The Welcome Experience

The Border Mail

The Welcome Experience has welcomed their 100th client, Emmanuel Quansah, and his wife Charity, who recently relocated to Albury. Emmanuel has started a position as a cardiology nurse at Albury Hospital and has been using The Welcome Experience to help settle into the region.

Transcript

00:00My name is Emmanuel Kwanza. I'm a registered nurse, a cardiology nurse specialist actually.

00:11My journey began from Ghana. After qualifying as a nurse, I did a little bit of cardiology

00:19training in the People's Republic of China, after which I moved to the UK. I'm really

00:26enjoying this work-life balance. You're able to have life after work, not only working.

00:34You can enjoy yourself and your family. You've got a lot of places to go with your family,

00:39so I'm really enjoying myself here. I first heard about the work-time experience from

00:44Samar Walsh. She introduced me to the team. I didn't actually know anything about them,

00:49but she sent me an email and said, Emmanuel, contact the work-time experience for them to help you.

00:54The program is about ensuring that new essential workers who move to regional New South Wales

01:03feel like they can become connected to the community. So when they move here, we can assist

01:10them with housing. We can assist them with getting their children into schools, childcare, helping

01:16partners with employment. Emmanuel contacted us before he arrived here, so he was in the UK.

01:21Right from the start, Emmanuel was really engaging and really keen to be involved in the community,

01:25and so we sort of helped him all the way through from getting a house. We're helping him with driving

01:31lessons, swimming lessons, taking him around the region on different sort of areas. And I think

01:38that the most beautiful moment with Emmanuel was when his family arrived and he was reunited with them.

01:44That was an amazing moment. I was expecting that it would only be about them welcoming me

01:53when I arrived in the country, something like at the airport, and that would be the end. That's what

01:57I thought in Egypt, much more than that. I've been here for the past almost four months now, and

02:04I'm still with them. Well, it's really important to support employees beyond their job placement,

02:13because although a rewarding and satisfying job is really important, it's also about feeling like

02:19you're part of the community, and it's also ensuring that your family are happy and that you're not

02:25feeling isolated or lonely. So I think while going to work is wonderful, it's also the rest of your life

02:33that you have to feel like you belong here. And that's why the program is so important, because we try

02:40and help in all those aspects to ensure that those needs are met.

02:44Even before moving over, they had already arranged for house viewing for me, even before arriving in the country,

02:52before they arranged for house viewing for me. They also picked me from the airport, which

03:00later on I came to realize was not easy, because some friends of mine who came here earlier didn't

03:07have that experience. They finally got accommodation, helped me to get accommodation, help with

03:14shopping. When my kids came over, they picked them up, found schools for them.

03:19When I came here, I heard stories about people who came here and left after a few months, because they

03:28didn't get the help that we got. If they really want to stay here, they should get into contact with

03:36the Workspace Experience team, and life will be very, very easy for them, like the transition will be smooth for them.

03:43It gives you the peace of mind. You're able to focus on why you are here, and also it helps you to contribute to the community,

03:53making friends here. So I think it's really important to be accepted in the community, because it helps you

04:00to also bring up what you can also do for the community. My family are really happy to have met the

04:08work of experience, especially my children. They now call Lou Gama, even asking about her all the time,

04:16because she's done quite a lot for those boys. She's done quite a lot, so they really appreciate the good work

04:23we're here now.

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