We Can’t Speak the Same Language

In this "bonus" episode of the podcast no one asked for, co-producers and hosts Saraid and Julie talk to their own mums, who hail from Sri Lanka and China, respectively.

Note: The second half of this episode has an English dub of Jenny's dialogue, translated by Julie Zhu and read by Jing su-Cornall.

In this bonus episode of Conversations with My Immigrant Parents, hosts Saraid de Silva and Julie Zhu turn the mics on themselves and talk with their own immigrant mums.

Saraid's mother Karenza migrated to Aotearoa from Sri Lanka (after a brief stint in England) when she was seven years old. Along with her parents and two brothers, the family moved first to Waikouaiti before eventually settling in Invercargill.

"We were one of very few brown families in Invercargill. Probably, you could count them on one hand," remembers Karenza.

Her father Rienzi passed away suddenly when she was 19, and after that Karenza and her siblings dispersed to different parts of the country. She now works as an environmental lawyer based in Auckland.

Karenza had Saraid when she was 28, but she and Saraid's father divorced when Saraid was four. Saraid was raised in Hamilton, Auckland, Tauranga, Christchurch, and Wellington before eventually moving back to Auckland when she was 19 to study performing arts at Unitec. Saraid also has a younger sister, Siena, from Karenza's second marriage.

Saraid and Karenza compare their different experiences of racism, from growing up as one of the first brown families in Invercargill to Saraid's experience growing up in different parts of New Zealand and having both Sri Lankan and Pākehā heritage.

"I think when you're half-white, the shit that is said to you is like people backhandedly complimenting you. And they're kinda putting you on this weird box or this weird zone of being better than people who are not half-white in some ways. They're kinda, like, separating you," describes Saraid. "But I just kinda wanna be brown, you know?"

The pair also discuss relationships, divorce for Catholics, and what it means to truly feel Sri Lankan.

The second half of this episode turns to Julie and her mum Jenny.

Julie's parents came to New Zealand when she was two years old, leaving her in China with grandparents as they tested the waters of Aotearoa.

"We thought we'd just come here for a bit to see. We only brought two suitcases. Like, just going for a holiday," says Jenny…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details