By the time you receive this Newsletter, the first month of 2009 would have passed; we would have celebrated two New Years (one which began on the 1st of January and the other, according to the Chinese calendar, began on the 26th January – which according to the oriental zodiac is the year of the Ox); the first African American would have been sworn in as the 44th President; your children would have returned to school (another reason for celebration!); and many of those New Year’s resolutions you made would have been forgotten.

At the beginning of each year, we greet our friends and family by wishing them a “peaceful and prosperous New Year”. It is a greeting based on hope and the universal yearning of the human heart for a life filled with opportunities, fulfillment and wellbeing. However, even as we offer these salutations, we are aware of some of the difficult realities in our lives and the uncertainties about the future we will face.

Unfortunately, if our Prime Minister, President Obama and countless economists are right, we are facing a serious recession in 2009. They refer to the 'global finalcial crisis' and the impact it is having right across the world. Unemployment is one of the first major casualties of an economic slump. This means that many who are currently employed will lose their jobs and those looking for work will have difficulty in finding employment.

What can we do, I hear you ask? Whatever happens, especially for those without work, you need to make good use of all the opportunities that are available to improve your skills and English language while seeking employment. One is never too old to expand one’s qualifications. I have a friend – a married woman with six children. Once her children had left home, she decided to take on another career at age 65. She entered university and four years later, graduated as a lawyer and is now employed in a solicitor’s firm.

For more details about some of the courses and programs that are available, please see the two articles in this Newsletter regarding employment entitled: 2009 – A Difficult Year for Employment (page 3) and CatholicCare Fairfield (page 4).

Here is the good news. Once you become an Australian citizen, you can become the Prime Minister even though you were born in another country. However, to become the President of the United States, even if you are a citizen, you have to be born there, just like Baraka Hussein Obama. We wish him well.

With warm regards,
Jim Carty