Page 13 - IFAFA ebook v4

5.

Mary Burke

Buswells Hotel, April, 1980. A palpable tension in the air, would

anybody come? Would the fledgling association that had been

launched in New York the previous autumn (spearheaded by

Bernadette Hamill) be well received in Dublin? Thankfully, that

April evening a group of between 45 and 50 people attended and a

very lively and passionate meeting ensued. High on people's agenda

were planned postings, school fees and prompt reimbursement of

medical expenses. Forty years later much has been achieved

regarding issues raised at that first meeting. Hopefully, even more

will be achieved in the coming years particularly in terms of

pension issues.

Having served on the committee during the early years (1980 -

1984) my husband Martin and I were posted abroad and did not

return again until he retired in 2015. We had six consecutive

postings together with our children. Boarding school was tried but

not appreciated by child number one... and subsequently all were

schooled at various postings. Our children expressed the view that

it was initially difficult to adapt to each new country, taking about

six months, and while leaving was equally difficult, all of them still

keep in touch with friends worldwide. The one point they all agreed

upon was having spent so many years abroad, on returning home to

attend university, they were sometimes not perceived as being

Irish, which caused them to question their identity.

Moving from country to country, as most people would agree, is

challenging. In moments of crisis one is very dependent on one's

own resources. I particularly remember during our posting in

Washington DC our daughter having a life-threatening illness, and

it was during times like that the support of close family was missed.

But being abroad is also enormously enriching and gave us so many

opportunities to appreciate other people and their cultures. My

fondest memory was being present at the Nobel ceremony in

Stockholm when Seamus Heaney was awarded his Nobel prize for

literature and how proud we were of him and Ireland.

Finally, a big thank you to Bernadette Hamill, who set all this in

motion, along with a group of visiting diplomatic spouses who were

in New York with their husbands for the UN General Assembly in

1979. I also want to thank all the committee members who worked

tirelessly over the subsequent years to improve conditions for all in

the Foreign Service family.

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