“I moved here in February. I always say to anyone coming from a tropical climate, it’s the absolute worst time to move anywhere, especially Ireland. It was just so dark. It was a huge, huge culture shock for me. It wasn’t the cold or the rain, it was the darkness.” Zoe Hunter, who moved here from Belize in 2012, is laughing. Spring, and the light, came eventually, and she has made a good life here, more recently benefiting from the light of education: aged 42, she’s doing a degree in city planning and environmental policy at UCD.
Hunter grew up in the tiny Central American country known for inland rainforests, Caribbean coast and spectacular islands. The former British colony, independent since 1981, is “a very young democracy. It’s the same story with British colonies all over the Caribbean. They left, but they left everything in a mess.”
“It was kind of hilarious. I got complimented on my English so much when I moved here! Yeah, thank you. It’s my native language.” She speaks an English Creole dialect too. “My accent is very Irish now, but at first it sounded Caribbean. People would say, Oh, she sounds like Rihanna!”
After two years of junior college in Belize, Hunter couldn’t afford university, and got an administration job. Then she met an Irish man. He worked in finance too, and she visited Ireland with him. Eventually, “I said I’d try it out for six months. Thirteen years and two kids later, here I am.”
With her experience, she quickly got a job in KBC bank. “The work was not the most interesting, but they were a really, really nice bunch of people. My supervisor from then is still a friend.”
After their daughter was born in 2016, they decided she would care for her at home, and the same later with their son, rather than return to the bank. “It was challenging, but at the same time I’m grateful for it, because my mom never got to do that with me. I got to share the joys as well as the challenges of being home as a parent.”
Years later she considered returning to education and starting a new career. “Not that I was unhappy as a stay-at-home mom, but I was feeling kind of boxed in. It was time for me to take a step.” She considered waiting until her children were older, but was also conscious that “I’m getting older too! I want to get started. Covid was definitely that spark, to jump back into school. This is my first undergraduate degree ever. It’s been a real focus point, like a saving grace for me personally.”
I’ve been in Ireland for so long, I have a community. Moms of my kids’ friends have been wonderful
As she had been out of education, she did an Access course. “I had in mind sustainability.” She did sciences. She applied for a UCD degree combining city planning and urban design with environmental policy, and was offered a place in 2022. Initially, “I had to defer because of childcare. I couldn’t find anyone. I couldn’t afford anyone.”
But “I felt, I have set my mind to this, and the universe is helping to make it happen.” Adding to the complications, she and her partner split up, although amicably.
With wonderful timing, her 28-year-old brother in Belize was taking a career break and offered to visit for a few months, as childminder, for her first academic semester. “I joked he was the ‘Manny’, the male nanny. He actually adapted to Dublin easier than I thought he would – easier than I did. He was really good with the kids, and they got to spend time together.” Her second semester schedule worked better for school hours, and their Dublin grandparents minded them for a day every week. Now in second year, with children nearly seven and nine, Hunter and her ex are hands-on co-parenting.
She’s busy but blossoming, and wants to spread the word about supports available for those who want to return to education after time at home with children. Dublin Learning City Festival (April 7th-9th) promotes learning for all, focusing on community-based initiatives in the Greater Dublin Area. The Think Again Scholarship, in partner institution UCD, encourages mature low-income women to return to education.
“It can be done. It’s really hard.” For women with children, “there’s so many moving parts”. She appreciates the support but wishes there was more. “A lot of it comes down to finances, and childcare. Yes, they’re investing in us, but we are going to give back when we’ve accomplished.
“I’ve been in Ireland for so long, I have a community. Moms of my kids’ friends have been wonderful. I have some really great friends here.” But at difficult times, “I’ve really missed my family. The biggest part of moving anywhere is being without family nearby. Sometimes I literally just want to go to my mom’s house, or to my sisters, just sit there in silence under a dark grey cloud.”
But even when things are hard, “I know this is where I’ll be. Ireland is where I’ll live.” She’s enjoying her course, and “UCD has been a great source of encouragement. The support as a mature student is just brilliant,” including from her adviser and programme director. “I think they know I’m not there for the craic”.
Despite missing home, “if the kids were growing up in Belize, it would have been a different dynamic. Children here have a safe environment to express big emotions. Even before I had kids, seeing how parents interacted with their kids here, there’s just more freedom. In Belize, for a girl, she’s not supposed to be climbing trees or getting muddy. For a child, it’s respect your elders, don’t speak out of turn. Here it’s more, ‘Oh, let them be kids’.”
On the other hand, single-sex education was “so strange”, a “weird notion”, contrasting with her own mixed-gender schooling, where friendships with “the lads” were normal from childhood.
She finds Irish politeness strange. “I don’t know if you really like what I’ve cooked or you’re just trying to be nice! Belizeans just don’t do subtlety at all. It’s, ‘This tastes like crap, but thank you for trying’.” Here she often wonders, “Did I say the wrong thing?”
She’s travelled all over. “It’s a beautiful country. And for all the weirdness, I find the people in general to be really helpful, really welcoming. My ex’s family, always really willing to help. Even people on the street. Some of the banter you get from just random people, I still find hilarious. All the one-liners. I have no comeback, I just laugh and appreciate how clever and well-read everyone is. I get why the country produced so many brilliant writers and playwrights.”
In some ways she would have liked to have raised her children in Belize, but their quality of life in Dublin is better. “We can walk to school, walk to their friends’ houses. Playgrounds nearby. They can use their bicycles, scooters. They’ve access to different sports. Belize is very dangerous. Nobody walks any more,” because of the risk of robbery. “You need a car to get everywhere.”
The bus and the Luas compare favourably with Belize’s public transport options, she says. “You can walk everywhere here, you feel safe at night. Of course, the whole financial aspect is crazy at the moment.”
In recent years she’s noticed “the racism thing” more. “It’s become a very diverse city since I moved here, and I like that. That’s what I’m used to. But I have seen issues.” She describes “micro-discrimination”: At the pool with her daughter, who looks like her dad, and being mistaken for staff rather than a parent because of the colour of her skin. “I know she probably felt embarrassed, because she couldn’t look me in the eye afterwards.” Or her son, who is darker, being told off in a gift-shop, while his whiter-looking sister doing the same thing was not. “It left a bad taste.”
We would like to hear from people who have moved to Ireland. To get involved, email newtotheparish@irishtimes.com
