The same at work as at home

Suba is 33 years old and lives in Odense with her partner Glen, with whom she is expecting her first child in November. In her spare time, she likes to relax with a good crime novel and otherwise trains at SDU Fitness twice a week. Suba came to the Faculty Secretariat through a study programme in SPRØK (language, finance and communication)at SDU Kolding followed by a part-time training programme in office administration at the Technological Institute in Kolding. Suba grew up in Fredericia, where she also attended high school until she moved to Aarhus in 2004 for a 1-year HHX.

With a child on the way, the future looks bright for Suba, the woman with Tamil roots who came to Denmark with her parents, two sisters and a brother when she was two years old:

"I came to Denmark when I was only two years old because we had to flee from the war in Sri Lanka. They were grim years, and my first memories of being in Denmark are of the Sandholm Asylum Centre. Because I came here at such a young age, I feel more Danish than Tamil in many ways. I don't really bother with Tamil rituals and traditions, but on the other hand I love really spicy food, and that's probably because of my Tamil background. If it's left up to me, I use lots of chili powder - even in ordinary meals like lasagna or spaghetti bolognese! My partner Glen has had to get used to the new taste experiences, but luckily it's going much better now," says Suba with a big smile.

Suba is a family person with a capital F. She is in almost daily contact with her siblings, and until her mother sadly died from cancer in 2004, she was incredibly close to her. But out of the tragedy came a new relationship with the people who Suba calls her "bonus parents": an elderly Tamil couple who also experienced great sorrow at the same time, when their daughter developed leukemia but fortunately survived. Those experiences bound the families together to such an extent that today Suba considers them to be her bonus parents:

"The years surrounding the loss of my mother were very difficult, but a new and strong relationship with my bonus mother and father grew out of the hard times. They supported my siblings and me when our mother passed away, and I will always be grateful to them for that. It's maybe very Tamil to open your heart to complete strangers and become attached to them like family - even though they aren't really. Now I talk to my bonus mother at least once a week, and I know that my brother and one of my sisters do too," Suba says very openly.

Now, Suba has become part of a Danish family through her partner Glen and is about to start her own family. What does she think about that?

"Glen is from a small, close-knit family with father, mother and two children, and they have been very welcoming towards me. I feel very secure in a smaller nuclear family, and I'm looking forward to Glen and I starting our own family. Glen often says that I have a big heart and that I often put others before myself. So, it's important that I sometimes remember to take care of "Suba". It's extra important for me to remember that especially now that there's a baby on the way", says Suba, and with that concludes a warm and open interview.

Suba works in the Faculty Secretariat as PhD Secretary and exam supervisor for campus-based exams at the Faculty level. This means that she is involved in the whole process for all PhD programmes at NAT, from enrolment to conclusion of the PhD project. She makes sure that the PhD students meet the requirements and provides advice and guidance throughout their PhD programmes. She is also involved in new approaches, for instance she has helped arrange a career day for PhD students in November 2016. As exam supervisor for campus-based exams, she takes care of the practical arrangements surrounding digital exams, and she also monitors for exam cheating.