 |
|
C-BERSS EX-PRESS
December 2000
Issue 4, Vol 3
|
|
| |
 |
All Newsletters : December 2000 : The Ties That Bind Us
The Ties That Bind Us
A Christmas 2000 Message from the Chairperson of C-BERS Services Maria Harries
 Christmas is a time in which we traditionally seek out the people who are important in our lives.
In the vast majority of cases, these “most important” people are other family members — an extended network of people with whom we share a long history of common experiences. These are the people who, not only know us (and hopefully love us), but who have also contributed significantly to who we are at this point of time in our own personal histories.
As part of the festivities associated with Christmas, we acknowledge and celebrate “the ties that bind us” to each other.
Sadly, as many of our readers will be only too well aware, those bonds of a shared history were interrupted for thousands of former child migrants who were sent to a country half way across the other side of the world leaving their families and the continuity of their heritage behind.
One of the main reasons C-BERS Services was set up in 1995 was an attempt to heal the wounds inevitably caused by such premature upheaval.
Six years later, it is encouraging to observe the extent to which former child migrants are, on their own behalf, seeking out each other to build upon the bonds that derive from a shared history of experiences.
In our last newsletter, we reported on the huge success of the reunion luncheon organised by the Child Migrant Friendship Society in June.
The Society is already planning a “Christmas in July” function for next year which features amongst the notice board listings in this edition.
Old Boys Associations have also been set up for each of the major institutions at which former child migrants spent their formative years.
Again, a reunion weekend for the Tardun Old Boys and their families is planned for early February at Tuppin House in Guilderton (Moore River).
This newsletter has also provided a means, not only for establishing a connection between people who share a common story, but also for people to share their story. Our three contributors in this edition, all speak of the opportunity provided by the Christmas season to get together with those they care about, and who similarly care about them.
We hope that all our readers are afforded similar opportunities, both for Christmas 2000 and in the year that follows.
|
|
cberss.org