{"id":699,"date":"2022-04-01T08:38:45","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T06:38:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/?p=699"},"modified":"2022-04-01T08:39:39","modified_gmt":"2022-04-01T06:39:39","slug":"where-are-these-children-will-they-lose-or-reshape-their-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/?p=699","title":{"rendered":"Where are these children? Will they lose or reshape their identity?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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Two Sundays ago, on my way to join my friends at the\nnearby coffee shop, I stopped at a commercial space under renovation. The newly\nreplaced stained-glass pieces were in blue and yellow \u2013 the colours of Ukraine.\nI believe its owner did it purposely to mark the dark period we are\nexperiencing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Like most people, every day, I tune in to the news\nhoping that the Russians have stopped shelling the once-beautiful buildings and\nfertile soil of Ukraine. Like many aghast humans, I’m critical of how the writing\non the wall was ignored and wonder if the statement “since it’s not a NATO\nmember-country, we won’t intervene” nudged the aggressors to proceed with\ntheir nefarious deeds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While sipping our coffee, my French and Irish friends\nasked me about our sons. In the past, I was always bubbling with joy, narrating\nthe fun they have living in Canada and England. That afternoon, my answer was\none word, “fine”, and my thoughts shifted instantly to the Ukrainian\nchildren scattered outside their homeland.  About 1.5 million children have been reported to\nhave left Ukraine since the conflict began and millions more have been\ndisplaced internally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will they ever go back to Ukraine? When? What are the\nramifications of this uprooting from their culture at a young age? How can we\nhelp them with the psychological trauma of being separated from their families and\nfriends and being exposed to danger and insecurity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My two sons left home before their majority age, but it\nwas their choice and to prepare for a greener pasture. Yet, sometimes, I worry\nabout their detachment from Down Under. Last March 11, I gave pro bono lectures\nat H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher High School in Thionville about Australia. After I got home, I\nemailed them my PowerPoint slides with a note, “In case you want to update\nyour knowledge about your country of citizenship.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Identity is a conglomerate of attributes, qualities\nand values that define how we view ourselves, i.e. a sense of group\nbelongingness. An identity can be lost for months or years or suddenly\nfollowing a significant life event or trauma, such as war and conflict. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our sense of identity ought not to come from what\nothers think about us; we should not worry about being judged or measured by\nothers based on their criteria. Putting a permanent mask hiding our true\nidentity limits personal growth and happiness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe these Ukrainian refugee children long for\nsocial and cultural acceptance and reassurance from their admirable host\nfamilies who care for them and are cognisant of their culture and heritage. Kudos\nto everyone who has helped these children to be safe, have self-worth, find\npeace, and be reunited with their loved ones soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two Sundays ago, on my way to join my friends at the nearby coffee shop, I stopped at a commercial space under renovation. The newly replaced stained-glass pieces were in blue and yellow \u2013 the colours of Ukraine. I believe its owner did it purposely to mark the dark period we are experiencing. Like most … Continue reading Where are these children? Will they lose or reshape their identity?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-social-political-cultural-economic-issues"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":701,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699\/revisions\/701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}