How to change a life

Zandi sharing her graduation day in Wagga Wagga with Agnes’s daughter, Tansi

Agnes Tansey and her family sought to help others who come to this country. Nursing graduate Zandi Mlilo fled her small rural village in Zimbabwe to escape persecution and violence. She started a new life in Australia and is now helping people in regional NSW.

When Zandi Mlilo first heard about the Agnes Tansey – Lifting the Barriers Refugee Scholarship she knew she wanted to apply.

“I grew up in Zimbabwe, where people were affected by HIV and AIDS, and I saw how we didn’t have enough doctors and nurses. I knew I wanted to help people, so when I came to Australia, I went online and found nursing at Charles Sturt University.

“I had refugee friends already in Australia who were quite familiar with the system, and they pointed me to scholarships Charles Sturt was offering. I applied for a few and fortunately I got the Agnes Tansey Scholarship. I didn’t have a start here in Australia. It was impossible for me to pay for my education without a job. The scholarship changed my life.”

Thanks to the $42,700 annual scholarship designed to help refugees access tertiary education in their new country, Zandi was able to pay for accommodation, food, textbooks and other study supplies.

“I didn’t have to worry about any of that. All I had to do was concentrate on my studies. I went from having to worry about what I was eating that night to not having to worry about anything. It meant the world to me. I just don’t have the words to explain it other than to say I’ll be forever grateful.”

Zandi finished her studies in 2021 and is now working as a Registered Nurse at Wagga Base Hospital as part of the new graduates’ program. “Throughout my studies, I would think of Agnes all the time, because she made my studies possible. Now, every day when I put on my uniform, I think, ‘This is it’. I don’t ever take it for granted.

“I want to work in critical care and in the next 10 years I would like to be a Nurse Practitioner and go to the bush and help where there is clearly a gap, but I don’t see myself leaving Wagga in a hurry. I’ve got friends here, families that have accepted me as one of theirs. I’m comfortable and grateful for the life I have here.”

The Lifting the Barriers scholarship was established by Agnes McInerney in 2018. As her children Tansi and Sean explain, their mother’s experiences settling into Australia are part of the reason why she wanted to make this significant contribution.

“Mum’s journey as a young girl growing up in Ireland in the 1930s and 40s was one of poverty and her life changed when she left Ireland and met Dad,” Tansi said.

“It was while working in Calgary that she met my father. They married in 1960 and decided to move to Australia and I think she’s very aware of how that whole journey is in part by chance. I think it gives her immense joy to be in a personal situation where she can change the life trajectory of someone else in a similar way to how her life changed just by meeting Dad.”

Sean adds, “When she came over to Australia, Mum hadn’t really met the family. She didn’t know anyone. She had no bank account. She didn’t know how to cook. All these things were totally foreign to her, and we think that’s part of the driver for her. She wants to help someone else that’s coming in and doesn’t know anyone, doesn’t know the system.”

Agnes had already established a scholarship for high school students – in memory of her husband James McInerney, who studied at Wagga Wagga Agricultural College. She opted to extend support to refugees via the Lifting the Barriers Scholarship and handpicked Zandi as the first recipient.

Tansi goes on to explain, “When you make a donation to a refugee student, you’re not only helping one individual. In many instances, you’re helping their family and their children going forward. You’re having an impact on more than one person, and so the giving is endless.

“I know that for Mum, that personal connection with the university and the ability to read the stories of the different applicants is rewarding. It’s those life stories she connects with, and I think Mum’s greatest wish for Zandi is to find and create family here. She would want Zandi to have a deep sense of belonging in a community that is always looking out for her and on her side because that’s what she found in Australia with Dad’s family.”

Zandi encourages other refugees to consider applying for the Lifting the Barrier Scholarship, saying that university studies are hard but achievable with support like she has received from the McInerney family.

“Agnes made it possible for me and I now want to be an inspiration for others that are going to receive this scholarship in showing them that it is possible.”

Keen to establish an active fund? Find out more here: www.csu.edu.au/office/advancement/giving-to-csu/activefunds

Agnes and Zandi