When Mark and his wife Winnie Santos first landed in Australia from the Philippines 10 years ago, they had just two bags and a dream.
They started in Adelaide where Mr Santos completed his Masters in Business Administration and Ms Santos attended the Australian College of Nursing.
Then, after three years at university, the pair made their way to the tip of the Eyre Peninsula where, more than 5,000 kilometres from their family and friends, they chose Port Lincoln as their new home.
Surrounded by turquoise water and eager fishers, it was a familiar landscape to their home in South East Asia, but that didn't make the transition any easier in a remote part of South Australia.
"It was a different world. It took more than three years to feel at home," Mr Santos said.
Fast-forward 10 years, the couple are now joint recipients of the 2023 Australia Day Awards for Active Citizenship.
But it wasn't an easy journey to get there.
Mr Santos recalled feeling humiliated when he tried to buy a car and get approved for a home loan when they first arrived.
"I felt really discriminated against. They thought I could not afford to buy a car," he said.
"That was one of the worst experiences I ever had.
"Then the home-loan manager thought I couldn't buy a house.
"We worked; we knew we could afford it, but we received a lot of negative comments."
Paving the way for migrants
Mr Santos said while they faced racism in their new home it only inspired them to help other migrants.
"We had a lot of situations where, being a migrant of Asian descent, people would come up to us and say, 'Go back to your country, you're taking our jobs,'" he said.
"We've overcome those experiences and now we want to push forward so the new migrants don't experience it.
"Once we got through that, we fell in love with the place, especially after we had our first child."
Mr and Mrs Santos's dream was to take advantage of the opportunities Australia could offer.
"In the western world the technology is really quite advanced and so is the study," Mr Santos said.
They now own two businesses; a money transfer company and a travel agency that received the Professional Services Excellence Award from the Port Lincoln Chamber of Commerce.
Mr Santos, who also works as a manager at the local watering hole, The Tasman, says he can finally see a shift in the way migrants like him are treated.
"I can sense it, I can feel it. The town is a little bit more accepting because it's imminent," he said.
"It's evident that the town is growing and tourism is a major industry here.
"With the workforce shortage, we're getting global talent, and more migrants."
Helping other migrants
After years of feeling isolated, Mr and Mrs Santos now feel at home and centre their energy on helping others, many who are also Filipino migrants.
Mr Santos says that Filipinos want to make the most out of the opportunities here and the Eyre Peninsula need them due to help with workforce shortages.
"Filipinos are known for being good workers, but I want to change that. I want us to be known as being good entrepreneurs," he said.
Mr and Mrs Santos help newly arrived migrants with their documentation and by explaining fresh information.
They have encouraged up to 16 migrants to move to the region and helped them into work.
"A lot of them are quite settled now," Mr Santos said.
"It's good to help these people and they play a part in the business community and region, because we need them."
Aged care plan
The Santos family have their hearts set on opening a new aged care facility in Port Lincoln as their next business venture.
As a nurse, Ms Santos works at the Aboriginal Health Service and, with her passion for health and the noticeably ageing population, she's noticed the need for more aged care facilities in the region.
"We want to be part of the solution. We would like to do our part, in a small way," she said.
"We want to give it back to our community like the community has given it to us."
University of Adelaide social scientist Yan Tan says migration strengthens SA's multicultural society and aids international relations.
Dr Tan says migrants also significantly contribute to the state's economic development.
"Migrant businesses usually outperform across a range of measures including job creation, innovation, revenue, and growth aspirations, compared to non-migrant business owners," she said.
"The Philippines is the top 6 migrant source country in SA."
Dr Tan also said that Australia's multiculturalism policy and its implementation positively changed the perspectives of non-migrants.
However, her research shows migrants in Australia who live outside metropolitan areas are less likely to get a job that matches their skills.
This is something that Mr and Ms Santos are keen to change together, by cultivating more Filipino entrepreneurs in regional South Australia.
