Waiting for apology... by Barbora Misakova

Being without family and their help and support is probably the worst thing I could ever imagine. Just the simple idea I should have been separated from them and shipped off to the foreign and unknown country scares me to death. And I am 24 years old now. Image you are about 3 – 4-year old boy or a girl, you are told you have no family, that you are an orphan and that is the reason why you are going to be sent to a place you have never seen, but which will guarantee you better life and future. Human imagination is able to create the most beautiful pictures, and that children’s one is even more creative. But then, when no miracles are happening, you are lost and ! lonely. When the British government was shipping off poor British children to the colonies, most of the people thought it is a good choice for everyone. Now, when we see clearly what was waiting for children in Australia, Canada and other colonies, we can declare it was everything else than happy life. Between 1618 and 1967 there have been 150,000 British children shipped abroad, most of the children went to Australia through various programs run by the government, religious groups or children’s charities. Many children were taken from unmarried mothers and impoverished families and were sent alone as migrants. British government believed they were doing their best to improve children’s life; actually they did the exact opposite. Many of them ended up in institutions where they were physically and sexually abused, or under the best of conditions they were sent to work as farm laborers. Forty years after the program was stopped Britain and Australia are saying &#! 8220;Sorry”. Even though we cannot change history, this ! symbolic al apology was more than necessary.

related story (sgx15907): http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091115/ap_on_re_us/child_migran...

by Barbora Misakova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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