The Strategist

"I want to live a happy and meaningful life"

 Elias Hallaj is well-known in Canberra’s social media circles and political scene. If you follow the #Canberra twitter hashtag you have probably come across his tweets sharing Canberra sunsets and trying to link people from different networks.

I was very glad to meet him in person when he answered my call for people to get involved in the “Hat of Many Dreams” project. It turned out, he is a man of many calls and he is juggling quite a few hats any given day: A Canberra lover, always ready to showcase its vibrant culture, activities and special nature spots. A passionate food connoisseur, running his own blog focused on affordable food. A witty and very spot-on political observer and mediator. A hands-on dad and a dedicated family man. 
He proudly – yet modestly - describes himself as “a father, husband and happy employee of the Labor Party”.
During our conversations, I was amazed how effortlessly he seemed to connect everything and “navigate” through subjects with ease, how naturally he could multitask.

As a person who spends lots of time writing, I always enjoy when I find someone who appreciates semantics as much as I do. Elias is a great interlocutor and we enjoyed a quick talk about the word “dream” and its possible meanings. We agreed to use “aspiration”, in his case, as he doesn’t consider himself much of a dreamer but rather an amused observer.

His house is full of love: 5 daughters, 2 dogs and a wife who he sees as a role model, his best sounding board and counsel. When I asked Elias what is his biggest aspiration, his answer didn’t come as a total surprise. Yet it is probably the best answer I have got to date: “I want to live a happy and meaningful life. I think I already am living this life. Yet I am trying every day to look at the ways to make it more meaningful and to induce this into my daughters’ upbringing as well. I consider myself lucky to be whom I am and to be where I am; my appreciation and love for my family keeps me going, as well as our values”.

I asked Elias if he ever had any regrets. "I try not to have any regrets but I do sometimes wish I knew as much about life, people and politics when I was 15 as I do now. I like to keep my inner child alive, it is important to have that bit of yourself alive, especially when parenting, but also in everyday life situations”.

As a migrant myself, I never try profiling; yet I cannot help but find fascinating the stories and experiences of other people when it comes to culture fusion.
Elias and his parents moved to Australia when he was only 2. His father and mother were his first role models and he considers himself an equal product of Lebanese heritage and Australian upbringing; “I appreciate both my wog and bogan influences and cherish both. When we moved, I wasn’t speaking English. By the time I finished primary school, I was a big reader and I remember going to the local Library regularly. I particularly enjoyed Asterix and Tin Tin books.
Coming out of High School, I had already signed up to be an engineer in the RAAF in Year 11 and was awarded an officer cadet scholarship to go to ADFA after finishing year 12”.

Although he finished a mechanical engineering degree Elias has developed a different career path. He had various part-time jobs at university and became involved with the Students Union and Young Labor, he also worked for the students’ paper. Aptly named “Tharunka” (Message Stick), the newspaper opened his appetite for politics and soon Elias found himself regularly volunteering for the NSW branch of the Labor Party. Before moving to Canberra he had already worked for two MPs and a Union as a Publications and Training Officer.
“Politics can be addictive – few other occupations give you a greater insight into such a range of human emotions on a daily basis. When you win election campaigns it’s euphoria, when you lose, it feels like someone died”.
Elias enjoys working behind the scenes and when I asked how he would use those hypothetical 15 minutes of fame, his answer came naturally: “I would love to tell more people why they should vote for progressive policies and support democratic change”. In fact, his current position within the Labor Party does exactly that: promotes Labor values and focuses on training programs, including overseas and international development.

Elias feels mostly at home during his walks along Ginninderra Creek and West Belconnen. I was fortunate enough to accompany him in one of his early morning walks . His love for the local culture shows, as he naturally – and proudly – showcases the beauty of the walking trails, as well as the cultural heritage. I was very grateful to learn both about the Latham Stepping Stones and the Umbagong Park Grinding Stones, which has a history going back thousands of years to the Aboriginal times. He took the time to explain to me the meaning of the name. The recent rains raised the usual water level and we couldn’t see the grooves very well.
“Can you imagine how happy and content a family would have been in this beautiful landscape when they used to live here thousands of years ago?” he asked. And we did. Within our imagination, we could see it for a few minutes: a simple life on the edge of a river, co-existing peacefully with mother nature.

Elias is also known for his food appreciation, shown on his blog, CBR Foodie. “The blog has a funny background story – I started it to learn how to use WordPress and it sort of developed a life of its own. I’d like to spend more time on it but have too many other distractions and am lucky to post once or twice a month. I do much more on twitter and Facebook as I find they are more immediate conduits for sharing”.

The food appreciation shows even in the smallest details: one of the things I have learned about Elias is that he likes to make his own hummus from scratch. I make my own too but I only used chickpeas cans, I have never really boiled the chickpeas. So naturally, I wanted to explore the subject of comfort food - is there certain nostalgia when one prepares a specific type of food? Does it make one happy; does it make one think of something specific? Why do we all have a particular dish that we love so much because it brings loving memories?
“Mum is a fantastic cook and her tabbouleh is unbeatable. When I do find the time, I like to explore food experiences. I think much of modern food culture is quite unnatural and commercially-motivated. I learnt at a young age that it’s much more important who you share a meal with than what or where you eat. You can have the best dinner in the world for less than $15 if it’s with someone you care about and whose company you enjoy”.

 

 

 

The Healer

"My dream is to become the nurse that I want my family and loved ones to have"!

“Call me Nurse Emma”! The radiant smile, the diploma in Nursing and the kind, beautiful blue eyes are not enough for me to detail the importance of this moment. I feel privileged that I am part of it. It’s impossible not to love Emma: she has the biggest heart and she is always there to offer a hand, always smiling, always compassionate and optimistic, despite life’s many turns.

 

As a young woman coming out of school, Emma trained hard and joined the Navy when she was only 21. She worked hard preparing for deployments, doing active service in countries at the opposite end of the world. One her most special memories is being part of the ANZAC Ceremony in Jordan.

“Train how you fight, fight how you train” – it’s how her generation was taught. She remembers a particular moment when her training kicked in, while tasked to find a merchant ship crew member in the red sea.

 

After a 6 month deployment in the Middle East, Emma was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, at only 24. She remembers that time as a particularly hectic year and she considers herself fortunate that she had her mother’s support during this trying time. “Wherever mum and my birds are, that is home to me”.

She is also grateful for the special bond she shares with her Navy fellows, remembering how the sailors from HMAS Harman drove her to and fro, between her home and the hospital to receive treatment. “I didn’t know any of them, but the true Navy spirit prevailed. The hospital contacted the department and then they all organised the transport”.

Emma has been 4 years in the clear now and she is looking forward to next year, when she will be considered effectively cured and she will able to donate blood – something she always wanted to do, to help those in need.

The career switch from Able Seaman to Nurse doesn’t come as a surprise for anyone who really knows Emma. “As a little kid, ever since I can remember, I wanted to be a vet. Coming out of high school, I wanted to be a nurse. I have always felt a sense of duty or service - whether it be to my community or country. Nursing is very similar to Navy, in many ways: one works in shifts at the oddest hours, you always have to think on your feet, always being part of a team that has to keep everyone’s best interests at heart. Human medicine is so interesting. And as a nurse, I feel that I am in a rare and very privileged position – you look after a person when they are at their most vulnerable moments and you are there to help them. I remember that during one of my placements, a gentleman asked me – How do you cure depression? – He was upset about dying. It was a simple question with a complex answer and it affected me a lot; I wanted to do more for him. I couldn’t cure his depression and being a student I couldn’t do much. But I could talk to him. And I mentioned his feelings in his clinical notes, in order to get him the support he needed. We discovered a common bond too – he was an ex-Navy man too.

To Emma, life is about being selfless. This reflects not only in her career choices but also in her involvement with the wildlife rescue. There is no greater joy for her than when she is successful in rescuing animals in distress and then releasing them again in their habitat. I was lucky enough to even witness one of the rescues, when a Galah bird was trapped inside the front side of a car.
Some days are sad, like when she had to attend to 2 cockatoos – none of them made it. But some others are filled with immense delight, at the sight of the rescued little critters thriving while in her care. “Take Arlo, for example. He was really lucky. He is so little; it really was his lucky day. He got bitten by a dog – his skull and the bottom jaw were perforated – it’s a wonder he is still alive. But he has recovered really well. I have been able to successfully release him recently. I first had to wait for him to have a successful shed, to make sure there were no complications and that he was ready to be released in the wildlife”.

I asked Emma if – hypothetically – she had those 15 minutes of fame, how would she use it?  She didn’t hesitate for a second: “– I don’t like fame, but I think I'd advocate for flying foxes. I’d try and show the world that they're not disease-ridden vermin but incredibly smart animals that are key components of our environment.”

In her childhood, Emma looked up to Hayley Lewis as her role model - this was at around the time of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. Nowadays, she doesn’t have a specific role model – she gets inspired daily by the people around her: “I use bits and pieces of people who I admire and aspire to be like them".

There were times when Emma doubted herself and had a sense of failure for having to hit 'restart' on her career and moving home again. But every way I look at it, I see a winner and a role model for people of her generation. A very capable young woman, determined to follow all her dreams.  She has recently started to work as an Enrolled Nurse and I am sure that this is just the beginning of a great career.

“My biggest dream is to become the nurse that I want my family and loved ones to have: confident in my abilities, compassionate, professional, highly skilled, an advocate for my patients”.
I also want to further my scuba diving experience and become a dive master. I want to marry and have kids. I dream of a nice property where I can look after and rehabilitate critters. Where do i see myself in 5 years? I'd love to keep being a nurse (whether it's EN or RN), I'd love to become a dive master, continue doing wildlife rescue/rehab whether it be in Canberra or elsewhere.  I’d also LOVE to find Mr. Awesome and somehow I’d like to become an advocate for young adults going through cancer”.

 

 

The Inquisitive Man

"I want to be a lots of things. I can be anything I want!"

"This is called a beam and beams are used in constructions. I am making a house and I am adding the finishing touches".
One of the things I like about Master George is his eloquence. When he meets someone new, he introduces himself and then he is able to carry out an entire conversation – one doesn’t even have to try hard to interest this 3yo in having a chat.

“When I grow up, I can be anything I want. I want to be lots of things. But first, I think I want to be a fire fighter because it’s hard work. Then I am going to be a builder because I want to build houses and fix things. And I want to drive diggers and construction machines. I love big cranes, graders and excavators. I want to be a truck driver and a gardener and I want to be a teacher like Mr McCoy. I can’t speak Spanish but I speak excavator. I want to be a photographer too, but only when I have time from my driving because I might be tired from all that hard work”.

His personality is already quite complex, hinting at the man he is going to be: there is the pensive George, the cheeky one, the humorous, the caring, the clever and above all, the inquisitive. There aren’t a lot of “whys” during a typical day with George. His favourite question is “How does this work?”
How does an engine run? What makes it go? How do the wheels spin? How does the light turn on? What is electricity – how does it get through to the toaster? How did the Fire Engine at the Museum melt? How is the rain made? These are just a few of the question you might expect if you cross paths with this amazing little man.