Covid 19 lockdown: An international student's 'scary' view

EIT international student Sajeela Ismail said despite the scary and uncertain time during lockdown she is excited and blessed to be here. Photo / Paul Taylor

EIT masters student Sajeela Ismail had been in New Zealand only a few weeks when the country went into lockdown. Despite the uncertain times she says she feels "blessed" to be here.

Ismail is a dentist in her home country India and is in Hawke's Bay to study a master of health science with the hopes of becoming a trained dentist in this country.

But lockdown meant she hadn't spent a lot of time exploring her new home.

Like many other international students in the same boat, Ismail has faced a unique set of challenges during lockdown, which she spent with two other students from India.

"It was scary. There was a lot of uncertainty about both what was happening here and in India".

The hardest part was dealing with the uncertainty while being so far away from her family.

Her two children aged 12 and 7 and her parents are in India where she says "things are not great" due to Covid-19.

Returning to India when Covid hit wasn't an option for her, but if it was, she would have preferred to stay in New Zealand which her family had advised.

She said she feels very safe and blessed to be in New Zealand right now.

Ismail said weekly online meetings with the international support team helped offer moral support.

"The people here [in New Zealand] have been very welcoming and warm; everyone is extremely compassionate.

"We feel quite at home here and are very thankful to New Zealand. They treat us as themselves," she said.

The lockdown was also a financial struggle and Ismail spoke of other international students who had lost their jobs.

"A lot of us had to spend a bit of money getting settled here and some have loans too. But we had regular food parcels and the [EIT] financial hardship fund were extremely supportive," she said.

The EIT international centre worked with Civil Defence, Multicultural Association Hawke's Bay, Learning Hawke's Bay and Citizen's Advice Bureau to help the students.

Moving to online learning wasn't too much of a challenge for her as parts of her programme were already done online and with Zoom meetings, but she is looking forward to seeing friends on campus again.

EIT has continued to deliver programmes online where possible as it was a significant adjustment for students but will resume face-to-face delivery in semester two.