Kwanele Nomoyi, worker at Google Ireland

“I was working in the digital marketing industry in South Africa for about 10 years, and I got to a place during COVID where I realised that I wanted more. Now I work at Google in their head offices, which are based in Dublin. I realised that Ireland would be a really good idea because of the history that Ireland has with South Africa from an anti-apartheid struggle perspective.

As a South African who has always had political inclinations, it was always a top consideration for me to live in a country that understood and appreciated my South African-ness, my blackness. We have a thriving community of South Africans in Ireland.

Events have played a huge role in bringing us together. I co-own an organisation here called CNW Events. Although the audience is so diverse, people are now really getting to love the music, really getting to love the community, connecting.

When I think of South Africans, warmth and kindness are such an intrinsic part of the way we operate, especially as the more oppressed people, because historically, it was a form of survival. You had to be kind to each other, because the system wasn’t kind to you. We have something called Ubuntu in South Africa: “spirit of togetherness”. I find so many aspects of Ubuntu here in Ireland.

I’ve really appreciated the change in the colours of the faces in the environment. Ireland has become increasingly so diverse. I definitely observed a huge difference in the way in which people show wealth, show success, and celebrate success. It’s part of Irish culture to be a little self-deprecating, whereas at home, it’s very common for us to consistently lift each other up all the time.

There’s so much skill in South Africa that could be transferred into Ireland. We have a huge unemployment crisis in South Africa, and we have such a large proportion of skilled, educated people, and the economy in Ireland continues to boom and thus continues to require skilled, educated people.

The way in which this country is governed is superb. In terms of how public institutions are run, from a transport perspective, from a human rights perspective — home affairs, that kind of thing — it’s done at a really professional level here. In South Africa, so many smaller provinces are still quite underserved. Most people grow up and want to leave the county where they come from.

I know so many people, especially at Google, who live in Kerry or Galway or Wicklow or Cork and come to Dublin twice a month. It’s been really lovely to see how even these smaller places still have their own level of governance that works — that drives a healthy, sustainable environment for the community.”