General News
21 March, 2023
TDHS celebrates diversity
CULTURAL diversity has been celebrated as part of Culturally Diversity Week this month.
CULTURAL diversity has been celebrated as part of Culturally Diversity Week this month.
The workforce at Timboon and District Healthcare Service (TDHS) reflects some of that same cultural diversity, with staff originating from different parts of the world, including Holland, Kenya and Nepal.
TDHS’s Tina Hrebenyuk, who works in hotel services, is from Ukraine and migrated to Australia with her husband Alex in 2011.
They met working on a farm in Denmark after both graduating with agronomics degrees – science of farming, including the study of soil, plants, and animals, and ways to improve the production of food on farms – in their homeland.
After getting married surrounded by their family in Ukraine, they decided to try their luck in Australia, gaining more experience in a country that is known for its extensive farming knowledge and culture.
Tina said living in Australia has been a dream come true.
“It’s such a beautiful country with beautiful people,” she said.
“And so welcoming.”
While Alex was taught English at school in Ukraine, Tina had to teach herself over the years, which she finds is an integral part of integrating into the community.
Their three kids, all born in Australia, will often correct her as they all talk ‘Australian’.
She does however make sure their Ukrainian heritage does not get forgotten, by bringing them up bilingual.
Tina said she finds herself lucky having a big family.
“I was so surprised to see so many kids in Australia,” she said.
“In Ukraine families only have one or two kids as it is too expensive to have more as it is quite a poor country.”
Tina said while families work hard, their income was often only enough to feed their family for a month, not knowing what the next month will bring.
She said most families have a vegetable garden and often the food is shared with other families and neighbours.
“The elderly are expected to be looked after by their children and if they don’t have children, then they can go into a retirement home,” Tina says.
After working on a farm for 10 years and rising with the sounds of the early birds songs, Tina decided she wanted to look for a job outside farming and applied for a casual hotel services assistant job at TDHS.
“I still have to get used to the idea that it is okay to walk in an office where administration staff are busy behind the computer and that I’m not disturbing them,” Tina said.
“They ask me to stop apologising as I’m just doing my job.”
Tina’s eagerness to learn has seen her complete her Certificate III in Personal Care at TDHS.
It has meant she could do most of her placements locally without impacting on her working hours and family life.
“I love caring for people, especially the elderly,” Tina said.
“We have a wonderful community and it’s good to give back some of the kindness that they’ve shown me.”
While Tina and her family feel at home here in Australia, the heartache of being away from her Ukrainian family never goes away.
A global pandemic and land war in their home country has made the distance between them and their loved ones even harder to deal with.
“The war has been very hard, especially knowing that family members are either away fighting or are dealing with restricted electricity and heating supply waiting for their loved ones to return safely from the war,” Tina said.
“Some are away for quite a while, some fight for a couple of days at a time; either way, the anxious wait for their return is heartbreaking.”
However, Tina’s positive attitude always shines through.
Her sister came over from Ukraine for six weeks over Christmas and she loved having her here.
The war meant that she had to travel by train from Kyiv to Helsinki, a precarious part of the journey, especially since they later discovered that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used the same way of travel on his way to visiting America.
“I followed my sister’s every move and was relieved when I knew she was safe on a flight to Australia,” Tina said.
“It was so good to finally have her in my arms.”
While their small three-bedroom house did not seem big enough as Alex’s sister and her daughter were also living with them, but for Tina it was her dream home with her family surrounding her.
“The bedrooms were packed but the living area was still empty, so there was plenty of room,” Tina laughed.
Even though her sister had to go back to Ukraine, she was thankful for the time they spent together. And modern technology gives her the option to stay in touch with her family overseas.
Tina said she was grateful to her Australian family, the Timboon community and TDHS, for welcoming her with open arms and making her feel at home.
“I haven’t got enough words, as my English isn’t very good, but this community and the healthcare service includes very good people and I’m very happy to be here.”