ON CHRISTMAS ISLAND - JESUS, MARY & JOSEPH refugees from Judea to escape violence at the hands of King Herod.

They took refuge in Egypt where the local community cared for them. (Matthew2:13-23)
Art/Concept by Deborah Kelly
Brotherhood of St. Laurence


My early training in EMPATHY - understanding the feelings of another means opening your heart and mind and triggering your brain chemistry to IMAGINE reached a crescendo when chosen to paint the scene of Jesus being crucified.

It was the centre of a long mural across the back of our classroom telling the story of Jesus, guided by our teacher Mr. Bowen and I was absorbed in the project, entering into the imagery and imagining what it must have been like for Him, for his Mother who bore him on Christmas Day with such Joy...We ten year olds of the class of 1973 at Tiverton Rd. School, Selly Oak, Birmingham were awarded a prize for a group entry in a Sandvik Christmas Art Competition in London. 

CHRISTMAS ISLAND 

Christmas Island  - Australia 15 Dec 2010 Men, women and their children seeking Asylum from their war-raging countries of Iraq, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka where persecution of individuals and groups continue, perish in a Stormy sea.
The bell tolls as we count the dead and surviving.

EMPATHY:  IMAGINE WHAT IT MUST BE LIKE, I  WOULD OFTEN SAY  TO OUR CHILDREN - AS I CONTINTUE TO SAY THIS CHRISTMAS WHEN WE ARE TOGETHER, IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR SAFETY AND JOY OF A LITTLE BABY BOY DUE IN MAY!

Did my Mother say, Imagine what it would be like, or imagine what it would be like in their shoes, to me? Or was it at Sunday School where I learned the Golden Rule ~
 Do Unto Other as You would Wish it done to You.


Average waiting period for UNHCR assessed refugees stranded in Indonesia to get to Australia is 37 years and we ask why people come by sea? This is based on Australia taking on average 52 refugees a year from Indonesia. 
Our promise to take a one off number of 500 by February 2011 does not even look like happening.
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Melbourne




My Grandson and I will have such fun singing and dancing in the loungeroom with each other:
ASHES IN THE WATER
ASHES IN THE SEA
AND WE ALL JUMP UP
WITH A 1 2 3! 
 (Again, Ring a ring Roses/a pocket full of posies/A - tishoo! A - tishoo!/We all fall down/
Mammy in the teapot,
Daddy in the cup.
One, two, three
And we all jump up!




EMPATHY

The Blind Girl, John Everett Millais 1856

Birmingham Museum&Art Gallery

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood