around abu dhabi who shares similar interest in spreading awareness on veganism and ways to adapt it in our lives to help the world in different ways which include the environment, health, animal & sustainability.

the meetings include discussions, sharing experiences and movie screeningScreen Shot 2016-08-16 at 11.48.53 AM.png