‘When I arrived, I thought, this is an amazing country, but where are we going to start?’
“It was the 20th of October, 2016. I’ll never forget it. The day we arrived in Australia is the day that will always be on my fingertips. We arrived at the airport at around 8am and as soon as the plane landed I thought, wow, this is a different world.”
When John Mururu and his family touched down in Melbourne, just days after leaving a Kenyan refuge camp, they were driven straight to Bendigo. John says that final leg of their journey felt like such a long way, although it gave him time to notice the traffic signs, the reflectors, the way cars moved over to give way as they merged. “It was quite an experience,” he says of the emphasis on safety and courtesy on the road.
John, his wife Lillian, and their three daughters were dropped off at a temporary home at 23 Wallaby Avenue, Kangaroo Flat; another detail etched in his memory. The following morning, a Saturday, the family received an early knock on the door from a member of the Bendigo Community Health Services settlement team, who welcomed them and assured them more people would visit and collect them on Monday. They did, and everyday thereafter until the family was equipped for a new life in a new country.
From deepest jungle to Quarry Hill, seven months in
We are at the home of new arrivals Day Wah, Hsar Nay Htoo and their four children. This modest brick veneer has views of historic Victorian cottages, and the Quarry Hill Primary School playground, where the three eldest children are today; they are the first Karen students to attend the 166-year-old school.
A neat row of shoes lines the entrance hall, ascending from smallest to largest. In the living room, two grey sofas and a four-piece dining setting are pushed against the walls and the space between filled with a big, brightly coloured floor rug.
The couple, plus BCHS Settlement Services staff Sue Ghalayini and Nay Chee Aung, are sitting cross legged on the rug, with a thermos, jug of tea, mugs and coffee sachets at the centre of their circle. Hsar Nay Htoo places warm, sweet drinks into everyone’s hands.
It’s been just six months since the family moved into this rental home in Bendigo, having spent their first month in Australia living with their relatives and sponsors. Having waited eight years between their humanitarian Visas being accepted and leaving a Thai refugee camp. Day Wah says they almost lost hope.
National drug research findings will help target education and support in Bendigo
The latest National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program findings will help guide and inform Bendigo Community Health Services’ Alcohol and Other Drugs programs.
BCHS looks to the monitoring program’s regular report to confirm what staff already know is happening on the ground, and reinforce its education and response services.
The report provides national research and intelligence on illicit drugs and licit drugs that can be abused, and is funded by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.
Senior Leader Alcohol and Other Drugs Clinical Service Sheenah Van Eck said the 19th report, released in July, was “interesting, but not surprising”.
Apply to join Ellyse on the BCHS board
BCHS is seeking three new board directors to help guide the future of the health service. Applications are currently open for both experienced board members and people just starting out on their board career.
Ellyse McNish joined the BCHS board in late 2022. The La Trobe Rural Health School marketing project manager was seeking to act on her goal to see greater health service accessibility in regional areas.
“Joining this board seemed like a perfect alignment with my values and aspirations,” Ellyse said.
“The highlight of my time so far has undoubtedly been witnessing the remarkable work and dedication of BCHS staff, who work tirelessly behind the scenes.”
This year’s call for board nominations is focussed on reaching people of diverse backgrounds, including younger people.
BCHS places staff member in the Bendigo Library to support the community
Bendigo Community Health Services has based a community connections project worker among the books of the Bendigo Library, with the dual purpose of assisting staff and patrons.
The new position has been filled by Karl Quast, who will help some of the city’s vulnerable people to connect to support services. The initial 12-month appointment is a first for Bendigo.
Karl said libraries were one of the few places where all people felt they belonged.
“Libraries are seen as comforting places that provide a warm, welcoming, safe environment, that’s also supervised, not to mention with access to books and wonderful programs such as pre-school storytimes,” he said.
BCHS opens up the tough talk needed around vaping
Bendigo Community Health Services is driving conversations around vaping with young people, while equipping parents, carers and educators with the facts on vaping use and harms.
This month will see the first BCHS Tough Talks webinar presented, focusing on vaping and how to support young people to stop.
It will feature YSAS nurse practitioner, mental health and addiction specialist Lee Kennedy, secondary school nurse Andrea Scott and BCHS Health Promotion Officers.
Senior Health Promotion Officer Siobhan Sullivan said there had been a significant increase in young people vaping in Bendigo, and many parents were worried and wanted to know how their young people could get support to stop.
Elders inspire artwork launching during NAIDOC Week
headspace Bendigo will mark this year’s NAIDOC Week with the launch of two works by local First Nations artists Josie and Emily Gower.
The proud Palawa Trawlwoolway women have designed a mural to be unveiled at their former school, Bendigo Senior Secondary College, plus created an artwork to feature in the headspace Bendigo foyer.
Both works have come to fruition after students at the college connected with headspace via its Take a Step campaign, which encourages strength of spirit, culture and body for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
headspace Bendigo Community Engagement Worker Haylee Kennedy said after taking part in the Take a Step sessions, students reflected on their connection to Country, Community and to the Elders who have passed on their cultural knowledge, in keeping with this year’s NAIDOC Week theme of ‘For the Elders’.
Finding freedom in Bendigo
The 2023 Refugee Week theme of Finding Freedom is particularly poignant at Bendigo Community Health Services.
The BCHS Refugee and Cultural Diversity and Settlement Services teams work with former refugees or new arrivals to Bendigo to ensure they have the skills, resources and support to find a new chapter of life here, free from war, violence, hunger and persecution.
This picture represents most members of those teams, who took five minutes from their very busy schedule this week to gather for a group photograph.
Members of these teams are some of the first people new arrivals meet when they step off the plane in Melbourne, fresh from refugee camps or war zones around the world. This caring, compassionate meeting represents the start of a remarkable settlement journey in Bendigo.
Program aims to keep former refugees safe in fire, heat and flood
A groundbreaking program to prepare former refugees for extreme central Victorian weather conditions could become a model for other regions, said Bendigo Community Health Services.
Facilitated by BCHS and agency partners, the Emergency Preparedness Program delivered information to approximately 6000 new arrivals in Bendigo over the past six months, in person and online. “And those numbers are just the beginning,” said Refugee Project Worker Nido, as some program participants are sharing their new-found knowledge with their families and communities.
Now in its fourth year, the program delivers critical information to new arrivals on how to keep safe in fire, heat, storm and flood emergencies.
Nido said with more and more Karen, Dari and Dinka-speaking people arriving in Bendigo, arming them with knowledge on emergency situations and services was an important part of helping them settle into life here.
“They come with very little knowledge about Australian bush and grassfires, floods and heat, which makes them very vulnerable to being affected,” he said.
BCHS supports a state-wide sexual and reproductive health demand analysis
Bendigo Community Health Services is in full support of a proposed comprehensive sexual and reproductive health service demand and gap analysis for the whole of Victoria following the release of the Victorian Auditor-General’s report to State Parliament into Supporting Sexual and Reproductive Health.
Four years after dedicated sexual and reproductive health hubs were first funded in Victoria, the report has called for more knowledge on the influence those hubs were having on access to services.
BCHS is one of 11 State Government-funded sexual and reproductive health hubs. Its records show since becoming a hub in 2019, its sexual and reproductive health services have more than doubled. Services included IUD insertions, medical abortions, abortion-related counselling and STI treatments.
