Large institutions can move slowly, for by their nature, they are complex. When JJ came to Australia about six weeks ago, the documentation that accompanied her visa indicated that she could now become a school student and enrol in Medicare, the national health provider.

She was fairly quickly inducted into the NSW school system, but the health care card was far more elusive. One government department was not supplying the required information to another, we were told, and I could well believe it. We visited a medicare office at least five times, each time with different quantities of documentation, but alas, no cigar. The matter was finally upgraded, since it is a serious matter not having access to health care, and today JJ received an interim health card in the mail.

It pays to be persistent but sometimes it also depends on the person across the other side of the desk, whether they are willing to make the extra effort to find the cause of the impasse. It also pays to smile and be grateful, the latter being in rather short supply these days.