The Family Issue
Journey In Time What does it mean to be a Third Culture Kid? Tanglin student Rohan looks to his own ancestors for the answer and discovers an important truth about family For this special issue, The Voice invited Year 9 student Rohan, who is a contributor to Tanglin’s The Last Word magazine, to write a piece on his own family. The Last Word is an independent online newspaper written by Senior School students; its corresponding CCA provides a platform for different interests and opinions, while also supporting the development of writing skills. “All of us have a family history of sorts, whether it is known inside out by family members or only vaguely remembered. For those of us who are part of an expatriate community, these stories carry particular significance and personal value; it can become incredibly easy for our family history to become lost, either in translation, through missing records, or because relatives died young or split up. While these events are hard to prevent, we as expats can do our best to stay in touch with our heritage. The easiest way for us to maintain this connection with our roots is to keep the stories of our family alive, and that’s why I’m about to tell you the story of my great-grandfather, Harold, who left Kielce, Poland, in 1913 to find a better life in Canada. The story of my great-grandfather starts
40
Above: Harold (left) and his younger brother Joe. Below: the passenger manifest from Harold’s journey on the Montezuma in 1913.