Finding home away from home

Born in Ghana (West Africa), Osei spent his childhood in Auckland and Sydney before adoptingChristchurch as home. After the major 2010 earthquake struck, Osei relocated to Auckland where he finished law school and started a family. Eleven years later Osei returned to the South Islandwith his wife and their two young daughters – out on a whim and fresh out of the COVID-19lockdowns, they moved to Lincoln.

“It was a new beginning for us,” Osei reflects. “My wife and I met in Sydney, then we married in Auckland and lived in Wellington briefly. Now that we are in Lincoln, it feels like Christchurch was the home I could always come back to.”

It wasn’t just Lincoln’s tranquilness that drew them in. There was a good sense of community.

Sure enough, they built connections easily and found opportunities to give back to the community. Osei volunteers as a football coach at Prebbleton Football Club where his daughters play, Zarah (8) and Irié (5). He also volunteers as a sports coach at the youth unit in Christchurch’s Men’s Prison through a non-profit organisation, The Epic Sports Project.

“Sports is my passion and there is an abundance of facilities here. Coaching is one way I give to the community while doing something I love with my two girls. Seeing other parents show up for their kids early on Saturday mornings – despite the week they’ve had - is the kind of positive environment and healthy lifestyle I want for my kids.”

Osei and his wife are homestay hosts to two Lincoln High School international students from Japan and China. For Osei, hosting students is another way of being community-focussed while enriching someone’s Canterbury experience. It has also sparked interest in his children to learn new languages.

Looking ahead, Osei hopes to set up an Immigration business. There are many late nights studying to become licensed Immigration Adviser but his motivation is to keep pursuing things he values.

“Everything I take on is an extension of something I value. I don’t see it as juggling – I see it as living because it’s meaningful to me.”

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