News from GAP Parents 1

BACKGROUND - GAP EXPERIENCE PARENTS' EVENINGS

Some of Ros Hiser’s family at Currajeen, Doreen after the GAP Sending Forth Ceremony on 22 February 2009
From left: John McCullough, grandfather, Ros Hiser, Kevin Hiser, father, Ann McCulloch, grandmother, Joan Hiser, mother, Margaret McKenna, aunt

On Friday 3 April 2009 the parents of the GAP Experience Participants gathered at West Preston and general getting to know each other at West Preston commencing 7.00 pm with a meal.

During and after a delicious meal there was much sharing of news from the participants. Margaret had information from Anne Taylor about where each one was located, what they were doing and with whom they were living. Photos were shown around also.

Margaret spoke about the article and photos in the Sisters of Charity quarterly Keep In Touch (K.I.T.) about to be published and they all wanted to be put on the mailing list for that.

Elizabeth Costigan RSC spoke to them about the RSC Companions and invited anyone interested to come along on Saturday 9 May from 10.00 am to 3.00 pm at Currajeen.

Unexpectedly Colleen Jackson RSC sent a text to Michael Christie early in the evening and, on his own initiative, he phoned Colleen. She was not with the others as they had gone to the school with Anne. Everyone spoke to her so there was a sense of Zambia being in the room!

All voted enthusiastically for a follow up which will be arranged after Easter. Margaret mentioned that next time it would be important to talk about when they returned or link up again with their family as this would be an important step in their debriefing. All are interested in this.

At the second Parents gathering on Friday 22 May 2009 again at West Preston all were eager to connect up with each other and shared travel plans of their own. Joan Hiser is leaving on 4 June to visit her daughter, Ros, in Hackney for 2 weeks. Liz and Chris Gaffney are visiting Megan in the Victorian school holidays.  The Hylands and the Christies are meeting up with their daughters, Becc and Clare respectively at the end of the Hackney stay and traveling on before returning to Australia.

A copy of the GAP Manual was distributed for the parents / families who did not have a copy as their daughters had taken their copies with them, as had been expected. This will provide some interesting reading we hope.

As Margaret has been asked to look after the GAP website she suggested that the parents may like to write something from their perspective. There was a murmur of agreement and this is now happening!

There was some discussion about he changes in their daughters that they may expect and that before they return we would have further discussion on how the families might help themselves as well as their daughters when they return home.

Margaret Costigan

A PARENTS VISIT TO THE GAP EXPERIENCE PARTICIPANTS

My recent trip to London was a wonderful opportunity to catch up with Sr Virginia and the girls at Hackney. They are very settled and comfortable in their wing of the nurses’ home at the St Josephs Hospice. They are beginning a new phase of the program as they get to know and share experiences with the nuns in the home.

In the short 3 weeks that I was there, Ros was already speaking about specific nuns and their interests and individual stories, as were all the girls. They were becoming part of their day and their week, and I could see the lasting connections they would all make.

When Ros talked about the 3 months in Zambia, she had a similar closeness to the community she had lived with over there. They have all had a wonderful opportunity to learn and experience a different cultural. Ros has had her (and our) knowledge of health issues in Zambia expanded enormously. She speaks with a new passion, about how lucky her friends and family are, to have education opportunities that were lacking in most of the locals she met. I know she will be encouraging of her younger brother's year 12 next year (whether he likes it or not!).

I selfishly used Ros trip as a great excuse to see her, and have a trip myself. It was a lot of fun, and I had a few outings with Ros and all the girls. We did have a meal at the pub with Virginia, too!

On return to home, all the family was keen to hear how Ros is, and I must say, I was mostly touched by her ability to become involved in the place where she is, be that a rural community in Zambia, or the east end of London. This gap program has given her, and all those involved, the chance to step outside their comfortable lives and live and learn from others. I can see in Ros that she has grown with the experience.

Joan Hiser