They’ve all gone overseas

The Herald did a ten year update on ten young New Zealanders they profiled at the end of the millennium as “Tomorrow’s People”.

Of the five they managed to contact and/or agree to take part, every single one of them now lives overseas. I’m surprised the Herald didn’t highlight this, as it is rather telling. The five are:

• Amber Hunt – working full-time with the English National Ballet.
• Helen Croad (nee Gregory) – works as a project manager for a London council
• Chamathka Dias – senior resident medical officer, locuming as an emergency department doctor around New South Wales
• Matthew Atiga – moved to Tonga last year to work as a high-performance coach to Tongan rugby
• Karl van Eyk – working away in the 35C-plus heat of a New South Wales summer on his uncle’s 6000ha sheep and beef farm about five hours north of Sydney

So the future of New Zealand is all overseas – rather sad. Some say they will return one day – may be interesting to check again in ten years.