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!
Mariam Alzaabi 