Catherine Suwignyo has waited two years to hold her infant son again. She's still waiting.
Ms Suwignyo, an international student from Indonesia, says she has coped by stacking her days with work at a childcare centre in Dickson and night time study at Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT).
It was the birth of her son in 2018 which prompted Ms Suwignyo to enrol in an early childhood education course.
Unable to rely on the support of family overseas, she realised she didn't have any clue how to care for a young child.
"[I'm] working ... in the childcare sector for my son, but I don't have my son here at the moment, just because of the border restrictions," Ms Suwignyo said.
Three-year-old Francis Everest was spending time with family in Indonesia when Australia closed its border in March 2020.
"Little do I know that six months later, or less than that, the pandemic starts and the travel borders just close," she said.
"Without knowing, you know, how to react at that time.
"Then to speed up to two years later, I'm here, I'm still waiting for the news to come about the international border to open."
Separated from family through hardship
In the quiet before Australia's own wave of the Delta strain, Ms Suwignyo's mind was on her parents in Indonesia. They were in intensive care with COVID-19 after falling victim to misinformation.
Her parents tried to cure themselves of the virus, taking the drug Ivermectin after misinformation stirred up a fear of relying on the health system.
"Just because they were so afraid to go to the hospital," Ms Suwignyo said
Not knowing if there would be enough doctors and beds for them, the misguided attempt to self-medicate led to 13 days in hospital and reliance on oxygen masks for another month.
"My brother, my sister's there, so fortunately they can kind of communicate with me what happens ... how they are going in the hospital and things like that," she said.
"But it's pretty difficult just because my brother and my sisters can't go to the hospital that time."
The choice to stay
Ms Suwignyo has stayed in Australia throughout outbreaks, her parents' health struggles, the heart-wrenching separation from her son, as well as reductions in her work hours and rental struggles.
"What kept me in Canberra? Hope. It's hope," she said.
"I feel like I have hope here. I feel like my son will have hope here.
"I feel like me, my husband and my son, us together as a family, we have hope here."
Passionate about education, she said Canberra offered equal opportunities to everyone.
"Which is important, I would say, because that's what you want for your child. So that's why I do it for my son as well," she said.
