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Rushabh Shethia was stunned by the silence when he first moved to Bendigo.

Unable to sleep, the Mumbai native played Bollywood movies on a loop at night to recreate the ambient noise of the busy neighbourhood in which he grew up.

“I had never ever heard the silence,” he said.

Rushabh moved to Central Victoria in 2009 to progress his education and start a new life.

As he explains, his connection to Bendigo came about more by accident than design.

“I always thought Bendigo, like Bundoora, was a suburb of Melbourne. It was only when the university offer letter came through that I had a closer look and realised it was 150 kilometres north of Melbourne,” he said.

Unperturbed, Rushabh spent two years in Bendigo before permanently moving back to the region in 2014 with his wife Yachna.

The pair saw volunteering as crucial way to integrate into Western culture.

Rushabh began volunteering at Bendigo Health, using his IT skills to extract data and important information from a volunteer survey and Yachna offered her time to printing services at UnitingCare Bendigo.

“It was good for us to learn the working style. We come from a different culture, where we have a problem let’s solve it doesn’t matter whether you go from A-B or A-C. It’s different in Australia and different still at Bendigo Health, there’s a process to things,” he said.

Interacting with staff at various organisations helped improve their language skills and communication style.

In 2017, after a number of unsuccessful job applications at Bendigo Health, Rushabh secured a position as a project officer in the integration team for the Electronic Patient Record.

Yachna, who also has an IT background, then took over Rushabh’s volunteering support role with Bendigo Health until she too secured an IT-based job at Loddon Mallee Integrated Cancer Services.

For Yachna, volunteering was a good way to meet new people.

“It’s given me a great understanding of the impact volunteers can have in a community,” she said.

The pair, who have an 11-month-old son - Ved, were sponsored by Bendigo Health on two temporary work visas and were recently granted permanent residency.

Their story is one of perseverance and highlights what can be achieved through volunteering.

“Before coming to Bendigo Health I never understood the value of volunteering and the amount of services provided through volunteers here,” Rushabh said.