She was my cousin
21.01.2009
An aspect of our work with immigrants in Ireland is educating Irish people on migration. One would imagine that after two centuries of emigration from Ireland, Irish people would have some understanding and empathy for the plight of those who have to leave home in order to have a dignified life.
While emigration is related in song and story in Ireland and in Irish enclaves around the world, there was never a serious debate about emigration and its causes in Ireland. Some would even say that it was God's will that the Irish should be emigrants.
However, immigrants began arriving in Ireland following the establish-ment of the European Union in 1992. Initially it was a trickle but it became a flood as Ireland became a destination for multinational companies who wished to have access to a highly educated workforce and European markets. People from more than 100 countries arrived.
Confusion reigned, and the shock of strangers living and working locally caused the usual anxiety and curiosity that the prophets in the bible highlighted in previous millennia. Media misinformation and shock headlines led to resentment and instances of racism and hostility. There was no preparation for the arrival of 500,000 immigrants into an Ireland that only understood 'departure.'
I found confusion and in many instances, resentment to immigrants, when going into schools at the invitation of teachers and students.
The arrival of immigrants in Ireland for most Irish people did nothing, it seemed, to remind them of the plight of Irish emigrants, their own relatives, who had left Ireland over the centuries and up to the recent past for the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, Argentina, Dubai and elsewhere.
As a returned immigrant myself, it appeared that there was nothing in the present generation's memory that made connections with the past. So, how best approach the subject?
Outside the first school I went to I asked a young foreign-looking student for directions. She answered that this was her school and the one I was looking for. Her parents, she informed me came from the Philippines. This incident clicked off a procedure in education that I had picked up somewhere in the past. It was - stay within their experience.
The teacher introduced me to the class and the subject that I was going to discuss with them. I began by telling them who I was and where I came from. Then I asked them if anyone had one or two parents from outside of Dublin. Many hands went up. Next question-were there any students who had one or two parents from outside of Ireland? A number of hands went up. Next question; did anyone here cross an international border last year to go on holidays or a school trip? All hands went up.
Next question; do any of you have relatives who live abroad? Again, all hands went up. Good, so in fact we were all part of modern migration.
Probably, most important in the whole process were stories about emigration. People brought more than what they had in their suitcases on leaving home. Particular Irish counties have immigration links with specific areas of the world.
In County Clare I recounted to students about a Durack family who emigrated to Australia in the 1840s. They grazed cattle and sheep and their grand daughter Mary wrote a book about them, the title of which was, Kings in Grass Castles.
When I finished telling the story one young girl at the back of the class put up her hand and said, "My name is Mary Durack and the lady who wrote the book is my cousin."
This was a pleasant surprise and it made my day.
Fr Bobby Gilmore has worked in the Philippines, Jamaica and Britain. He is currently the Chairperson of The Migrants Rights Centre in Dublin.
