Friday on My Mind

Written by: Rosemary McKenzie-Ferguson

Last Friday yet another group of participants graduated from Craig’s Table. It is always a bitter sweet day. This group was small in number but large is presence, they have grown together in ways that at first was difficult to imagine, each member of the group as individuals are very different from each other, yet the bonds that are now in place will forever more be there to support each of them and also to help the next group to also reach the highest of their abilities.

Friday was interesting to watch as a spectator. The lunch was prepared by other participants, a simple meal, however the laughter was real, there were children running around and there was such happiness that has to be experienced to be understood. Even though I have been a part of this day many times before, it is always heart-warming to watch from the vantage point of being the Founder of Craig’s Table and also from the vantage point of being a member of the injured worker community. 

Just 3 short months back this journey began, the challenge was for each of the participants to take on and to grow with. The knowing that each of them had that others before them had achieved not just a Graduation Certificate from Craig’s Table but others had also regained employment as a result of the training spurred each of them on. As a result; each of them has done more, pushed harder, achieved a higher level of self-belief and self-determination.  Employment interviews have been made whilst another is looking at setting up his own small business. The outcomes for each of them is not what they had anticipated they would find.

As I sat and watched each of them on Friday, I marvelled at the lightness in their steps, the laughter that spilled freely, the sheer joy of being in each other’s company.

For all the machinations that at times tie me to my desk for hour on endless hour, for all the times when belief and hope that there is to hold on to, for all the concerns that each participant brings to the table, for all the times when there just isn’t enough time to build all that is needed but somehow always seems to just fall into place, as I sat there on Friday watching everything go on around me I knew two things: I knew just how privileged I am to have the participants come in and to trust my work and I knew that I would not want to be anywhere else than at Craig’s Table.

Please come join me. 

Yours in service
Rosemary

www.craigstable.net.au
rosemary@craigstable.net.au
SKYPE Rosemary2412
March 17^th 2019