Name
Charles Jaji

Birthplace
Sydney, Australia

Lives
Sydney, Australia

Your organisation/community Bosco Hockey Club at Engadine NSW and Sutherland Shire Women's Hockey Assoc

Profile

I was born in 1955 at Ryde Hospital, Sydney NSW. My parents had just purchased their first home at Meadowbank. Mum and dad, as well as two sisters, had immigrated to Australia from Lebanon in the late 1940s (perhaps 1949). I now have six sisters and a brother. My father was a farmer who shared a family farm in a small southern mountain town "Chlefa". My mother was the daughter of a Stone Mason/Builder. Her mother ran, what we would call a small hobby farm. My parents were both Maronite Catholics, which automatically made me one (although I was baptised in an Australian Roman Catholic Church). My surname is unique and not the same as my fathers family. Dad changed his surname to Jaji when he came out to Australia. Our surname was named after the town where my father was born. My upbringing was both tough and beautiful. We were different from other Australians, we ate different foods and sang and spoke in a different language. I lived in a cul de sac across the road from a park. In the early days, we were the only family around our neighbourhood with an ethnic background. There were a lot of children sharing the park, and as I was "different", I found myself getting into a fair bit of strife. I realised early in life that bias was only a result of cultural differences and misunderstandings. This was a good grounding in learning tolerance. Most of my friends would regularly visit our home and try out all the "different" foods we ate. Mum baked Lebanese bread once a fortnight, and the neighbourhood kids would all line up for what they called "newspaper bread". My wife's mother is of Irish catholic background, although she grew up a Baptist. Her father was from the Scottish Montgomery clan, and very proud of it. We have three beautiful children, two girls and a boy. My oldest daughter is studying Osteopathy at University. My other two children attend high school. I believe my upbringing in this country has given me a vast wealth of knowledge in the understanding of the "human being". I believe (and hope) all our Spiritual/Religious (and other beliefs structures') will one day merge, just like our physical bodies have through multi-cultural marriages and unions. I am now experiencing the moulding of a new age Australian. I love children, reading, sport, gardening and the great outdoors. I am currently a women's hockey coach, and coach junior and adult teams. I'd never thought of myself as being a hockey coach, as rugby league was my sport, but stranger things have happened. I have come to realise that material wealth is an illusion and is short lived. I would love to see "real peace" on this planet before I go to the "otherside", and while I'm here, I will try to do my best to help achieve this result. Love and peace to all my fellow human beings.