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'A Strange Land' is a series looking at the lifestyles of immigrants to New Zealand, their lives in their country of birth, and their impressions of their new home.
Programme Number: 160
Subject: Michael Siyad
Roots: Somalia
Producer: Andrew McRae
When Michael Siyad arrived in New Zealand in 1985, he was the first Somali to immigrate here. He tells his story to Andrew McRae.
Michael says he feels like something of a pioneer, and he has been given the nickname "Mohammed Somali" - as the man who established the Somali community here.
He says his experience was different to those later arrivals who have come to New Zealand as refugees, leaving behind their country in chaos. He says some of them had never even met a white person until they came to leave Somalia.
He talks about his first days in New Zealand. He was in Auckland for four or five days in 1985, before he saw another African person, which was someone from Ghana - on the opposite side of Africa from Somalia.
He talks about how the growing Somali community is working to maintain its culture, while at the same time settling into the New Zealand way of life. He says the Somali community is quite unified as most are Muslim and they are naturally out-going people. He says he appreciates the lack of conflict and tribalism in New Zealand
He tells his own story and how he worked in a number of manual jobs after arriving in New Zealand before saving up enough money to be able to go to university.