Name: Lagani Gairo
Job: Assistant accountant/marketing officer, ACA Health Benefits Fund
Where: Wahroonga, NSW
What does a typical day for you look like?
I have two roles here at ACA Health. In the mornings, I do accounting. This involves creating reports, managing the cash accounts and paying bills—if you have a membership with ACA Health and submit a claim, the claims team will assess it and once it gets approved, I pay the portion of the benefits we give back to our members or providers. In the afternoons, I do marketing. Since my background is in graphic design, I create promotional content and also manage our social media accounts.
What led you to this job?
I grew up in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, but after graduating from high school I moved to the Philippines for four months to be with my parents, who were studying there at the time. I always assumed I would study in the Philippines, but I received an unexpected offer from Abide Family Ministries to study at Avondale College in Australia while working with them. While completing my first degree, a Bachelor of Visual Communication, I picked up some casual work at ACA Health, and after finishing my second degree, a Bachelor of Accounting, I was offered a full-time position.
Biggest lesson you’ve learned?
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that I am blessed. I never pictured myself working for the Church, but here I am. God places you where He wants you, and He is the one who calls; we only need to follow. He has blessed me, and it’s what I do with those blessings that really counts.
What’s something not a lot of church members know about ACA Health?
Really simply, that it’s owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church! We have a lot of people surprised when they find out it’s Adventist-owned and run, created just for Adventist Church employees. It also surprises people when we tell them ACA Health is available to local church officers in Australia—elders, deacons, Sabbath School leaders, etc. If you hold a church position or have held one in the past, and can prove it, you are eligible to become a member.
Favourite thing about your job?
My scope of work on a day-to-day basis is very broad, and often the individual tasks I complete have nothing to do with each other. So the variety, for me, is the best part of my job.
How do you share Jesus through what you do?
I think really sharing Jesus is found in the unspoken sermon—the “sermon in shoes” is what I call it. To me, it is being faithful in the littlest of duties. Ecclesiastes 9:10 says, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” God has placed me in this position, and the best way to share about His love is to be faithful.
