Nova Aida Raboy

Story

It took six long years before we said “yes” to the invitation of my sister in law to migrate to Australia. It was because we considered Philippines as our “comfort zone” even though it is only a thirld world country compared to Australia which is a developed nation. The love and genuine concern of our family and friends gave us enough strength in times of hardships. Also, my husband and I had good jobs over there. We were surviving or shall I say, we were even succeeding. But the encouragement of my sister-in-law was too strong. She told us that to grow old in an economically stable country is the best security we could give to ourselves and to our son. So, we finally made our decision to leave our “COMFORT ZONE”.

On Friday,the 13th of May 2005, we arrived here in Australia after 2 years of processing our papers. On that day, we were able to say that it is not true that Friday the 13th brings bad luck but in fact, it gives good fortune because it’ s the day when we came here as permanent residents. Likewise, we firmly believe that everyday is a good day because God made it so.

I found Australia as a very quiet and peaceful place to live in. My husband Lorenzo and I were so surprised to see only a few people in shopping centres and even on the roads because we were used to be living in a thickly populated area like Manila, Philippines. I was also disappointed to know that shops here close at around 5-5:30 PM since I was so used in going shopping up to 9:00-9:30 PM at any day of the week. Now, my eyes were opened that as a family and as a nation we could save a lot by not going to malls and shops until late in the evening anytime of the week.

Another impression about Australia is that it gives people many job opportunities since my husband got a job 12 days after we arrived here, thus, we were able to stand on our own without any help from anyone commencing on June 2005. He worked for two years as an industrial spraypainter and now he works as a vehicle spraypainter in Burwood. In my case, I joined the workforce after a year. I am now working at St. Vincent’s Hospital at Darlinghurst as an Administration Officer in the Pathology. It may not be prestigious as my job in the Philippines since I was a University Professor for 15 years at Far Eastern University, Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation in Quezon City Philippines but it does not matter now. In Australia, I have learned “WHAT REALLY MATTERS” in life, that is your family and the quality of time that you spend with them. The most important thing for me now and to my husband is to bring out the BEST in our son JM. I may not be a Professor anymore, teaching and motivating students but I can inspire a soul here to the fullest who in return can do good for Australia and even to the Philipines later on, I know I have made the right decision to migrate here.

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