Skip to main content

Migrant Stories

Migrant Stories


"I grew up in an immigrant neighborhood. We just knew the rule was you're going to have to work twice as hard." Lin-Manuel Miranda



Twice as hard in anything that you have to do, that is what being a migrant is all about.  I arrived in Australia as a baby, so in a lot of ways, it is as if I was born in this country, but not quite.  I lived in a world that was inherently Greek, with a work ethic that was austere, and as a little girl I had to follow suite to make sure that I was able to keep up.  My parents worked in factories, as hard as any other migrant who arrived in Australia.  They had a goal, and that was to save for a house, for without owning a house the rest cannot follow, priority number one.  Priority number two fell on me, and that was to study hard.  "Να διαβάσεις"  Sometimes I had to create extra work for myself, pretending that Enid Blyton was on the curriculum, or that the poster sprawled on the kitchen table was for a school project.  I look back now and I wonder if kids still do that; create extra work for themselves. Essentially I had to look busy, idleness was not an option.  That is the way of the migrant.
When I got older I made friends from migrant families too, and the stories were similar.  There was a huge emphasis on education.  My parents relayed to me how important it was, and how their lack of education was a huge liability.  I carried this sensibility throughout my life and instilled it in my own children; the second generation, the ones who still connect with their heritage but have created a whole life for themselves, confident in knowing that Australia is their home-their only home.  

 I don't remember my first year in Australia as I was too little, but I do have a feeling from that time, maybe it is because of the stories that have been passed down from my family, or the locked memories stagnant in my subconscious but I do know there was a sentiment of excitement, a sense of closeness, support, togetherness.  There was a notion of happiness, and even though it was hard, there was definitely a sense of accomplishment.  These were the early years, and life moves on and changes. 

 All of this has spurred me to create the Migrant Stories online series-one for each week, 52 stories.  A collection of stories from migrants from all nations who have made Australia their home and their experiences of their very first year in this new country.  Various organisations have created similar story telling platforms, but not many have broached that first year.  Will these stories show excitement? Togetherness? Feelings of closeness and accomplishment?  Will they show sadness, or remorse?  Whatever the outcome I look forward to sharing these stories online.  They are an important addition to our multicultural country's story arc; a country that has worked so hard to incorporate so many different cultures and people.

If you are a migrant, from any year or decade, and would like to be one of the 52 people to share your first year in Australia story, please email me at: info@medeafilms.com.au, interviews will commence after June the 14th, 2017.  I look forward to working with you and bringing to light an important part of your life in Australia. 

                                                            Stella Dimadis













Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Writer's block

Writer's block The Writer's responsibility is to his art.  He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one.  He has a dream.  It anguishes him so much he must get rid of it.  He has no peace until then... William Faulkner  Having written films, articles, essays, reports, it has always, at one stage or another, plagued me when I have had writer's block.  That moment when I sit staring at the computer screen as if it is an alien standing it's ground in a duel for battle with me.  Eyeing me, daring me to drop my weapons of my imagination.  The frustration builds up and chocolate beckons, serenading the virtues of itself.  It is all too familiar, this battle, and I may have thrown my writing in all together had it not been for my editor in the late 90's when I completed some articles for Who Weekly. I remember grizzling into the phone line with him that my writing was not perfect...there was something missing...I couldn't pinpoint it....
2 comments
Read more

Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future.

"Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future. "   Corrie Ten Boom Corrie Ten Boom was a Dutch watchmaker, who had helped many Jews escape during the Holocaust, was a prisoner and then a writer.  She held many memories, no doubt, fears; images that would stay forever and haunt her, but they were able to unlock a future for her that she would never have imagined.  Her writing and her boldness initiated her knighthood by the Queen of the Netherlands, The King's College in New York City named a new women's house in her honour, her book "The Hiding Place", was  made into a feature film, twice. Locked away in our computer hard drives are examples of our work and lives that we lock away when our computer sleeps, forgetting about their importance because we are always told to focus on the now, forgetting about our past.  Well, perhaps it is time that we also learn to love our past, regardless of what it was like, so that we can understand what our...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cruella

Cruella “Cruella was in a box a long time, now Estella can be the one who makes guest appearances!” -Cruella Every so often, a film encapsulates all of the factors that make it ‘wow’, leaving the audience totally satisfied.  Cruella, directed by Craig Gillespie, starring Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, screenplay by Dana Fox and Tony McNamara, produced by Disney does exactly that. It was released in Australia on May the 27th, 2021, not the best year for a release due to the Pandemic and inherent lockdowns in this country, but nevertheless a real treat on any screen. The film follows Estella before she becomes Cruella De Vil; a gifted, precocious girl whose rebellious streak, fighting spirit and desire to become a fashion designer is the perfect mix for her journey through life.  She was orphaned at 12 from whom she thought was her biological mother, but of course the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and with the help of her two childhood partners, Horace and Jasper, Estella e...
Post a Comment
Read more