It may not be a common dream, but ever since I was in South Korea growing up, I wanted to open a nursing home or an orphanage.

Ending up in Australia after an interesting journey, I did not know that this dream would grow stronger and become a reality in the end. I grew up in Gyeonggi province in Korea and when I left school, I studied to be a Japanese-speaking tour guide. Later, I moved to Japan to study Japanese and linguistics at Reitaku University in Chiba. During my time there, I became the president of the Korean Students Club and when one of the Japanese primary schools planned a visit to their ‘sister’ school in Melbourne in 1997, I was invited to come along.

Melbourne at that time was quieter than now, but it was still very beautiful. It was modern but still had traditional things like old buildings so I thought it was nice to have both the old and the new together in one place. It turned out not to be the scary place I thought and people were very friendly. Our trip was a week long and I thought to myself, this would be a good place for me to learn English. At that time, I wanted to be a speech therapist but found out that most of the literature was in English so I had to learn that first. In 1999, I came to Melbourne for a year to study English. I had only planned to stay a year before returning to Japan. But, by chance, I met a man on a V/Line train and ended up staying in Australia until now. My twin boys arrived in the millennium year and I suppose it was my destiny to stay here.

I must say that being in Melbourne at the beginning was not easy.

Before I came to Melbourne, I was a confident woman making my way into various businesses but it was different here. My English was still quite poor and also I did not know the systems of how things worked around here. The language barrier is one of the biggest hurdles to settle into a new life. When people look at you, they do not see your story or what has happened to you before, they only see what you are like now.

I wanted to get better so I started studying English at a community centre. Later, I took courses (Cert II in Community Service, Cert III in Aged and Disability Care, Cert IV in Aged Care) and dual diplomas in Community Welfare Services & Community Development. I’m doing one more diploma in Financial Counselling at the moment.

I always thought that I would have to wait until I was a rich person to open the most beautiful aged care centre, but now, I have found a different way to help the elderly. In 2010, I set up a not-for-profit organisation for the Korean community in Victoria (Korean Welfare Association Victoria or KWAV) with a few people who I studied welfare with. At the moment, my interest is especially in helping the elderly members of the Korean community. I realised that in Australia, you don’t need lot of money to help people. You can do it on a volunteer basis. This association tries to reach out to Korean people all over Victoria.

I am very lucky that as a mother of two children I am still able to study, volunteer and work. I am happy that Australia has given me this chance to fulfil my dream.