Jemima Busasa. Photo supplied
Born in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, during the 2002 Mt Nyiragongo eruption – which inspired her middle name – Jemima Volcano Busasa grew up in Adelaide, where her family settled after coming to Australia as refugees. With nine of her 12 siblings being younger than her, Jemima ‘stepped into a caregiving role early on’. But despite (or maybe because of) this, the idea of being a nurse was initially the last thing on Jemima’s mind.
‘In high school I loved biology and science,’ she says, ‘but when I applied for university my first offer was nursing. And I was like: “I don’t want to be a nurse!” I was gutted! I was crying.’
From dentistry to nursing
With hindsight, she thinks her ‘whole life trajectory was always leading’ her towards nursing. ‘But I was very naive and stubborn. And back then I was really set on becoming a dentist!’
After getting into a Bachelor of Oral Health as a second-round option, Jemima began studying in 2020. One month later, the world shut down.
Online study was challenging, she says. ‘It wasn’t what I expected. There was too much noise in the background. I couldn’t really focus.’ She decided to defer. A month later, she found out she was pregnant.
Being ‘quite stubborn and determined’, Jemima went back for a second attempt at her studies when her baby was two months old. In one of her human biology units, she met an RN doing a career change into dentistry and started talking to him about what he did as a nurse. For the first time, it piqued her interest. In particular, she was intrigued by how many career pathways were available in nursing.
‘I started to feel like I should not have turned down my offer!’ she jokes.
From Adelaide to Melbourne
In 2022, Jemima and her growing family moved to Melbourne. Taking the opportunity to begin fresh, she applied for the 2023 intake Bachelor of Nursing (Clinical Leadership) at Deakin University. From the moment she started, she knew she’d made the right choice. ‘It was like love at first sight,’ she says. ‘I went to my first simulation class, and I was like: “why was I being silly? I love this.”’
In her second year, Jemima began working as a registered undergraduate student of nursing (RUSON). Now in her final year, she has joined the ANMF (Vic Branch) Council as the Branch’s first ever student/RUSON councillor.
For someone so young – she turned 23 this year – Jemima has already accomplished so much. She attributes her drive, in part, to her background, growing up hearing stories of the obstacles her parents had to overcome. ‘Especially having children during a war,’ she explains [her older brother was born in June 1996 during the First Congo War; her older sister on 2 August 1998, the day the Second Congo War broke out].
‘And then myself being born during a volcanic eruption! I don’t know how we made it, really.’
From Congo to Australia
With the Second Congo War and its aftermath also wreaking havoc on their home, the infant Jemima and her family made the trek from Goma to the Kyangwali refugee camp, in Uganda, with help from the UNHCR and World Health Organization. The family spent two years in the camp, though Jemima was too young to remember much about it. Her earliest memories include riding in a bus with no doors, getting on a plane with just their clothes, the missionaries who met them when they arrived in Adelaide, and her sister eating McDonald’s for the first time (‘she hated it, and vomited everywhere’).
As a RUSON, Jemima has worked at both Western Health (in acute aged care GEM) and at Northern Hospital, currently in mental health. It was in this capacity that she applied for an ANMF grant to attend the recent Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association (VAADA) conference. It was her first ever conference, and she loved every minute of it.
‘It resonated with me, coming from my own background and seeing what I’ve seen in the community, with how alcohol is used and how prevalent it’s become in the African community, and how it’s just brushed aside or swept under the rug.’
From student to Branch Councillor
It’s also where she met ANMF (Vic Branch) Assistant Secretary Madeleine Harradence, who encouraged Jemima to consider a Branch Council position. ‘Having someone who believes in you is really good,’ she says, ‘because it brings out qualities that I didn’t even know about myself.’
Her first Branch Council meeting was nerve-wracking, she says, but also exciting. ‘It’s an area where I can bring my perspective. The other Branch Councillors, they are experienced nurses and midwives. Many haven’t been in school for some time. So I think it will be good having a voice from someone who has lived experienced of what is happening now.’
She’s equally excited about what her future holds, and what her personal experience can bring to her work as a nurse. At this point of her studies, Jemima is dipping her toes into everything, though she is leaning towards mental health nursing. ‘I really did fall in love with the idea that I could go anywhere. I think I’ll never be bored. But right now it’s all about getting experience,’ she says.
‘I wanted to be the first dentist of my family, but now I’ll be the first nurse.’
Jemima and her family. Photo supplied and published with permission.
