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Stories of Wonder platforms and celebrates the real impact Deakin students, alumni, researchers and staff are making in the world, right now.
- Jaleesa Basnight’s
path to becoming a registered nurse
was anything but ordinary.
From raising a family at a young age
to flying thousands of
kilometres to study,
Jaleesa's story is one of resilience,
growth, and determination.
She's now back in the Torres
Strait, working as a nurse,
with a mission to improve
the health outcomes of her community
and inspire the next generation.
Recorded on Kaurareg
and Wurundjeri Country,
this is "Stories of Wonder."
(gentle music)
Jaleesa, welcome to "Stories of Wonder."
- Thank you.
- Firstly, congratulations on graduating.
You completed your nursing degree.
- I know, so excited.
Wasn't easy, but we got there eventually.
- Yeah, and as we're gonna hear,
I'm sure you know it it's a
massive, massive achievement.
How's your first year
been as a qualified nurse?
- My first year's been amazing.
I get to work back in the
Torres Strait, in the community,
reconnecting with families, old friends,
meeting new nurses, learning.
I've worked under a very well
supported team, amazing nurse.
The things that they do,
the things that we all do,
which I find truly amazing,
it's been such an honour
to come home and inspire
our young community members.
So it's been really good.
- Well, I'm pretty sure
a lot of other people
beyond your community are
gonna be very inspired
by your story today.
Let's get into it.
So, look, you've said
before that you did life
kind of back to front.
What do you mean when you say that?
- Normally, when people
get graduate high school,
they go out, seek
careers, and venture into
finding out what they
wanna do with themselves.
Well, I technically did my back to front.
I had a family.
I settled down, pretty young age,
not directly after high school I guess.
I met a guy. We settled down.
We had a few kids.
We moved into a community.
And yeah,
basically experienced life back to front,
which wasn't something that I
really originally wanted for myself,
but I thought it was the
norm based on how I grew up.
You graduate high school.
You move back home.
You work, you have a
partner, you settle down,
and that's life.
- You grew up on Darnley and Iama Islands,
and you moved around families quite a bit
when you were young.
These are pretty big
challenges for a young person.
So how did that shape you
when you were growing up?
- I'll start from basically the start.
So, technically, I was traditionally
adopted at a young age,
I think at the age of
two, to my grandparents.
So it's quite common in the Torres Strait.
Child gifting is, yeah, very quite common.
So I was basically promised
to my grandparents.
I think, at that time,
they would've been in their
probably 40s, late 40s, going onto 50s.
So I basically relocated
from Sydney to the Torres
Strait with my grandparents,
which I do acknowledge as
my parents, my mom and dad.
So my mom was from Darnley Island.
my dad was from Iama Island.
So when we moved from
Sydney to the Torres Strait,
we settled in on Darnley Island
first, so I grew up there,
and I guess life there was quite amazing,
growing up there with my grandmother.
I learnt
things that I thought I would
never sort of experience.
So we lived on fresh
produce, such as like...
We had our own gardens where we would go
dig out our dinners, like
sweet potatoes, cassava,
bananas, fresh bananas, fresh fruit.
So our house on Darnley was basically,
well, we basically thrived
and survived on fresh produce.
We had the sea, fresh fish,
fresh dugong, turtles,
the traditional food and stuff like that.
And then going to Iama
Island was quite different
because the environment was quite smaller.
The island was quite smaller.
So I grew up in a very
tight knit community
where I was practically
raised by a community.
So if mom and dad was busy
and I was down in areas
I wasn't supposed to be,
I would be lectured from
one end of the island
to home to my doorstep,
and then basically handed
over to my parents.
- Wow.
- Yeah, so, basically,
I experienced a very,
two different, basically, livelihood.
- And when you say you were
growing up a little bit,
sort of feeling a bit different,
what do you mean by that?
Is that to do with cultural heritage?
Is that to do because you moved?
Why did you feel that way?
- Well, see, growing up...
Well, realising I was different,
I think, I guess my
features was different from
the rest of the community,
'cause everyone had a
very distinctive features,
and you would recognise each
other's features based on,
and you'd know what family they're from.
So me being half Torres Strait Islander,
I didn't know what my other half was,
but I used to be teased for being African.
So I grew up really
sort of hating that side of me
because I used to get
teased a lot about being,
looking like an African,
which I really didn't even
know I was African myself.
So I found out I think
when I was 12 years old
that I was half African, half Ghanaian.
So it was very hard for
me to sort of accept it
at a young age.
So I grew up acknowledging
my Torres Strait Islander heritage
because I think I
desperately wanted to fit in
and feel accepted by my peers at school.
The community in general
was very supportive of me.
they knew my background.
They knew my biological mother.
They knew my lineage.
So it generally really
didn't bother them that much
or cause them to question me
as often or as much at all,
well, really not at all.
But I guess my younger
years was really hard
because I was darker,
my hair was different,
my features was different,
and I felt a little lost
in identity-wise I guess.
But then growing up,
I started attending like cultural events,
participated, learning
cultural dances, songs,
and listen to stories,
and then listen to my dad
talk about lineage and stuff like that.
I grew to have a wider
understanding of who I am.
And it also like shaped me to...
I recognise people in the community,
identify people in the community
as who they are to me
and who I am to them.
But at the same time, also
practising that sense of
the cultural protocol of
being traditionally adopted
where I cannot seek my biological mom
because at that time my
biological mom was my cousin.
Yeah, so there is a way
of informing a child
when they're traditionally adopted,
I think, at a certain age.
So I never got that opportunity in a way.
So at that sense, I learnt
pretty young as well
that I was adopted because other people
was telling me in the street.
Kids, they were telling me,
"Oh, they're not your real parents,"
and blah, blah, blah, blah blah.
So it was also going through that as well.
And then I think it got
to a stage where I was
removed from my mom and
dad at a very young age.
I think I was 10 at that time,
and then I was relocated within the family
to my mom now, my current mom.
Not my biological mom,
She's my mom's sister.
And then so that transition as well was
also hard on me at the same time
because I went from knowing
what I've always known
and being taught a certain way
to a household that was very structured,
very routined,
and you earn what you...
You earn your rewards and stuff like that.
So it was very hard
that transition as well.
And then like also finding my identity
within that family as well.
So, yeah.
I guess it was a bit of a
rollercoaster of experience,
my childhood life.
- And was this the final
mother or mother figure that you had,
or did you move around again after that?
- No, that was the final
mother figure that I had.
So I guess, in a way,
it was a learning process
for the both of us
because I had to learn to adjust to her.
She had to learn to adjust to me
and actually get to know me
and trying to make me fit
in and feel comfortable.
So,
my mom had a very specific way
of showing love and attention
along with her, I guess,
her journey as well being...
She also had a...
I think she started late as
well with her academic journey,
so I think when I
transitioned into her life,
she was currently doing
university at Griffith University.
So it was, I guess, a challenging
moment for her as well.
- Yeah, and did you have
siblings as well in this family?
- Yes, I did.
I grew up in a household
with two other sisters.
But prior to moving over to
my current mom's household,
I also grew up with another younger sister
in my mom and dad's household,
which she was also
traditionally adopted as well.
So I grew up basically with three sisters,
yeah, which I love and cherish dearly,
'cause my experience with
each and every one of them
were very unique, very different.
- Yeah, and if I'm correct as well,
with this sort of final
family that you had,
you had to step up really like
and grow up pretty quickly
because mum was working, studying.
How do you think that that sort of
affected you and your attitude to,
I don't know, what to expect
what a family looks like?
- Transitioning into my new family,
we basically really did have to step up
really at a young age.
So as you said, mom worked
continuously around the clock,
and she had her reasoning for it as well.
And then, at home, we had
to learn to clean the house,
cook dinner, and get ourself organised,
and stuff like that before mom gets home.
In a way, we used to
complain about it, like,
"Oh, child labour," stuff like that.
But in a way it was, it
was such a good thing
because it shaped us to be
who we are now as adults.
I learned to cook at a young age.
I learned to clean at a young age.
I learned to care for my
younger sibling at a young age.
And that responsibility also
fell on my older sister Nancy,
which she basically
took on that mother role
when mom was sort of not present.
She would guide us after school.
"Hey, we need to like get dinner sorted
if we wanna have playtime
and stuff like that."
So we'd get dinner sorted.
We'll have the house clean,
and then we would basically have a shower
and just go into the community
and just sort of interact with other kids,
but we also had a strict curfew
where we need to be
home before the sunset.
So being on an island,
we're at the waterfront,
you're like, "Okay, the
sun's on the water shore.
Now let's head on home."
And we'll be home, and
by the time we're home,
mom would just be home.
And then we all sit down, have
dinner together, and yeah.
- How do you feel about your mom
and some of the sort
of family relationships
that you had to kind of, I don't know,
work with and find the dynamic with today?
And do you kind of understand
a little bit better
now that you've studied,
you've raised a family?
Do you understand each other better?
- I guess with my mom,
our relationship wasn't
really that great growing up
because I never really understood the way
she cared for us,
because the way she went about it was,
I guess, I saw it as child
labour and stuff like that.
But the way she did it,
I guess she was preparing us to adulthood,
the way she ensured that we
were able to hold down a house,
we were all able to look after each other,
and we were able...
She gave us a lot of
babysitting opportunity
in different various ages
to give us opportunity,
I guess, to feel what's it like to
be around younger babies
or be around kids.
I guess the way she raised us, sort of,
I do see the value in it now as an adult,
now that I have a family.
I do understand her a lot better.
I guess from a very young age growing up,
I never really understood that
because I felt like I
didn't have a childhood.
I didn't have a lot of things
that a lot of children have.
But then as an adult,
talking with a lot of the
kids that I grew up with,
they saw basically the
same thing but reversed.
They felt that we were the
family that had everything,
that we didn't have to work hard for.
We didn't have to work
as hard as they did.
But in saying, I didn't
realise that we all thought
the same way about each other growing up.
So in a way, every household had their way
of raising their children,
preparing them for adulthood.
So as an adult now,
I do understand and I am
very grateful for that
because I now know what to do with myself.
I now know how to navigate my own family,
how to navigate and hold down
the fort at my own household.
So, thanks, mom,
- Really interesting.
So you've got these
different examples, I guess,
of how to run a family,
what family looks like and feels like.
If we go back to you
heading into adulthood now
and very quickly you have a family,
you've settled down, you've got kids,
and then you decide that you
wanna do a nursing degree
on top of all of that,
very similar to your mom in that example.
How did you get there?
Did you always want to study academically,
And was that an easy decision
to make when you've got
a partner, a family, kids
to sort of look after?
- To be honest, I basically
wanted to be in the Navy.
I basically jumped around
on what I wanted to do.
So I originally wanted to
join the Defence Force,
and then I had an obsession
with wanting to be a lawyer.
And then I think, during high school,
I experienced a bit of uni life I guess.
I think I was 15 or 16 at that time.
I attended the winter
school programme at UNSW,
the Nura Gili programme.
So I sort of had my experience there,
got a feel of what's it
like to be a law student.
So I went in and then I thought,
"Oh no, law is not for me.
It's a lot. it's full on."
- Why? What was it about being a lawyer?
- Yeah, so I was like,
No Defence Force, we're
going into Defence Force.
That is it.
And then I think I was 21
when I met my father and my children
where we basically
settled down pretty young.
We really catered to his community,
I guess just half an hour
north of Cooktown Hotel.
We lived there.
I think we were together on
and off for about 12 years.
And within that 12 years,
we had three children.
So that was an easy raising children
in a small knit community and...
There was various jobs option.
Not various.
There was very minimal job options.
There were very minimal things,
especially with my background.
I had no qualification
other than high school.
I only had a retail background
because I started retail at 16,
and that's all I ever knew.
And then going into a community
where there's no shops,
it's very small, one street.
The only retail store you
have there is a supermarket,
and then next retail is
probably the IGA in Cooktown,
and then you have the
pubs, and then you...
I didn't feel comfortable
working in pubs and stuff,
so I went into age care.
So I worked at the age
care where I met nurses,
and I got to know the other
nurses in the community as well.
So nursing wasn't really
my thing, but it was a job,
and so I went into it as
age care support worker.
So I worked in aged care at the community
for about probably four or five years.
But then during that time,
I also had my challenges
where I experienced a
little bit of, not a little,
well, quite a bit of
domestic violence as well.
So there were time where I would flee.
So I took off a couple of times.
And then there were
times where I used to...
When I took off, I
supported my grandmother,
with her hospital appointments
and stuff like that.
So during that time,
I would attend medical
appointments with her,
and we would sit in there.
I wouldn't know what they were
talking about either myself,
and she wouldn't know.
Well, I assume she knew
because she would sit there.
She would smile and she'll nod her head.
And then after the appointment,
she would ask me questions
about her medications
and what was this for, what was that for?
And when do I take this?
So I would spend most of
my time after appointments
Googling her medication,
and then relaying what was
written her package to her
and sort of explaining it to her
to the best of my understanding of
what each medication was for.
So, I slowly, I guess, took
an interest in nursing.
I think after that, after realising
how poor my grandmother's
health literacy was
and how poor her understanding
of her own health was.
So I slowly sort of
manoeuvred my way into it.
So my grandmother at the time
sort of convinced me like,
"In the old days after having
a child with one person,
you're practically married
so you need to make it
right with your partner
and go back for the sake of the children."
So I went back and then
domestic violence
intervened with life again.
So I fled again, and then I went...
I got an apartment, my own
apartment, and I stayed with...
I think, at the time, I had two children,
I had two sons.
So I stayed in my unit with my two sons.
And then my friend, I
met a friend who was,
I think she was already
first year of nursing,
and she came over for some
sort of emotional support,
and she was like, "Hey,
rather than being cooped up in the house,
have you ever considered studies?"
And then she started talking about
doing something for myself,
like pursuing a career,
something to fall back on
because every time you
leave your relationship
you basically got no legs to stand on.
You're basically...
You don't know what to do with yourself.
And I thought, oh, okay.
So I went into my first year,
wasn't so serious about it
because I thought, oh,
I'm not gonna make it.
I'm not that smart.
Sort of denying my
ability, my own knowledge,
and denying myself because
I guess going through a DV
you sort of lose yourself in
what you are being called,
what you're being told.
So you sort of just sort of
succumb and submit to it.
So my friend was like, "How
about we just do this?"
So we applied online.
I got a call back I think two
months later for an interview.
- Right, and how did
you even hear about...
How did you decide where to apply?
- Well I didn't really,
so my friend was telling me about it.
So she was sort of
informing me about NIKERI.
Well, at the time, they were called AICE,
Institute of Career Education.
she was like, Oh, this is where...
It's Deakin University,
but they have this like
community-based learning centre
where you can go and get your degree,
and you are surrounded by
other indigenous students.
So how would you feel about
flying down, getting away?
This could be some sort
of healing for you.
You're actually doing
something for yourself.
Your mind is not with
your current problem.
You're actually seeking."
And then she's sort of relaying back
what I spoke to her about...
I guess we got passionate
about our conversation about
health literacy within
communities and stuff like that.
So we wanted to pursue...
We both wanted to pursue it.
So I was like, "Okay, let's do it."
I met one of the staff members,
had a bit of a tour of Deakin University
at Waurn Ponds in Geelong.
We sat down, we went over
some interview questions,
and I basically walked
out of that room thinking,
"At least I tried. I'm not gonna get in."
They probably saw right through me.
I had doubts.
So I flew back to Cairns,
and then I received a formal email.
Basically, I was being
accepted into university,
which was a huge thing for
me, a scary thing for me.
And then I thought to myself,
"Oh my gosh, I have kids.
How am I gonna do this?"
- Yeah.
Well, firstly, how did you feel
really truly about
yourself all of a sudden
getting that offer?
And then how did you...
Where did your mind go
into how to navigate
how to have kids but also study?
- I was literally scared.
It was unreal, so I was so scared.
I was sort of excited,
but then I didn't know what
to expect at the same time.
And then at the back of my head,
I was like, "Oh my God, I
had kids, I've got kids.
What am I gonna do?
How am I gonna navigate this?
How am I gonna do this?"
And then lucky for me, I had
a very supportive big sister,
like my older sister Nancy,
she sort of stepped in and basically say,
"Hey, I could support you with the kids."
And then my younger sister
that I actually grew up with, Bethany,
she also offered to support
me with one of my sons.
So I had two sisters willing to support me
through my first year in my journey.
And then I think, at that time,
I was also getting support from my
partner's family at the time as well,
which they sort of stepped
up and then sort of thought,
"Oh yeah, this is exciting.
I will have the kids if
you travel and whatnot."
Yeah, it took me a while to get used to
leaving the kids behind, going ahead.
I wanna do this for them.
So we can have a better future.
Maybe it'll make a difference
in my relationship with their father where
I won't have to succumb
to domestic violence,
I won't have to succumb to
the narrow-minded thinking
and his insecurities and stuff like that.
- Yeah.
What did studying look
like for you from there?
And also, what was your routine?
Were you kind of mostly
based in your community,
or did you do most of it online,
or did you have to go on campus?
- Studies, for me, back then,
I think my first year they
had a very strict policy
where we couldn't do it online,
so we had to travel to Geelong.
So for me, I would have to catch...
I think I was on like three planes.
So my travel would start
early in the morning,
and then I would get to campus
probably about seven
o'clock in the afternoon.
It depends where I would travel from.
Sometimes I would travel
from the Torres Strait
which I would catch a plane
from the outer islands to Horn Island.
And then from Horn Island,
the Qantas plane to Cairns,
and then change over from Cairns to...
I could either either go via
Brisbane and then to Melbourne,
or to Sydney then to Melbourne,
or I could just fly straight from
Cairns straight to Melbourne,
which either way I was
still getting pretty late.
- Yeah, that's such a huge haul.
- Oh yeah, it was a huge haul.
I would get fatigued sometimes,
but I would push myself.
And then we would normally
travel on a Sunday,
so that means class starts the next day,
so don't really have much time
to sort of settle in and just...
You're basically getting in on
campus and you're unpacking,
getting your book sorted
and then you're just out from a long day.
- Wow.
So you were flying in and flying out.
How long were you staying in Melbourne?
Like how long were these stints?
Was it a whole semester?
Was it a couple of days?
- So flying in, flying out means that
I would fly down probably
one day travel down,
like the long haul,
and then I would stay for
up to about two weeks,
which they would condense
probably like about
six weeks worth of studies
into that two weeks.
They would can it in.
And then we also had...
The only online support
we had was the Clouds.
There were some recording
and sometimes there wasn't any
recordings online of classes.
So when we would return back to community,
we would actually go through
all this stuff online,
but I was petty enough to
utilise all the free printing.
I would print out everything
I could possibly get
and find on the Cloud.
And because I didn't have internet access,
I didn't have printer,
I didn't have a laptop
and sort of use my mobile
phone to navigate the Cloud.
It was a bit challenging at first
until I think they figured
out there was a scholarship.
I think we could apply
each semester for it,
and you would get about, I think,
$2,000 if you were successful.
So I was successful at one
stage where I just went...
I walked in straight into JB
Hi-Fi, slammed down a laptop.
I don't know if you remember,
back then there was
these little Wi-Fi modem
that you would stick in into the laptop.
USB modem, yeah.
I would just go get a Telstra,
because Telstra is the
only network that worked,
and then just sort of utilise that.
So that was a win in the
sense of access, I guess
- This all sounds a little bit
challenging and exhausting,
flying in for two weeks,
trying to do all six weeks' worth of work,
and then having to fly back.
But it sounds like you might've gotten
support along the way.
What was it like working
with Deakin and NIKERI
during this this time?
Did you feel supported?
- I think the first year was a bit hard
because I guess English
wasn't my first language,
so I did struggle with English.
Not normal English, I
guess academic English.
So Deakin, NIKERI was...
Well, NIKERI really, the
institute was super supportive.
I think I was a bit shy at first.
I walked in and I said to...
I made a friend and I said
to her, and I said, "Oh,
I don't think I'm gonna be
good at writing an essay."
And they were like, "What
makes you say that?"
And I said, "Oh, because
I've read a few essays
that some of the other girls written,
and they've used words I've
never even heard of in my life,
like really big words."
So I ended up walking around
with a dictionary in class.
I sat down with my head
of faculty, I think.
She was a very huge cat supporter.
Her name was Jill.
And I sat with her in my first year,
and I started talking to her about this.
And then she was like,
"You know there is
support in the building.
You just have to go and look for it."
And I said, "What do you mean?"
And she's like, "If you go upstairs
and you knock on each door,
you'll be surprised what you find."
So I walked upstairs and I found
there was all these
different rooms up there.
There was a room for tutoring.
There was a room for
if you needed tutor back home for support.
And then I met another lady,
I forgot her name as well,
and she basically said that
not everybody here speaks the
language that you're studying.
And I was like, "Oh, I
don't know what that mean."
And she was like, "Oh, no,
nurses speak a language,
and then you go into the law faculty
and they speak a different language
because their terminology
is never the same.
So it's a learning curve
for every student that goes into each
career pathway that they wanna choose."
So I was like, "Oh,
okay, I didn't know that.
I just thought everybody
speaks the same language,
because when you put on a piece of paper,
it all looks foreign to me."
Yeah, so I ended up started walking.
Any little words that I
hear that is foreign to me,
I write it down to the
best I could spell it.
And then I would go back to the room,
and then I'll sit on the laptop
and I'll try and Google it,
and then sort of
familiarise myself with it.
And then I was like,
"Oh, I know that word,
just add that to the essay."
NIKERI and the staff at Kitjarra
they became basically my
family away from home.
So a lot of the aunties on the
grounds would give me hugs,
and they will be talking about their kids.
And then I found little...
There were other young moms
that was there as well,
so I would like into the little,
like the young moms group
where we would just talk
about missing our children,
why we're here.
So it became sort of an
emotional and a supportive thing.
And then like if I'm struggling
with relationship back home,
my head of faculty, Jamie,
she was very supportive.
So she became like my mom away from home.
So any issues that I had,
she created this safe space
where we could talk to her
and something that I
was very grateful for.
And then I think I had
also support from Natasha
and there were times where I wanted
to fall off the bandwagon.
And there were times
that I would struggle.
I would come to the staff.
I guess without their little push,
their little support and reassurance,
I don't think I would've continued
as much as I thought I would.
- That's really good to hear.
Did you do your course all in one stint
or was there a bit of
starting and stopping?
'Cause it sounds very challenging,
just physically exhausting.
Firstly, being a mom and
studying first of all,
but having to fly in, fly out,
regardless of all the
support that you had.
How did you do it?
Did you do it all at once?
- No, I didn't.
So I basically enrolled
in nursing in 2014.
I did my first year in 2014,
and I imagined that I would
finish uni at 2017, 2019 tops.
That's what I gave myself,
but I actually finished
university at 2023.
So it took me literally
almost 10 years, to be honest,
to finish my studies.
My journey wasn't easy.
It was quite a struggle.
Like I didn't have the easy journey
as most of my peers
that I started with had.
I'm sure they had their struggles,
but we never really spoke about
our struggles to each other.
So enduring domestic violence.
There were times where I
had to pull out because
my partner at the time would get
super insecure, super jealous,
and just not supportive.
And I'm not too sure
where that stemmed from.
You got to the point
where he was attacking
my ability to finish, my ability,
my, I guess, my mindset,
like I wasn't smart enough to do this.
I might as well just pull out.
Why am I doing uni when
I'm still stupid at home?
Stuff like that,
which was very hard to take on.
So it did affect me
mentally and emotionally
where I pulled out.
And then things got
physical to the point where
I knew I couldn't travel because I know
before I'll travel, I knew
it'll cause an argument,
and then things would get physical,
and then I would go
down battered or bruise,
so I pulled out.
And then there were times
where I would worried about the kids
if they were gonna be
okay, and then, yeah.
So there was a lot.
So I didn't really finish
in the three years where I
basically thought I would.
And plus loss in the family.
I succumb to a lot of death.
I even lost my grandmother along the way,
the one that sort of inspired
me to get into nursing,
to sort of...
Well, she basically made me realise
how poor health literacy was
for people in the community
because I thought if hers was so bad,
imagine how many in the Torres Strait are.
Health literacy is just as
the base plan as hers was.
So losing her was also
a big setback for me,
which was really, really hard.
I think I went numb after that,
and then I think I may have started
learning to put my foot down
and sort of grew tougher,
because she was my support
system when mom wasn't around.
'cause mom worked different places.
She was my support system
when I thought I had nobody.
So after losing her,
I thought I literally didn't have anybody,
not realising that I still
did have support system,
but it was from a distance.
Yeah, so it was really hard.
I did succumb to a lot of
different things in my life
that made me sort of
pull out, setback, or,
yeah, just don't wanna do it anymore
because I felt like giving up.
I didn't see hope anymore.
But then I guess every
time I would stay home
and succumb to what I was
experiencing, enduring,
I would think of a
better life for my kids.
So if I wanted a better
life for my children,
I would have to use that as a motivation
to actually succeed in
whatever I was doing.
So I created this imaginary light
at the end of a very long dark tunnel.
Every year, I completed.
My first year, I completed
I think with a breeze.
Then my second year and my third year
was the most hardest one.
So every time I would complete a semester,
it was like one step closer.
You know those battery that
changes colours from green,?
- Oh yeah.
- The little bar
that sort of build up.
Yeah, so, in my head, I was in the red.
So every time I completed a
semester, I would be like,
"Okay, I'm moving up to the next colour."
And then that would be
like, what, the orange.
And then it was sort of like that.
And the green was the light
at the end of the tunnel.
It motivated me.
Each bar motivated me.
Each completion motivated me.
So I try to keep pushing on,
regardless what was coming my way.
- Yeah. That's amazing, Jaleesa.
So you stopped and started
your course a few times.
How did you get to your final year really
and get through it?
What motivated you to finally
do it and not look back?
- I was at my stage where I was
in a really dark tunnel, I guess.
I guess I was going through
depression and anxiety,
and it was really, really, really bad
to the point where I
think it affected my job.
I lost my job.
And I think my mom came
and visited me one time
and was very,
I think, very concerned.
Like I said, my mom has a very
unique way of showing love.
She sort of used reverse
psychology on me one time,
and she sat me down,
and it wasn't praising me,
pushing me, stuff like that.
It was more of almost like a degrading...
It was degrading me,
saying that she was disappointed in me.
And with the relationship
I have with my mom,
everything she says to me,
I try to prove her wrong,
and she knew that.
And she sort of played that very well.
she sat me down one day and she was like,
"I'm very disappointed in you.
You turned out to be a disappointment.
Your sisters are doing
well for themselves,
and then you're here
feeling sorry for yourself,
and you're doing this,
and you're doing that."
And she was basically
making me feel like...
I felt really crap.
I also got a phone call from Deakin.
They said...
I think, from head of
faculty, I'm pretty sure.
And they were saying,
"Oh hey, Jaleesa, just letting you know
you're coming up to your 10th year mark.
If you don't like reapply
to finish your course,
your third year, then you might have to
start all the way back in first year."
And the instant thought I
had at that moment was like,
"Oh no, I can't go through this again."
They were like, "Next
year's, your 10th year,
your final chance of actually
completing the course.
Do you want to complete the course?
And I just opted up and said,
"Yeah, sure, I'll come
back and I'll do it.
Yeah, it was just really bad,
'cause I think, at that time
, I was still being
harassed by my ex-partner,
the father of my children
'cause, at that time, I left him.
I think I left him in 2019, I left,
but I was still succumbing to harassment,
stalking and stuff like that.
So it was really, really bad.
I thought, okay, well, I
need to get myself into gear.
I've already said yes.
So I went to I think the
indigenous medical centre
that we had in Cairns, Wuchopperen.
And I went and I got myself
a mental health plan.
I think I would've made
three or four appointments
and never attended.
And then I think it was getting closer.
I think about December
or January, I was like,
"No, I need to do this because
March is fly out month.
I need to get onto it."
So I got there, did a mental health plan,
and then, yeah, we started working
on some healing and stuff like that,
and went into the pathway of medication
for my anxieties and stuff like that
because I was worried about flying,
worried about attending my
first week back on campus.
- Absolutely, you'd barely left the house.
- Yeah, so it was like a lot of emotion
crammed into a very short
time in the very short space,
and trying to navigate myself
and finding that next stepping stone
to sort of move forward, which
was, yeah, very difficult.
But we eventually got to a stage where
I was able to go to the grocery stores
and actually do like some groceries
and come home and stuff like that.
- So take me then to the first day
of having to fly out and go on campus.
What kind of, I don't know...
Where was your head at?
How were you feeling?
I mean we know the end of the story.
You obviously did it at some point,
but how did you get yourself to do that?
- Like I said, I created that
mental health plan with my GP,
which sort of supported me through that.
But the fly out day was pretty hard
because I think I went through
a tonnes of emotion where,
I think, the day before,
I was practising walking
out to the mailbox,
walking back, jumping in the car,
going a drive around the block,
just sort of pepping
myself up for the flight.
And my doctor was like,
"Oh, before you fly,
I think you should take
the max dose of this.
It'll calm you, relax you
at least on the plane down."
And I'm like, "Wait, what
about after it wears off?"
What do I do then?"
So anyway, she was like, "You'll be fine.
Just take one step at a time."
So yeah, fly out day came.
I went to the airport.
I sat there.
I paced. I sweat.
There was so many things
going through my mind
right up to boarding call.
And then I sat there with my
medication that they gave
me to take on the plane.
So I took the dose that
they told me to take
and then I sort of put my headphones on
and I just listened to a
book and I sort of dozed off.
And then the day I got
there, I think I was okay.
I was okay.
The staff picked me up
from the gold bus depot.
And then I thought, "Oh my
gosh, I'm here, deep breath."
And then I started
focusing on the next day.
What do I do? What do I do?
What if I don't leave?
What if I don't leave the
room to my first class?
I was going through all
that little panic attack
alone in my room and thinking,
"Oh my gosh, how do I
take that next step?"
So I thought, okay, we'll say
a little prayer, go to bed,
and then we'll try again
tomorrow with this.
So I think I forced myself
to sleep quite early
because I didn't wanna stay awake
and just sort of be a prisoner
in my own head at that time.
So I went to bed, I wake up the next day,
took my dose, my regular dose
for the day, went to class.
And I think every term
when NIKERI has this
ritual where we do a smoking ceremony,
welcoming students from different states.
So I was there.
There was like a big group of us.
This two couple did this
beautiful smoking ceremony,
like a welcome ceremony.
And we got to a stage where
we had to walk through it.
Being a Torres Strait Islanders,
smoking ceremony isn't like
a thing in my community.
We don't do smoking ceremony.
So I was like, "Oh, I really don't wanna
walk through all this smoke."
It's too smoky.
I was just thinking so
negatively about it, like,
"I really don't wanna do this."
And then one of my friend was like,
"Oh, no, do it.
It might do you good."
And I was like, "Okay."
So we went through it,
I walked through it,
and I don't know what happened
when I walked through it.
I honestly think that that
smoking ceremony at the time
sort of had a huge impact on
the rest of my experience there
because the first day went like a breeze.
I had no sense of my anxiety.
I had no sense of any
negative thoughts of myself
or negative thoughts of my
experience on my first day.
That day went so beautifully
well that I was so focused.
I was so in tune with my classes.
I was interactive with other students,
'cause usually I would just sort of
phase into the background
because I didn't know anybody.
Of course new students, so
I was a bit scared as well.
but I was out front centre,
interacting with students,
getting to know everybody
else in the classroom.
And then I think the next day
I got up as normal and went to class,
forgot about my medication,
forgot about my anxiety,
forgot about I had depression,
forgot about everything,
and I just hammered through
that week of my learning.
So six weeks of units condensed
into one week of learning
sort of, yeah, grounded me.
I felt so grounded back on campus.
So I carried on,
smashed out my assessments,
smashed out a lot of my readings online
and stuff like that on
campus before classes.
So I felt super prepared.
And I don't know, I guess 2023
was a different year for me
because I didn't have to think.
I didn't have to worry.
Everything was sort of falling
into place at that time.
- That's incredible.
It's like you kind of
walked through that smoking
and just came out changed.
- Yeah, so I honestly don't know
the background of the smoking
ceremony, what it does.
but I don't know.
There was something about it.
There was something, yeah,
about it that sort of
put me in that position
because I didn't think I
would even survive that,
honestly thought I was gonna flunk it.
- To be able to work through
that amount of pressure as well,
not only are you in a bad
head space to put it mildly,
but also this is your last
chance to finish this course.
That is incredible that you were able
to operate through that.
- Yeah, well, like I
said, pressure was on,
so I don't know how I did it myself.
Like I don't even know how I
navigated through all of that,
with that pressure of this is
your last chance of finishing,
and everything else that
was happening around me.
So I don't know.
Like I said, Jamie, she was the
head of faculty at the time,
Jamie Whelan.
She was such an amazing support.
I think I've cried with her a few times.
I've panicked with her a few times.
And she just sat there, and she listened,
and she gave me these supports,
and gave me that mommy hug that...
because she said, "Oh yeah,
I know you're a grown adult,
but everyone needs a motherly hug."
So yeah, she gave me that motherly hug.
So she became, yeah, a
mom away from home for me.
So anything that I needed
to speak to her about,
she was up front and centre
being that support that I needed
or any of the student needed.
So she was amazing.
- So, what was graduation like then?
What was the reality of the
fact that you were actually
finishing your course like for you?
- To be honest, it was quite emotional.
I think when I flew down that day,
I sat in my room and I cried.
I think I cried for a good hour.
I cried.
I think it was this reality of things that
I had all the flashback
from my first year,
all the flashback from all the
attempts of my second year,
the flashbacks of my
attempts of my third year,
and all the struggles
that I had in between.
And it was just...
It was almost like a walk down memory lane
and flashing before my eyes,
and I was just sitting
there, and I was just crying,
and just bawling my eyes out.
and just grateful I guess.
I was super grateful
for every person that I met along the way
and every experience along the way
because not only did it shape me,
but it all also made me stronger.
It also encouraged me to pursue things,
especially things that I didn't think
I was capable of doing.
Like right now, all year,
like my first year of nursing back home,
I was surrounded with such
amazing nurses that I am
being encouraged to pursue
a grad certificate now in
and specialise in something.
So right now I really wanna
do my grad cert in emergency
and like critical care
and stuff like that.
So I really wanna go forth
and gain more knowledge,
gain the experience, and
then come back to community.
And if I work remote,
I had the experience to do certain things.
So graduation day was really...
It was really an amazing
moment for myself,
an amazing moment for
another nurse that was with me at the time
because we were the only two
Torres Strait Islander
nurses graduated that day.
And it was such a milestone
for the both of us.
We were both moms.
We both had struggles.
I realised then that I was graduating
being the first registered nurse
for my community of Iama Island,
which was such a proud
moment and such an honour.
- Talk to us a little bit
more about that in particular.
What does it mean to you
to be the first nurse
to sort of graduate and
to be the first nurse
to graduate from your community?
- To be honest, it
really meant a lot to me
and I really hope that it meant
a lot to my community as well,
because growing up in on Iama,
you don't really imagine
such a future for yourself.
Well, I know for my myself,
I never thought that I
would be the type of person
that would attend university.
When mom was doing university,
I didn't even know what that was.
I didn't even know what she was doing.
Like I didn't know what university could,
where it could take you.
Like I said, the norm
for me growing up was
you attend high school, you come back,
you give back to your community,
you look after your
elders, you find a partner,
you settle down, and you
work within the community.
So I didn't know that
there was something more outside of that
until I actually...
I networked with...
I met friends.
I made friends, and then
my friends had experience.
Then they came back and then...
They brought their experience back
and sort of encouraged
and pushed me forward.
And out of the, I think, my class of,
my age group for that community,
I think I'm probably the only one
that actually went to university.
I may be the only one, I'm not sure,
but there could be one other or two other,
but it's not a big number
for our small community.
Like I would love to see more
from my community to actually
pursue education outside of TAFE,
to seek further education
in the university level
and sort of gain knowledge
and understanding
and come back into a community
and hopefully shape our
community for the better.
- Yeah, that's a good ambition.
What message do you
wanna share with others
who might be in a similar situation
to what you've been in the past
and need to work through it
to sort of achieve something like this?
- The message I would
sort of share with others
with similar experience with
myself and my journey is
don't give up.
Find your light at the end of
the tunnel and focus on it.
If you have to use your
children as a motivation.
Don't listen to the negative
noise that surrounds you.
Keep pushing forward.
I'm also proud to say that I've also
supported a lot of young moms as well.
So at the moment, I'm trying my hardest to
connect grassroots
students from communities
to actually seek education at Deakin
because I believe Deakin in Waurn Pond
has the best support
for grassroots students
and the setting that they have
with the community-based learning
is such an amazing setting,
and it works for a lot
of grassroots students.
So I do hope that
if you're out there pursuing your dreams,
your career, your journey, don't stop.
Even if you have to stop
for a minute for a breather,
keep pushing.
- Great.
So, Jaleesa, did you ever
think that your story
would be told in an ad?
- No, not at all.
It worked as a surprise for me
when I was asked to tell my story,
but in a way I was happy to tell my story.
I wanted to tell my story
because I do understand
that there are people
that's probably going through
similar struggles that I have
and probably have doubts
and probably don't think
that they're capable of doing things
that they're capable of.
When I was approached,
I was more than happy to tell my story
because I do want to inspire.
I do want to project
that anything is possible
if you put your mind to it.
And I guess that's what my story entails.
I kept my mind on it and I pushed.
- Would you like to see it?
- Sure.
- [Narrator] Hey, can you see it?
- See what?
- [Narrator] The wonderful possible,
like overcoming language,
distance, and economic barriers
to become the first nursing
graduate in your community ever.
- [Student] I love this.
- [Narrator] Quite a story, huh?
- What about a PhD at 80?
- What?
- [Narrator] Still got it.
- Pop up law clinics
anyone can access, nice.
- Or lifting others up through education.
- Yeah, I see it now.
- [Narrator] Yeah, you do.
Deakin University, see
the wonderful possible.
- Love it.
- What'd you think of that?
Is that really weird to
see yourself in an ad?
- It's weird but it's amazing.
I love it. I love it.
- Well, just before we wrap.
What's day-to-day life like for you
now that you're a nurse, you're
working in your community,
you've graduated?
How's it going?
- I'm not gonna lie, but it's a lot.
Day-to-day life for me entails
of a lot of shift work.
So I work random shifts.
So I could work during the day,
during the afternoon, or nights.
And then coming home, I have my break,
I have my wonderful
supporting partner Oscar
supporting me through my nursing career.
He's the one making all
the sacrifices this time
where he will take the
kids out for the day.
I'll get my rest and then I'll get up.
Mommy duty's still on, so I guess dinner,
organising the children, homework.
Dad does part of the
reading, and then, yeah.
So it's still the same,
just a bit bipolar with the shift work.
But other than that, I'm
grateful and I'm enjoying life.
- That's so good to hear.
It's all still a juggle, isn't it?
- It is still a juggle, yeah.
The most rewarding part
about each day is connecting.
Connecting with people in the community,
so knowing that you're not alone,
knowing that you are surrounded by
so many love, so many support,
and coming home every day
after work to your family
is probably the most
rewarding part of it all.
- Yeah, so good to hear.
And I guess what's next for you, Jaleesa?
What's next on your journey?
- Next on my journey is
I'm pursuing a grad cert at the moment.
So looking at my options at university,
different university.
I was really hoping Deakin
had something that I could do
with similar fly-in fly-out, but no.
So I'll have to seek other options
like my option at different university,
possibly more closer to home, not sure.
See how that happens, how
that works out for myself.
So hopefully a grad cert,
gain more experience off the island,
and then hopefully come back and stay,
yeah, and then support
the community that way.
- Jaleesa, your story is so inspirational.
Thank you for sharing it with us today.
- No worries.
Thank you for having me.
(gentle music)