HomeHomeJune 2008
The Global Family
In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past,
bridge to our future.-Alex Haley
What would you do if, with no warning, a foreigner came to your door and claimed to be a long-lost relative? Would you let that person in? What if that person did not resemble your family in the slightest? Would you trust this stranger? Would you open or close your door?
Four years ago, on a dark winter night in early June, Avraam & Kleo, an elderly couple living in a small city in New South Wales, Australia, were faced with that decision. Once they understood what the stranger had to say, they let her in, and life was never the same again.
I was that stranger, and I was deeply touched by their willingness to listen to me as I stood at their door, stuttering and stammering about having family who lived at their address back in the 1960's. I had a small photo of Kleo's mother, who was my grandfather's sister, which helped establish my credibility.
As I grasped for words, trying to explain why I was there, Av grabbed me, and said, "Are you family?" Before I knew it, I was standing inside their home, watching the wheels spinning rapidly in their heads as they tried to figure out where I resided on our "Big Fat Greek" family tree.
After a moment, Av turned around and asked, "Are you Helen's daughter?" I quickly said "Yes," and we all started talking over each other.
The Greek Diaspora: Part of the Human Story
What my Aussie relatives and I have in common is that we are all part of a very large and very poor family. I had the advantage of growing up in America, and while my nuclear family was never well off, we lived considerably better than most humans on the planet. My good fortune was the result of having great grandparents and a grandfather who emigrated from various poverty-stricken areas of Europe.
My Greek cousins, Av and Kleo, experienced poverty in their youth, and in the early 1950's, they emigrated to Australia to find a better life.
Reverse Migration
Today, the migration of different groups continues, and the stories are not always about refugees. Young Americans are researching their ancestries and taking leaps of faith by moving back to their ancestral homelands.
In fact, the Palm Beach Post's Andrew Abrahmson reports about this phenomenon in light of the U.S. economic slump.
Reverse migration is nothing new. Many immigrants came to America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the intention of "stealing America's riches" and returning home to live like kings.
However, if reporter Abraham is right, and if this trend continues, we may see third and fourth generations of Americans returning "home" and knocking on the doors of second and third cousins.
Teresa
tcallies@Hotmail.com
News, Resources, and Other Interesting Tidbits
If you're curious about various ethnic groups and their "diasporas," you can check out Nationmaster.com to find out more.
The Minnesota African Women's Congress is hosting their 3rd African Women in the Diaspora Conference from June 20-21 at the Uniuversity of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis.
Madrid, Spain will be the site of next month's Women's Worlds '08 Conference from July 3-9. The theme is "New Frontiers: Dares and Changes."
University of Leicester (UK) will host the "Unsettling Women: Contemporary Women's Writing and Diaspora" conference from July 11-13.
Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island, will host the "New Media and the Global Diaspora" conference from October 2-4.
Greek Diaspora
Toni Risson's Aphrodite and The Mixed Grill: Greek Cafes in Twentieth-Century Australia is a delight to anyone of Greek descent whose parents or grandparents were in the restaurant business. You can learn more about Risson and her new book from her interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation last year.
One of the most poignant books about the Greek-American experience is Nicholas Gage's A Place for Us: A Greek Immigrant Boy's Odyssey to a New Country and an Unknown Father (Chandler House Press).
Another touching book is Greek-Aussie Jim Sakkas' fictional Ilias (Harper & Row, NY, 1988). It's a story about a Greek man who moves to Melbourne, and his journey navigating an unfamiliar culture.
Adventurous Women
Lately, we're discovering a new genre of women's books for women who are unapologetically, unashamedly and independently alone. Sara Davidson's Leap! What Will We Do With the Rest of Our Lives? is an honest and refreshing account of a woman searching for more and asking others about their journeys in the "middle years" (Ballantine Books, NY, 2008).
Meanwhile, another worthwhile read is Florence Falk's On My Own: The Art of Being a Woman Alone (Three Rivers Press, NY, 2008).
Water
We've covered issues surrounding water as a precious resource in a previous WITNE column. Now, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard reports from the U.K. Telegraph that a growing water crisis is to be the world's biggest risk
Meanwhile, in California, development is slowing because of the worst drought in 20 years, according to Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times.
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