You don’t need to ask Hirut Wegayehu if she enjoys coming to work. You can see it written all over her face.
The Personal Care Worker lights up when she talks about her role. “I just love caring for the residents,” she enthuses. “It’s wonderful to talk to them and to learn more about their lives. It’s very rewarding.”
Hirut has been at Uniting AgeWell Manor Lakes Community since 2007 and feels she has found her niche in the Werribee-based home with its friendly and culturally diverse staff.
Here she is pictured serving wine to residents during happy hour – but really, she’s both happy and content every single hour she’s at work!
Hirut was raised in Ethiopia, the landlocked country in the horn of Africa most recently in the news for internal armed conflict and human rights abuses.
She was raised in a Christian household in the capital, Addis Ababa, speaking the official language of Amharic.
“Things were tough, not so much in the city but more so in the countryside. Still, my brother and my sister and I all wanted to leave for a better future,” she explains. They toyed between going to the UK, Sweden or Australia – and thankfully chose Down Under.
First, they needed to go to Egypt in order to complete the transition to Australia. It was there that Hirut met the love of her life, Beshah, also an Ethiopian, and on his way to Australia.
Hirut arrived in Australia at the age of 17 and completed her schooling in Sydney. She and her husband were married, and they went on to have three children, two boys and a girl. She moved to Melbourne and started working in aged care in 2005 before joining Uniting AgeWell Manor Lakes Community.
She loves Australia, with its beautiful beaches and friendly people and effortlessly blends two cultures in her every day living. Hirut loves making traditional spicy Ethiopian foods like Doro Wat and lamb sauce.
She’s also very happy at work. “Uniting AgeWell is a very supportive organisation to work for,” Hirut says. “They really care for their staff – like a deep, real caring!”
During Harmony Week from 17- 23 March, we recognise staff, like Hirut, who come from many and varied cultural backgrounds and who we celebrate as part of our Uniting AgeWell family. Inclusion is one of our five values – the others are kindness, respect, integrity and innovation – that shape and underpin everything that we do.
Learn more about Harmony Week