Marius and his sisters moved to Australia from Nigeria a couple of years ago to reunite with their mother after years of separation. Before civil unrest broke out Marius and his family lived in Sierra Leone.
Once things settled down they began to look for their mother. Fifteen years later Marius and his sisters finally found their mother through Facebook; by then Marius was Then she moved to Australia.
Once Marius found his mother he came to Australia with his sisters and made their way to Coffs Harbour to start a new life. Marius tried to get work. He was well educated in Nigeria but did not have any concrete evidence of his qualifications. It is culturally important for Marius to support his family, so there was a lot of pressure to find work. The family had no access to Government funding, so employment was a serious concern as his mother was unable to work at that time because she was diagnosed with DVT.
She recommended Coffs Coast Community College because of the support they offer. But he was determined to use it to pay for part of his course. The College allowed him to enrol and worked out a payment plan for him.
He then got himself a job as a cleaner, and worked through the night to bring a salary home for his family. The long nights cleaning combined with three days a week training was very taxing for him. But Marius successfully completed his training and a work placement, ultimately finding work in aged care.
