Passion inspires multicultural group

For Dunsborough’s Vanessa Sabatini, life is about drawing together the threads of food, culture and travel.

The 33-year-old hails from Belgium, but fell in love with Australia on sight and has called the South West of WA home for the past five years.

“When I came to Australia, I don’t know how to describe it but, I had a feeling of belonging,” she said.

“I landed in Cairns and I remember it was the best day of my life.

“It was so powerful and so emotional — I just felt like, ‘I’m going to stay her for a long time’, and the feeling hasn’t left me.”

Vanessa, who had already travelled in Europe, Asia and most of Australia, met her partner Mathieu while backpacking in Brisbane.

Together, they travelled down the west coast from Darwin, settling finally in the South West.

Vanessa took a job at Geographe Bay Tourism Association at its Dunsborough and Busselton Visitor Centres, where her fluency in four languages came in handy.

She has a degree in advertising and a diploma in marketing, and on the side runs an instant event photography business.

Ms Sabatini’s other passion is the creation of a new multicultural group in the region celebrating the different people who call it home.

“My family is Italian and we always lived in multicultural towns growing up,” she said.

Vanessa spent her childhood summers in Italy with grandparents and remembers how her family and her Moroccan neighbours used to cook for each other regularly, celebrating their different cultures.

“I brought a letter to the City of Busselton explaining that I loved the lifestyle down here, but I also felt sometimes a bit isolated,” she said.

“It’s a small town, so people have their friends and it’s really hard to get into groups and make friendships. I’ve talked to other foreigners down here, because there are more and more every year, that have experienced the same.”

She said the group hoped to hold food markets and festivals, but it was equally about celebra- ting adopted Australian culture.

“It’s about sharing of culture and food,” she said.

“Putting people together to share their food and their music and their stories.”

Click here to go mobile with iNFOGO - local everywhere