The Herald has selected five talented young people as the Knowledge Wave Trust's emerging leaders*. Today we profile Enya Chadderton.
By REBECCA WALSH
As a teenager growing up in a remote Chinese village Enya Chadderton used to dream of a big world.
"Every time I would carry water from the river or was under a tree reading a book, I dreamed about a big world, a beautiful world. I don't know where it is but one day I will be there. I won't be in the same little village."
Now the 32-year-old dreams of making a better world in New Zealand, helping Chinese immigrants integrate into her new home.
Born in the midst of the Cultural Revolution at a labour camp in the Gobi Desert, Chadderton spent the first eight years of her life separated from her parents.
Her mother, branded a "stinky intellectual" by the Communists, was exiled to a labour camp while her father, who came from peasant stock, was found a good job in Beijing and left his pregnant wife behind.
Chadderton was sent to live with her aunt and uncle. She remembers a childhood of physical abuse and criticism.
"From an early age I wasn't as innocent as I should be. I almost had to be like an adult ... I think that in a way helped me to be very strong."
At eight, Chadderton was reunited with her mother, who had secretly improved her English skills in the labour camp, and the pair made a life in a remote village near her home town of Qing Dao.
Chadderton took up her mother's habit of carrying a notebook, talking to every English speaker she could find and filling the notebooks with English words.
It was after the two helped a sick tourist from Kaikohe that the association with New Zealand began.
The Kiwi tourist was so grateful to the pair that he paid for Chadderton's mother to visit New Zealand - she has since moved permanently.
Chadderton stayed in China to finish her high school years and a diploma in teaching. Unable to travel immediately after the Tiananmen Square uprising and not happy to take a "second best" job at the local school, it took six months for Chadderton to secure a job at a school where they spoke good English.
Months later she arrived in New Zealand with US$100 and within a few years she had completed an accounting and finance degree. She now works as an accountant at Wesfarmers.
Soon after arriving in New Zealand she joined the China Society, helping Chinese immigrants understand the laws, customs and culture of their new home.
Chadderton, now deputy chairwoman of the group, teaches them about things as diverse as tax laws - "we don't have many tax rules in China" - to dinner table etiquette - "when you eat, you eat dessert last, in China you mix it".
She helps fill out forms for IRD numbers or to set up an incorporated society but is not interested in immigrants who want to try to get around the rules.
"I don't want people coming here illegally and finding ways to get around the system ... I want to protect New Zealand, it's like protecting my home. At the same time, I want to help my Chinese people as well."
Chadderton, who is married to a New Zealander, supports the tougher new English language test for immigrants, introduced by the Government in November.
"If you don't speak English you won't be able to integrate into the culture so the migrants will find it hard. At the same time the society won't benefit."
Chadderton dreams of one day becoming a novelist. But for the time being her focus is on other things.
"I want to help this country to be a very good place to live, to do my little bit, to make however many people's lives better."
* The Herald has selected five talented young people as the Knowledge Wave Trust's emerging leaders.
The group will attend a conference, Knowledge Wave 2003 - The Leadership Forum, in Auckland from February 19 to 21, at which a panel of leading speakers will examine the issues and opportunities facing New Zealand.
This week we profile the delegates, chosen from many nominated by Herald readers. They will be among 50 promising young New Zealanders, selected by 20 newspapers, at the forum.
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