Creative Folk

By Amy Saeki-Zhai

I have been very lucky to be able to do my internship at Celebrate Living History. As
a literary studies student, I have always wanted an opportunity to use the writing techniques
that I have studied in other texts such as metaphors, symbolism, and dramatic irony to write
and share my own stories.

I believe that considerable amounts of wisdom, cultural history
and, inspiration for future generations can vanish throughout time without stories from older
generations being written down. Thus, I not only wrote down the experiences of my
interviewees but attempted to recreate their experiences through literary techniques.
The aspect that I enjoyed the most about Celebrate Living History is that when it
came to selecting a topic and subject to write about, ‘ the sky was the limit’. I was not
constrained to write about a single topic and could find the interviewees myself. While this
was challenging at first, it opened up more opportunities for me to get to know my local
community, family,and friends overseas on a deeper level. Without this internship, I may
have never known their incredible, often, unbelievable experiences.

It made me realize that the everyday struggles and hardships that I have experienced are incomparable to what my interviewees have gone through in order to build a better life for their families. Sometimes it
was difficult for me to even ask about their life journey. Such was the case when I
interviewed Shelly, a current resident of the Gold Coast but originally from South Africa. In
the beginning I requested her for an interview asking about her life experience which she
promptly denied. Just when I decided to give up, Shelly invited me for some coffee at a
nearby cafe. After chatting for close to two hours, she began to open up to me about her
childhood and participation in protests against Apartheid. I learned that the process of
conducting an interview goes beyond asking the interviewee a list of predetermined
questions. Instead, it is built upon trust and emotional connections between the interviewer
and interviewees.

Despite her past trauma, Shelly never forgets her motto, “ No matter what
life throws at you, keep smiling.” There is hardly a time when I do not see Shelly with a bright
smile on her face. Inspired by her, I also try to smile during hard times, whether I am feeling
stressed or have an argument with someone. It certainly makes a difference.

I really want to thank Bev for always being very encouraging and supportive
throughout this internship experience and taking the time to read all of my stories. Although I
was totally lost in the beginning of the internship as to how to write my stories and where to
find my interviewees, Bev’s constant encouragement helped me build the confidence as a
writer and interviewer. Her passion for writing has also inspired me to continue to pursue a
study that I love, regardless of what others think of me. Working with Celebrate Living
History has been an invaluable experience and I hope to take the skills that I have learned
here with me for my future career as a writer.

By Cheuk Hei Ng

Working as an intern under Celebrate Living History has been a very fruitful and enjoyable experience for me as a journalism student at Griffith University.

The experiences provided me with a platform and way to improve and enhance my writing skills and techniques and allowed me to gain a lot of insights after conducting interviews with various talents and knowing about their stories and life experiences personally.

I had listened to and documented memories and stories from the life of seniors, and I personally feel the connection involved between me as a person from a younger generation and with people from older generations.

The experiences had allowed me to broaden my horizon in terms of viewing the world and life experiences in a bigger picture and wiser perspective as by listening to the stories of older generations, I realised that my life had been considered “easier” in a personal perspective compared with people from the past although it is important to acknowledge different generations may encounter different forms of hardships and difficulties and it varies a lot in terms of social class, background in different individuals.

But from a personal point of view, I realised how lucky I was compared to the talents that I had interviewed.

I am also currently living in Australia as I am an international student, which at first it was hard for me to adapt to a whole new lifestyle and living in a foreign country.

But as two of my stories and interviews were based on two immigrants from Hong Kong, I can imagine how hard it would be for them to start a new life in Australia back in the 80s.

The technologies and media were less developed in the 80s compared to nowadays, therefore it is considered a major hardship for immigrants to communicate with families and friends back from their home country.

When I first came to Australia to study in high school, I felt extremely emotionally burdened and homesick due to having the need to adapt to the lifestyle, education, people, language barriers, and new environment.

I felt extremely stressed and depressed for a while, but luckily as time passes, I was able to fully immerse myself into the new community, having been able to make new friends and participate in activities, and learn about the Australian culture.

But speaking frankly, I may have encountered more hardships if I was born in the eighties or earlier. One of the interviews really stood out for me, which is Joyce’s story that I had written. “It depends on your attitude when approaching hardships in life,” says Joyce. This was a very valuable insight that I gained throughout my internship experiences.

By listening to her story, I learned that although life isn’t always going to be happy and smooth as we idealized, we may encounter a lot of up and downs in life and we may feel frustrated and defeated, but it is essential for us to retain a positive attitude and outlook in order to overcome hardships and solve problems.

As Joyce told me she had to restart another career when she arrived in Australia instead of having her stable and successful career back in Hong Kong, I am deeply inspired by her boldness, toughness, and positive outlook in life.

My religion had also given me a lot of strengths in terms of overcoming challenges, and emotional burdens like homesickness and loneliness in Australia.

I am a Christian and it was unexpected for me to be invited to attend church in Australia when I was encountering a huge amount of stress and when I was emotionally vulnerable.

I was feeling lonely and defeated as I struggled to find a part-time job last year, but with the emotional support that the church community had provided me, I was able to be healed emotionally and improved my overall mental health and well-being.

Luckily, I was also able to find a part-time job in Australia after some struggles. Without the help of God and the church, I don’t think I would be able to overcome those struggles emotionally and mentally.

I was thankful to everything and everyone that I encountered throughout the journey. I remembered in one of my interviews with pastor Daryl, he told me that God loves and adores me no matter what. Although I was a bit traumatized by past struggles and events, I was able to strengthen my faith in God and build meaningful bonds and connections with people throughout those struggles.

Throughout the whole internship experience, I really want to thank Bev for helping me in terms of improving my writing skills and abilities by providing me with really helpful feedback and advice, also encouraging and inspiring me to go for my dreams and stay passionate for the things that I really want to achieve and do in life.

Bev was very encouraging and helpful in terms of suggesting different ideas for writing and improving my communication skills. I was very thankful for the experience and internship in Celebrate Living History as I had learned and experienced a lot!

By Isabella Chua

Lona Packer was dead-excited for her first date. Tucking her shaggy jet-black hair and hairy ears inside a beanie, the fifteen-going-on-sixteen year old inspected herself one last time in the full-length mirror. Her own outfit was adequate.