From Village Life to International Student — Inspiring Immigration Journey
Sukhwinder grew up without running water for part of his childhood in a village near Hoshiarpur. Last year he walked into his college in Brisbane, Australia. This is his full story.
Sukhwinder from Gagret Khurd — first from his village at TAFE Queensland
Sukhwinder Singh's village, Gagret Khurd near Hoshiarpur, Punjab, did not have consistent piped water supply for the first twelve years of his life. His father farmed two acres of wheat. His mother worked as a daily wage labourer during harvests. No one in his immediate family had a college degree. No one in his extended family had studied abroad.
Last September, Sukhwinder walked into TAFE Queensland's Brisbane campus wearing a crisp white shirt his mother had ironed and pressed for three days before he left. He was the first person from his village to study in Australia.
The Ten-Year Build-Up
Sukhwinder's journey to Brisbane was not a sudden decision — it was a decade of incremental moves. He was the first in his family to complete a BTech (Civil Engineering), working part-time at a construction site during his final year to reduce the financial burden on his parents. After graduation he worked for three years at a construction company in Chandigarh, saving systematically and simultaneously researching study pathways.
He had originally planned to go to Canada. But a specific post in a Facebook group — from a civil engineering student who had gone to Queensland and found work in construction project management — redirected him. He messaged that person. That person replied. Over four months of evening conversations, Sukhwinder built his Australia plan.
The Airport Departure
His father drove him to Chandigarh airport in a neighbour's car — the family doesn't own one. His mother had packed three kilos of homemade food in his checked bag (the airline's limit was the only restraint). At the departure gate, his father — a man who has never left Punjab — touched Sukhwinder's forehead and said four words in Punjabi: "Naam roshan kareen, puttar." Make the name shine, son.
I've worked on construction sites in 45-degree Chandigarh summers. That was physically hard. The hardest thing I have ever done was turn around from the departure gate and not look back, because I knew if I saw their faces again I wouldn't go.
— Sukhwinder Singh, Gagret Khurd to Brisbane
Six Months In
Sukhwinder is studying a Diploma of Construction Management at TAFE Queensland. He works 20 hours a week at a construction equipment company warehouse. His English has improved dramatically — TAFE's language support program assigned him a conversation partner in his first week. He sends ₹15,000 home every month. He has promised his parents he will bring them to Brisbane when his PR is confirmed.