Saturday, October 07, 2006

Chris Badman (Refugee Council): can't just wasn't a word

Our first contact with Ester was when she phoned up to find out about volunteering with us and she made an immediate impression. Ester was, passionate, informed, opinionated and engaging, traits we would all come to know, respect and love about her. Ester saw injustice in the way that asylum seekers and refugees were treated in the UK, and she was definitely going to do something about it.

She started volunteering with us in November 2004, placed initially in the day centre, which provides food, emergency help and social support to refugees and asylum seekers, many of whom are destitute and very vulnerable. Ester fitted in immediately, and it quickly seemed as if she had always been there. From her first day here, she was full of comments, questions and suggestions for how to improve things or do things differently.

She didn’t do the obvious and wasn’t really one for rules, if the system was wrong, you didn’t have to accept it, you had to explore ways around it, to subvert and bend it to suit your needs. Can’t just wasn’t a word in her vocabulary.

Ester made it clear that her real area of interest was unaccompanied asylum seeking children and she moved roles to work with a team of advisers and at the Tuesday evening social club. The social club was really where her heart was – she became a regular and very popular volunteer with an innate ability to relate to the children we work with and a mischievous sense of humour.

As her work commitments increased, her attendance became more unpredictable, she would turn up late, having travelled across London after a long day at work. She’d sometimes come into the building looking exhausted but as soon as she saw the children, she’d get the glint back in her eye and would be re-energised.

Like all of us, she was sometimes affected by the stories she heard from them, and we’d often debrief over a quick (or not so quick) drink after the social evening. Ester could sometimes show her vulnerable side during these drinks and could get quite emotional about the situations that were facing these children, who were far from home and separated from their families and loved ones. More often, though, Ester would support other volunteers and paid staff, and would always be one of the last people to leave.

Out of these discussions, Ester and another volunteer, Sarah, decided to organise a fundraising gig. Before we knew it, they had found a venue, musicians, someone to design and print publicity fliers (all for free) and had negotiated a percentage of the bar takings. This showed the number of people who would do anything for Ester, and her gift of the gab – I’m not sure that anyone could ever really say no to her once she got going.

Ester was a wonderful and committed humanitarian. She wanted to change the world for the better, and in 24 short years she did more to improve it than most people ever will. Her star shone briefly, but with a blinding brightness.

Ester, we’ll miss you and treasure our memories and our thoughts are with all your friends and family.

Joel Grishaver: Divine Tivo

rosh hashanah 5767

[Rosh HaShanah is the Jewish New Year.]

ester is dead
the earth is cold
grass is growing
God resets the Divine Tivo
there is a new fall schedule to record
new programs
new slots
new versions of the same nine stories
that play out
hour by hour
week by week
episode by episode
i am hours away from the fast
hours from asking "who shall live and who shall die"
hours from listing sins
and hoping to reboot my life
into a better schedule

in the same way i lie on my water-bed
and play back last week's programs on my Tivo
i sit here and play back images from my life
i highlight moments
and hope to finally click erase on others
i have a day of work ahead
programming my fall season
setting the series to record
and cleaning my hard drive

ester is dead
her smile when she sang recycles
the warmth of her hugs are still there
and i cry

God too
is making decisions
about what to record
what to ignore

The fall season is filled with new friends
new stories
new values
and new choices
i am the boss of my Tivo
i click on and off
i decide record and delete
set the number of shows to retain
would that my soul was that easy to program
would that i had a remote to pick and choose one button at a time
the actions and feels that will guide me
but television is always easier than life
cause there stories begin and end
and break for sponsors
while life oozes

the fast is coming
it will go slow
i have much to review this year
ester did that for me
making it a year filled with questions and work
and hope
all this will be guided by the memory of her smile when she sang
i will make my choices
still warmed by the memory of her hug
she having taught me
that choices matter
i will remember that
as i stand before life and death later today
and choose my programs.


shanah matok maror
Gris

: "Just as face answers face in a reflection in water,
so should one person's heart answer another" (Proverbs 27:19).

[One of the Hebrew greetings for the Jewish New Year means 'A good and sweet year'. The last line of Gris' poem means 'A sweet bitter year'.]