Coming to New Zealand to get his PhD, Mario Alayon-Marichal always thought he would return home once he finished his studies. But after things changed in his homeland of Venezuela, he knew that wasn't going to be possible. Now, Alayon-Marichal works in Palmerston North as a development engineer for food and ingredient processing at The New Zealand Institute, Plant and Food Research. When he arrived, Alayon-Marichal said the cultural differences were massive and there was one thing he didn't realise would be an issue. The Latin community had started to grow in recent years but Alayon-Marichal said there weren't many from Venezuela in Palmerston North.

Source: Stuff March 21, 2019 01:30 UTC