Single-minded success - Settlement Support

investing in retaining talent
Full of smiling faces
■ Story and photography by Leigh Dome
If a smile is a sign of a happy Kiwi then Paramsothy Jeyakumar (Jeya) and his family
have well and truly settled here. “New Zealand is full of smiling faces,” says a beaming
Jeya. “It was the first thing we noticed.”
Three years ago Jeya was seeking ‘peace and harmony’
and a new country that could foster his career and
embrace his family. He found New Zealand on the internet. “I
didn’t know anything about New Zealand at first,” he says. “But
it had everything we were looking for. No fear, less crime, no
corruptions, no racism and equal opportunities for women.”
Within two months of ‘finding’ New Zealand online, Jeya had
left his homeland of Sri Lanka to take up a postgraduate scholarship
at Massey University and complete his PhD in Soil
Science. Six months later his wife Vaithehi and two children
Ganan and Viburahi joined him in Palmerston North.
The ‘peace and harmony’ they discovered on their arrival took
some adjustment. The simple pleasures of feeling safe while
www.immigration.govt.nz
driving at night or walking in town during the day were new
experiences for the family.
They had left the densely populated city of Jaffna in a country
that had had its share of civil unrest. On arriving in New
Zealand the family had to adjust to a quieter life and friendly
police officers. “We were nervous of people in uniform. It took
us a while to understand that New Zealand policemen and
security guards are nice.”
The quality of Jeya’s work during his three year doctoral study
was rewarded with a New Zealand Education grant to speak
at a soils conference in Mexico. He was also named the top
“Soil and Environmental Science Student” (Quinphos Award)
in 2009 from all of New Zealand’s Universities. He attended
LINKZ | ISSUE 48 | 2011 19