One Migrant Experience

By Martin Kari

Migration is a way to self-determine the lives of individuals. The process generally begins with an individual's refusal to accept certain conditions. It is either the self-determination of the condition itself that drives an individual towards migration; sometimes a spirit of adventure or even an escape from reality also plays a role. Everything in live contains options. Usually the one who never moves has the view that they could lose something in that move; this spirit does not fit the entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is the character suitable for migration. He neither faces material or cultural losses, but rather looks forward to new opportunities in life; opportunities that present a more important or creative role and new challenges.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raider Publishing International
• Release date: Sep 9, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465994820

Martin Kari

Born in Transylvania during the turmoil of World War II, Martin Kari began life as a refugee child in post-war Germany. The hardships of displacement and the resilience required to overcome them shaped his worldview and continue to inspire his writing.Martin's extraordinary journey has taken him across four continents - from the ruins of war-torn Europe to the vibrant cultures of Asia and Africa - before finally settling in Australia in 1981 with his family.A multilingual author writing in both English and German, Martin's work spans historical fiction, autobiographies, poetry, philosophy, comedy, and children's literature. His stories reflect enduring themes of courage, migration, cultural understanding, and the triumph of the human spirit.Through warmth, candor, and an unwavering belief in resilience, Martin Kari continues to inspire readers worldwide.Explore his works at martinkaribooks.com.au.

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One Migrant Experience

By Martin Kari

Published by Raider Publishing International at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 Martin Kari

Smashwords Edition

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My thoughts are dedicated to my family.

Introduction

About Migration

Throughout history, and nature, migration has been a phenomenon, and one that includes all living forms on our planet. Some species show regular patterns of movement within nature’s cycles, cycles that were developed over a long period of time in order to survive. The migrations of birds and whales take place before winter sets in. What about human beings? How do we respond to migration as a means for survival? Only a few nomads known in Africa, Asia, and small pockets within the northern Arctic Circle, still roam today over areas that are becoming increasingly smaller through civilisation. The days of migration over vast continental areas are gone in today’s world. Indeed, throughout history, migration on a grand scale sometimes was the catalyst, the trigger for hostile actions amongst peoples—Dschingis Khan’s exodus and Alexander the Great’s expeditions are good examples. One only need examine the contributions of Greece, Rome and Europe in the quest for colonisation. Today, the economic status of a society, together with its social achievements are the guarantors of a settled, stable society. Those societies less stable in nature are often drawn to the benefits of a more established and economically sound community. For purposes of this discussion, perhaps it’s useful to think in terms of ‘camps’ and schools of thought, that might consider migration as a means to achieve a ‘switch’ to a more thriving society or, conversely, opting to follow more austere directions. The establishment of more simplified existence often proves to be a powerful siren song for some—a pursuit of a ‘back to the basics’. There are many motivating factors for a migration from one camp to another. Sometimes the desire to do so is powerful enough to overcome the restrictions and collective desire imposed by a country or camp.

Migrant family in Frankfurt. From left: Mirja, Raija, Risto, Peter, Arja, and Martin

As economic situations in all societies are subject to fluctuations, it is reasonable to suggest that processes like migration should also be subject to fluctuations; fluctuations permitting a society to self-regulate. In that vein, it is a natural progression for a society to regulate their own affairs according to their needs.

Officially, today there is mainly one country remaining as a migration destination— Australia. Canada has officially changed its status as a migration country.

Personal experience consisted of forced migration through World War II from Transylvania and professional migration to South Africa and Brazil, which took place on a voluntary basis during my life. The decision to migrate to Australia in 1981 was the result of considerations borne of those experiences, combined with a good deal of renewed hope and expectations.

I do not debate here my two professional migrations before the Australian decision. However, they have undoubtedly influenced this, my last migration decision. The decision to migrate from Europe to a distant country like Australia is by no means an everyday decision. I believe, therefore, due to the weightiness of such an endeavour, the following encapsulation of my personal migrant experience may be of interest to many readers.

Before I start with the events that developed out of our migration to Australia, I want to point out that there is not much in the way of good information about Australia and still less about its migration, both experientially and socio economically. A reason for this might be that most migrants never reach the point of objectively documenting their experiences. In terms of migration, we are dealing with a silent majority of people who are otherwise thoroughly occupied with a battle to establish oneself in this new country of Australia. Thus, in writing this book, I acknowledge every individual migrant who has had to find his/her own way, to settle in an Australian multicultural society. There is neither valid rule detailing how to get there, nor pre-planned path to follow that should lead to success. Rather more appropriate and timely is that every individual is asked to bring out his best, stay on that track and eventually success will ensue.

One has also to be flexible towards a new understanding of performance in a new environment. It is often at that point that problems often begin for a migrant. Keeping all this in mind, perhaps coupled with my individual experiences may prove to facilitate understanding.

Preface

A Migration Process

Our plane took off from Kuala Lumpur in the middle of the night. As we gained height, the horizon in front of us announced first in dark red lines the new day, where Australia our future home was. With daylight, we passed its northwest from high up in the air. The ocean underneath, its coastlines, the land, all were inundated with incredible clear sunlight. Everything was clearly visible through the windows of our plane, but there were no houses, no roads.

Another five hours flight time to Melbourne in the far southeast gave a first impression of the size of this continent.

The main features one could see out of the plane were the vibrant colours of this land— dark red soil, dark to light green spots of vegetation, yellow-brown spots everywhere. Riverbeds were carved into this landscape, many do not carry water all year, they look like wild roads in a place that surpasses the horizon. Once the plane left the ocean behind, the blue colour of the water was almost missing. Instead, green borders marked the course of a river.

Later on, roads became visible, straight thin lines right to the horizon. After four from a total of twenty-two hours of flight-time over Australia, which started in the centre of Europe, we were over Adelaide, which was surrounded by hills. This was the first large city in Australia that became visible in our flight path.

I happened to have a conversation with a gentleman from Monash University in Melbourne, who had briefed me in a very interesting way about this country of Australia. I have to admit, I have been in many countries around the world, but this was the first time I was on my way to Australia. Australia is not another country; Australia is a world of its own. The main reason for this is the distance to other parts of the world creates a natural