Cambodia & NZ: From Me to You
27 October 2021

New Zealand-born Sochetha Meng is a 3rd-year communication design student at Victoria University School of Design in Wellington.

‘From Me to You’ is a design project comprised of 3 Zines—"The Past", "The Present" & "The Future" which recount her family’s migration experiences, her personal experiences as a second-generation Cambodian New Zealander and her re-imagining of the future for Asian New Zealanders. The project also explores the theme of culture and identity from a personal perspective. Find her project on Instagram.

What's the central idea of the project?

My project is called ‘From Me to You’ and the essence of it is that it's a "care package" designed to help young Asian diasporas in New Zealand cope with their unique identity, and provide a stronger sense of belonging. While at the same time raising awareness and normalising conversations about migrant experiences in New Zealand. I want the name to portray that all of my design is a gift “From Me to You”.

[excerpt]
Being born in New Zealand, what is your experience of being a “Kiwi”?

I often feel like I’m in the middle ground. I can’t exactly say for sure that I feel like a Kiwi because that would be a lie. Sometimes, I feel like a local while walking around town but sometimes, I feel like a tourist in my own home. Recently, I think I have become more self-conscious about my identity and become aware of people’s reactions towards me. I think the response of New Zealanders to the Covid pandemic has affected me in many ways. I have experienced things I never thought I would.

It’s obvious you have some feelings of being caught between two cultures – how do you handle that?

I try to take things one step at a time. Being bilingual doesn’t help me either because I sometimes feel I understand too much but on the other hand, my vocabulary doesn’t allow me to fully express my thoughts, especially in Khmer.

I balance two cultures - my home life is majorly based on Khmer culture and traditions with a little hint of “Kiwiness” where we mix English in our daily conversations or eat takeaways. Once I leave the house, that part of me is now hidden and the “Kiwi” switches on and I speak and think in English. The hard part is when those sides of me don’t switch on or off as I would like it to and it all jumbles up. There’s a constant cycle where I try to express myself in Khmer but my family doesn’t understand so I try to explain in English but they’re not as fluent as I am so we end up not fully understanding each other at times.

Do you think Pakeha New Zealanders understand the experience of Asian migrants to NZ?

To a certain extent no, I don’t think they fully understand the Asian experience because they only see the outcome. The New Zealand media likes to paint Asian New Zealanders in a certain light and it shows in people’s actions towards Asians throughout the pandemic. Some common myths are that “Asians have it easy” or “they’re stealing our jobs” but that is not the case.
https://www.asiamediacentre.org.nz/feat ... me-to-you/