My Account
Warkworth’s new Methodist minister Abhishek Solomon spent his first 19 years growing up in northern India before visiting New Zealand to work in South Auckland. After later working with the homeless and dispossessed of Central Auckland he became a minister and moved to Warkworth, which he now calls home. Abhishek talks with George Driver about life growing up in India, the culture shock of moving to NZ and his road to becoming a minister …
I grew up in a Christian family in a city called Lucknow, in the north of India. It is known as ‘Little Pakistan’, a predominantly Muslim city, strongly influenced by the Mogul Empire from the Middle East. It still has a rich Mogul culture with art and palaces from the period. But there are still a lot of Hindus and Christians in the city, and they coexist in relative harmony. We would all celebrate one each other’s festivals. There would be Muslims celebrating Christmas and Christians celebrating Muslim festivals.
My father left my family when I was young, which was tough in such a male dominated society such as India. My mother always said education was the most important thing in life, so me and my brother and sister were put through private school. When I was five or six I was sent off to boarding school, about 2000km from home. My mother was willing to sacrifice everything so we got an education and she paid for our studies while working as a nurse. But I would only come home once a year and she would only visit a few times.
When I was 11 the distance and the financial cost got too much and my mother pulled us out of boarding school so we could live closer to home. But at the time we were living in a small rural town which meant I would have to take a two-hour train to school every day. I would get up at 4am and start school at 7am. After school finished at 1pm I would have to wait at the train station for the 7pm train home. Often I would be so tired I would fall asleep and miss my stop and have to catch another train and wouldn’t get home until about 1am. But there was no other option. You just found a way to make it work. I think that’s made me stronger.
I went to high school in Lucknow, though I wasn’t the most dedicated student. I played a lot of guitar and heavy metal music like Metallica. But I also played with the church and continued working with the church after high school. When I was 19 the minister asked if I wanted to go to New Zealand to work with youth in South Auckland. It had always been my dream to leave India and see more of the world. I used to love watching cricket matches played at Eden Park, or the MCG or at Lords. They would always have a little documentary about each place and I wanted to see it all.
I came to New Zealand with three friends in 2001. It was quite a culture shock. Lucknow has 4.5 million people, so I was struck by how quiet it was. I remember when I first arrived we went to a high rise building in Manukau City. It had a beautiful view, but when I went out onto the balcony it was so calm and silent you could hear a pin drop. I thought ‘where is everybody? What’s happened? Why is no one out on the street playing cricket?’ I was most struck by how ordered it was. It was like everything was in its place, whereas nothing is in its place in India. I soon became mesmerised by the beauty of the place. The reality surpassed the fantasy.
I was also struck by the level of wealth. Wealth is a very relative thing. To New Zealanders, South Auckland is a poorer area, but to me I was amazed by how much people had. So I couldn’t believe it when I saw homeless people in the city. I couldn’t understand how this could happen here. It wasn’t until I worked with homeless people a few years later that I began to understand the reasons why. Also, the youth we worked with were also much different to youth in India. They were much more independent and had a lot more freedom. But I was shocked by the drinking culture among young people.
After nine months I had to return to India, but I’d decided by then that New Zealand was the place I wanted to live and returned a year later. I worked as a missionary at New Life Church on the North Shore and studied theology at the Pathways College. Studying challenged all my ideas of life and faith. I started questioning everything. After I completed studies with college I began distance learning through the Otago University Department of Theology and Religion. It was then I decided I wanted space from the church. I took two years out where I just studied. I’m passionate about different perspectives of life, of how people think and how that informs and changes their social outlook. I read more philosophy than theology now. I prefer books that challenge my beliefs rather than just reinforce them. But until I was about 22, I had never read a book, other than the Bible, so I guess I’m catching up.
It wasn’t until I got involved with the Queen Street Methodist Mission and began working with homeless people that I was able to reconcile those questions within the church. They invited inquiries. I worked there as an assistant for three years and for a while I knew most of the people living rough along Queen Street. I found it lead me to open myself up to people. It changed my whole perspective. Homelessness is not about not having a house. It’s about being isolated from a community and that can happen to anybody. I think it’s one of the biggest issues people face. Everywhere people feel isolated and need friendship and support.
It was six years before I went back to India and when I returned it was like a culture shock in reverse. The country is changing at such a fast pace. I think people are unable to keep up with it. When I was last back, a businessman on a train asked me for my perspective on India as an ‘outsider’. I told him I think the country has become caught up in a certain idea of progress where having more material possessions is the goal. But I think real progress is a progress in values and ethics and how it shapes the life of everyday people. Women are still treated as second-class citizens and the gap between the rich and poor is large and widening, and India still has the world’s largest population living in poverty in the world.
I went on to become youth coordinator for Auckland for the Methodist Church, organising events and advocating for youth issues. I then became lay preacher and worship leader Northcote Takapuna Methodist Church where I would lead the preaching on Sunday morning. That was when I began the process to become a minister, which is how I came to Warkworth, to take over from reverend Misilei Misilei. I moved here with my wife and baby daughter in February. I love the calmness here, the pace of life and the people. For some people who move to New Zealand this is their home away from home, but for me this is my home now.
