Meet Mea, our Health Program volunteer.

Three years ago Mea made the leap of moving from the Philippines to Australia to study, swapping a familiar home for the unknowns of a new country, a new system and a Masters in Public Health. During her studies – since completed – Mea decided to look for volunteer work that let her put study into practice.

She saw that the ASRC was looking for volunteers in its Health Program, and she’s now spent two years supporting the team’s health promotion and administration work. “It is one of the best things that has ever happened to me,” she says. “The health team are such lovely people to work with. They help me a lot – I love them! And the work that we do is so vital to the clients.”

Mea admires how the Health Program has built a tight-knit, dedicated team doing everything it can for clients. She loves being able to give back to the team through her own work. But, like everyone in the health team, she also sees the challenges faced by clients, many of whom have experienced hardship in their lives and continue to face great difficulties in Australia. 

“An important part of our approach in the health clinic is to be gentle with our clients, recognising their difficult circumstances,” Mea says. She knows the work of every volunteer in the Health Program is vital: “It is hard to know where they would find medical help without the ASRC, as they are not eligible for Medicare.”

She feels very sad about this situation but it’s also what drives the program’s purpose: helping people rebuild their lives with better health outcomes. Mea and her colleagues take challenging situations and turn them into something better.

“I would 100 per cent recommend volunteering at the ASRC,” she says. “It means so much to me and has really helped me to build a good life in Australia. I would like to thank the ASRC for the love and sense of community that I feel when volunteering here.”

It’s a packed life outside the ASRC too – Mea juggles two jobs, in aged care and at the Australian College of Optometry. What little downtime she has goes to boxing exercise, done with a friend, reading and listening to music.