Migrants from Dubai, Philippines breathe new life into Edenhope

When Nausheen Hashmi first walked into a grocery store in small south-west Victorian town Edenhope six months ago, she was on edge, expecting whispers and stares.

She had lived in Melbourne for three years after immigrating from Dubai to study nursing, knew nothing of Edenhope and worried about how the farming community would accept her as a Muslim.

And she worried about how her children might fit in at school.

"On the first day, I was very nervous going around," she said.

"I was like, everyone is seeing me, you know, but the people were so good."

"They made me so comfortable. They were smiling and asking if I needed any help."

A sign of how welcoming the community was emerged just a week after the family arrived in town.

When Ms Hashmi's daughter required halal meat for a school cooking class, a teacher drove 54 kilometres to the town of Naracoorte in South Australia to buy it.

"Neither in Melbourne, nor in Dubai, no teacher made that much effort to make the child happy."

Changing demographics

Almost 80 per cent of Edenhope's 937 residents list Australia as their country of birth.

Recently, though, the small town on the Wimmera Highway about 30 kilometres east of the South Australian border, has become home to a growing number of migrants.

In 2022, Grampians Health launched an international recruitment campaign in the hope of attracting healthcare professionals to their regional Victorian centres.

Now, 41 of Grampians Health's 120 staff were born overseas.

"Their contributions span across urgent care, acute wards, aged care and community health services," chief people officer Clare Woods said

"We are proud of the diversity within our team and the cultural richness it brings to the care we provide."

Ms Woods attributed Edenhope's success in attracting migrants to the community's warm embrace.

"It's opened its hearts and its minds to the qualities and the cultural experiences that those people bring in," she said.

West Wimmera Shire chief executive David Bezuidenhout said migrants had brought vital energy to rural communities experiencing population decline.

"Migrants enrich the social fabric, introducing new traditions, cuisines and perspectives that foster cultural exchange and community resilience," he said.

Family makes Edenhope home

Christian Vidal and his family only planned to stay in Edenhope for two years.

He is nurse unit manager in the acute ward at Grampians Health and, after growing up in a busy Philippines city, never imagined a town like Edenhope, let alone that it would become his home.

"Years passed, months passed, days passed and we're still here and we're turning six years this January," Mr Vidal said.

"When we started here, I think we were about the only three 'Filos' in town. We never felt that we're not welcome, we never felt any racism during that time."

But the relocation was not without complications.

In 2018, Christian Vidal and his wife Lady Anne made the heartbreaking decision to leave their then four-month-old son, Paulo, in the Philippines with his grandparents and move to Australia.

The planned four-month separation dragged out to a year as the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

The Vidals were finally reunited with Paulo, who now loves Edenhope and never wants to leave.

"He made friends with the locals and the migrants, so he's very happy down here," said Mrs Vidal.

Footy 'helped a lot'

Moving to another country as a child presents challenges, including learning a new language.

After Garvit Jayee moved with his parents from India to Melbourne at eight, he quickly picked up English.

But another move to Edenhope at 12 brought new difficulties as he struggled to relate to his classmates.

That is, until he joined the local football team and found common ground.

"I didn't even know what footy was until I came here," he said.

"It was a little tough at the start. I didn't fit in.

"Then teachers and the counsellor, they helped me and then footy helped a lot because I played with my classmates."