securing vacation, emotional exhaustion and very demanding patients, to send money home to their families, pay off mortgages or put their nieces and nephews through university. I count many of the men and women I met there as lifelong friends. Two years later, after a spirited farewell, I split a cargo container with a fellow South African andwe headed for Australia. My postgraduate degree from the University of Melbourne and tons of excellent opportunities in mental healthcare pulled me away from clinical nursing practice but honestly I have never missed the grueling 12 hour shifts, the dreaded “7-7” rotation or the long night shifts. Since my second daughter was born, I work reduced hours as a case worker and counselor, which gives me the time to balance my home responsibilities. I’ve continued to see a handful of clients in their homes during Melbourne’s two-month lockdown. The majority of them have a limited social network and families who unfortunately don’t know how to meet their needs. During COVID-19, I find myself talking with them through anxiety about getting sick, being even more isolated and constantly checking for signs that they are in good mental health. I’ve had many calls asking if I’d consider being part of one of the frontline medical teams. In the state of Victoria, we’ve had over 15,000 positive cases to date. I had to weigh up my responsibility to my husband and our two daughters – Chloe, who’s eight, and Zara, who’s three years old. I’m part of a small clan, not one of those people with tons of brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews. We’re both immigrants – he and his parents from Scotland – and my mom and I from South Africa. I have a twin sister who lives and works in Qatar and she is married with no children. Her husband has no nieces and nephews. As for my husband, he has no brothers and sisters. When I look at the two girls and I picture them at 16 and 17, ready to start their own lives, I think they are slightly disempowered by not having a vast support network to embrace them and create a web of opportunities they can fall into. I know they will create their own and, come on, who among us has not had moments when they feel daunted by the unrelenting burden of
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