why bendigo?
from russia with love Gynaecologist and obstetrician Angelika Borozdina and her beautiful family have fallen in love with Bendigo after making the move from Russia in 2005 with a slight detour through Melbourne. Photographs: Anthony Webster Angelika, what inspired your recent move to live and work in Bendigo? It was both a family and a career decision. It is such a wonderful city to raise a family and the kids often say to me “Bendigo is the best place in the world”. In Melbourne I felt quite restricted with my work, I really had to make a choice to either work in the obstetrics or gynaecology field – not both. I was so worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep my gynecology skills ‘up to speed’. Working in Bendigo allows me to work in both fields ensuring my skills in both areas are kept up to date.
Can you tell us a bit about what you are doing career wise in Bendigo now? I’m an obstetrician, gyneacologist and staff specialist at the Bendigo Hospital and also work with private patients out of Bendigo Day Surgery and St John of God. What are your interests away from work? Sleep! My job involves some very odd hours as one of my patients may go into labour at any hour of the day or night. I love spending time with my husband and children. We are a Russian Orthodox Christian family and have started running a church service once a month in Bendigo in both Russian and
creating change
English language. We also love to travel and holiday as a family and there are lot of sporting commitments with my young active children – swimming, tennis and ice hockey with soccer the next sport on the agenda. What is your favourite thing about Bendigo? The people. Everyone is so open and friendly and so incredibly supportive. People in Bendigo look at your face and you can see their eyes, which is a lovely quality and not very common in busy places like a big metropolis. Oh and how could I forget the wineries in the Bendigo region? My husband thinks the local Shirazes are the best in the entire world. ■
local hero
Bendigo girl Kathryn Campbell is making a difference through her employment with Amnesty International and Save the Children overseas. Here we gain an insight into her inspirational work. So where are you living at the moment Kathryn? I am currently living in London. I did live in Vancouver, Canada for three months while working at Amnesty International. What led you to the decision to leave Australia for your work? London is such a culturally diverse city with so many opportunities and close proximity to Europe. It really was the next step in my professional and travelling journey. I decided to leave Australia to gain some experience in the not-for-profit sector in human rights and development after I finished my university degree in International Relations. Tell us a little about working with Amnesty International and Save the Children? Amnesty International is a global movement with more than three million supporters, members and activists in more than 150 countries who campaign to end grave abuses of human rights. As a human rights activist intern, I was involved in campaigning at community events, protest marches, petition signing, letter writing, online actions, youth participation and education and solidarity events with minority groups who were now living in Canada but still campaigning for
their people in their home country. Save the Children is an independent and global organisation that campaign for long-term change in addition to providing shorter-term support to improve children’s lives. They are a powerful voice in campaigning for change, locally and globally, and they are extremely good at it! I was responsible for managing Save the Children’s digital media accounts. Can you share a truly positive/inspiring story or moment from your work so far? A really rewarding moment working with Save the Children was the success we had from the Health Workers Count campaign at the United Nations General Assembly. From the popular mobilisation of our supporters, both offline and online, and our flash mob in New York’s Times Square, we created pressure and awareness around the need for more health workers. We reached more than five million people via Facebook and twitter messages, which I am most particularly proud of being responsible for the international accounts.
witnessed was really something I hadn’t expected. When taking a role in this field I had expected my main difficulty would lie in being confronted with horrific details and images of developing country’s problems. However, what surprised me was the amount of injustices there are in developed countries, where we have the capacity for change but don’t do anything at all. I think that has been the biggest challenge for me to wrap my head around the level of de-sensitivity people have to the world around us and the level crises have to reach for us to become so outraged to do something about it. ■
What has been the most challenging thing you have witnessed during your work? I think the most challenging thing I have Issue 27 - Bendigo Magazine | 53