Growing up in a single parent family in rural Ireland: my mum risked everything for me
This was the second session that I’ve attended during Writer’s Fortnight, about the childhood of a member of the UWCSEA community, Ms. Santo, growing up with her mother in rural Ireland. I found this particular talk interesting, because it is such a foreign location for myself – it served as a reminder of how diverse of a background our community originates from. I wouldn’t have known how unorthodox being a single child under a single parent is, in this background. She said that rural Ireland, being consisted of almost all members of the community being deeply Catholic, it meant that most families had a certain stereotypical structure. A mother, a father, with many children. To not have a father as she grew up, as well as the significant lack of siblings, would have signified the fact that she was ‘different’ quite distinctly.
One part of the talk that really stayed with me after the talk would be her mother’s way of nurture. She mentioned that on multiple occasions her mother even went to degrees of being in debt, just to provide for a family holiday overseas. They would pay back their money with some struggles, only to borrow money again to repeat the same routine. My gut reaction to this was curiosity. I, personally, couldn’t exactly see at first sight the reasoning behind this. As someone who finds stability and security an important element for my well-being, this nurturing decision felt rather risky. However, I now see the importance of seeing what is beyond. Not being confined to a small bubble in which we live in, being able to step out to the wider world. Ms. Santo later added that these experiences overseas inspired her to travel and work in foreign locations, unlike many of her childhood acquaintances who stayed solely where they came from, never even travelling outside of Ireland.
As someone who travelled around the world probably more than your average individual, as someone who is studying overseas outside of my country of origin, and as someone who is privileged enough to attend a school such as UWCSEA (where there is a significant amount of diversity), I think it is important to remember what seeing the larger world can give to us. It is a crucial part of my upbringing that has shaped who I am, and I believe that her mother’s way of nurture has impacted Ms. Santo the same way.
