Staff Spotlight - Benedita dos Reis 🫶🏽
Benedita joined the QCS team along with four others as part of a recruitment program run by Health+ People under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme. See the article here about Quirindi Care Service’s recruitment drive here: https://www.quirindicareservices.com.au/news/quirindi-care-services-solves-staff-shortage-issue-with-exceptional-results
What made you want to come to Australia? Ever since I can remember, I have loved to take care of the sick, I therefore jumped at the opportunity that APTC (Australian Pacific Training Coalition) offered for a six-month training in Fiji for an aged carer in Australia.
Moreover, coming to Australia was about fulfilling my childhood dream. When I was 7 years old, my older sister received the Australia Development scholarship to study in Melbourne. I remember putting a camel doll in her luggage the night before and imagining that I was traveling with her to Australia.
Can you tell us a bit about your upbringing in Timor Leste? Growing up, I've always heard my parents talk about the time when we were captured by the Indonesian militias in West Timor (the Indonesia side) after our referendum in 1999 for our independence. I was still a baby then. We were there for 3 months without my father. However, people were kind to us: they gave us food, shelter, and clothes until UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) brought us back home in December, we were reunited with my father just before Christmas in 1999.
In High school, I volunteered for the Red Cross. Volunteering for the Red Cross was my way of saying thank you to those people who were there for us at the time when we needed help the most. Furthermore, my experience in the Red Cross solidified my passion for nursing. So I pursued a nursing degree following high school and continued to volunteer at the Red Cross (CVTL).
After graduation, CVTL hired me to be the focal point for the nurses and medics. I was also elated to be part of the youth Board to look after the volunteers. During Covid-19 and dengue season, I took part in rotation day and night shifts to help the patients to recover. CVTL allowed me to help people in need. I loved it!
Please tell us about your qualifications in nursing… I have a bachelor’s degree in nursing which I graduated from in 2021.
Please tell us what you enjoy about working at QCS / Eloura…
I love being around the residents. I find them funny and humble, and they have a lifetime of wonderful stories to share. I enjoy listening to them. I also enjoy and am so grateful for the opportunity to work with the other staff here who come from different backgrounds. I am learning a lot from each one of them.
Please tell us how you feel QCS/ Eloura makes a positive contribution to the community… Eloura provides wonderful care to members of the community, but also provides such a wonderful workplace, ensuring that the staff are cared for also, with comfortable facilities and enough time to rest between shifts
How is Australia different from Timor-Leste? The difference in size, first, geographically, Australia is a whole continent, whereas Timor-Leste is Just an island, a half-island nation. Second, Australia is a well-developed nation with extensive resources. Timor-Leste on the other hand, is a newly independent nation with many challenges including human resources.
What has been the biggest challenge/ adjustment for you moving to Australia? I’m the youngest in the family, it’s very hard to be away from my parents and my older siblings. My mum and dad always cry every time we speak on WhatsApp, however, I am so grateful for the technology. Even though I am far from home, I am only a phone call away. The language is also difficult for me. I speak Tetum at home, but English here. So, I sometimes cannot express myself clearly in English. But everyone here has been very kind and understanding. Forever I am grateful for this experience. 🌸