still a guitar guru

Nathan Cavaleri is all grown up and stuff

The PM and her chappy’s

There is a bit of kerfuffle at the moment surrounding the recent federal budget and the increase to funding the school chaplaincy program.

Christian’s are copping most of the disagreement surrounding the program for pushing their religious agenda and using the role for evangelism. I could be wrong but my understanding of this federally funded program is that the chaplains don’t necessarily need to be ‘Christian’ and that if a school chooses they can use the money to fund a Hindu chappy if they want. But it is mostly being taken up by Christians and christian organisations like Scripture Union.

I think we also need to be aware that scripture in schools is not directly linked to the chaplaincy positions so the argument that chaplains are responsible for all the scripture is false. Scripture is often undertaken by representatives from local churches to the school.

Personally I’m not a big fan of scripture in schools, I know it’s probably not going to win me friends with everyone but I’m not convinced that forcing a whole grade of students to sit in a seminar room for an hour to listen to one person who you have never met rant on about how amazing is Jesus is a good use of of time and resource. I know students don’t have to attend but from what i hear it’s parents have to opt out rather than scripture being an opt in session. I think if Christianity is to be discussed in a school it should be in things like lunchtime groups and breakfast clubs. With local church members attending every week not just once a term for a forced seminar. At the same time I don’t think it should be just Christians who run lunch time groups etc, I think all religions should be able to do the same.

I get a bit annoyed by Christians getting upset that their programs in schools are being more restricted when other religions arn’t even allowed in the gate.what right do we have to push our beliefs if others don’t have that same right.

Now to Chaplains, I have no problem having chaplains in schools, a person who is there a few days a week and can build relationships with the kiddies and also take part in programs and everyday school life. A person who is there to provide an alternative form of pastoral care and support. I think this support should be available to all kids in schools, but yet again I would prefer there was several chaplains representing different beliefs. I don’t think these chaplains should have counseling roles unless they have recognized training to do so. And I don’t think the government should be paying to provide chaplains. If religions and faith groups want to have chaplains in schools it should be like 10 years ago where their funding came from local churches and individuals.

The government should use the money it spends on chaplaincy to provide alternative student support roles like disability support staff, psychologists, community engagement officers etc…

I’m for chappy’s but not paid for by the government.

hurdle one

I have now received the form from Scotland that I need to fill and send back so they can give me my full birth details.

I have also encountered my first hurdle. I need to provide a form of ID along with the form which needs to be posted back to Edinburgh, I don’t want to just put my ID card in the post or similar. They don’t allow photocopies of documents.

I have emailed them to ask if there is an alternative.

Happy mothers day wife

Oscar and I made you a little video.

Mummy – happy mothers day from Robert Howie on Vimeo.

where did I come from?

About a week ago the state of Hawaii released president Obama’s full birth certificate so he could prove his birth occurred on US soil thus trumping the trump.

I have no idea how many of you know that I’m adopted, probably most of you and if you don’t know you probably don’t care because the only reason you are reading this post is becasue of a misguided google search.

Well I’m adopted, given up at birth by some mystery lady I have never met and nor has anyone in my family met. Don’t know her name, don’t know where she lives, don’t know anything about her really apart from second hand information given to my mum in the adoption process which is that I was born in Aberdeen Scotland and that the lady was young.

My parents began the adoption process when I was around 3 months old I think, they where living in Aberdeen at the time and wanted to adopt. I was being looked after in some place that cares for babies.  I’m not really sure how the choice was made to adopt me but for comedic effect lets say it was in a tacky photocopied catalogue full of baby mugshots and a short profile.

Anyway they picked me and began the adoption process, first with weekly visits, then daily visits, then staying over and eventually it was time to take me home and a a year and a bit later to Australia land.

I’m not sure if it’s the same in other countries like Australia but in Scotland my birth certificate was not issued until I had been adopted. Infact the date of issue is over 12months after my birth and it has my name as Robert Andrew Howie and no details of the mother or father, just my name, date of birth and city of birth.

Since late teenage-hood I seem to alternate quite regularly between wanting to know who my birth mother is and never wanting to know. At the moment I’m in a wanting to know phase and this has sent me on some internet researching on how to get the ball rolling.

I have no desire to join another family, or replace my amazing parents, it’s rather a combination of intrigue and also a sense of duty. I can’t imagine there would be any woman on the planet who gave up a child that wouldn’t spend time wondering who and what that child has become. Regardless of the circumstances for giving up a child surely there is a deep maternal longing to know that everything is ok.

So I feel it’s probably my duty to try and make contact if not for me but for her,and if it turns out she doesn’t want to make contact that’s ok but the option should be there.

Again i don’t know if it’s the same in other countries but in Scotland:

 birth parents have no statutory rights to tracing events or gaining access to Court papers etc. regarding adoption.

So it’s up to me, this woman may have wanted to make contact for the last 28 years or may not want to make contact at all but the only way to find out is if I do something because I’m the only one who has legal rights to access adoption papers,  full birth certificates and court documents.

The first step is for me to send a letter to the General Register Office of Scotland and request an extract of my original entry, they will then send me a declaration  form which I send back and hopefully this is what i will receive:

    •    further information about place and time of birth
•    the original name under which you were registered
•    your mother’s name and surname and possibly occupation
•    your father’s name, if recorded, and
•    the name and possibly the relationship of the person who registered the birth.
This information may also give you a lead into Adoption records or Adoption Agency records. You will also be told the location of your Court records.

Then with this new found information I hand over 100 pounds to an organisation called Birthlink who use the info to try and match records and hopefully track down contact details of my birth mother.  Birth parents can register with Birthlink and if their adopted out child also approaches birthlink there is an instant match in their records, if they have not registered with birthlink then the process can take 4 months to track them down.

So it could take ages, and then if it does work out and I’m given contact details for someone who carried me in their womb for 9 months I may be a little freaked out. But for now it’s a process I want to begin.

Maybe billy Connolly is my birth father? That would explain why I’m so friggen hilarious!!!!

Osama shot for freedom?

No-sama

“Osama Bin Laden is dead. So is a woman who was killed in the firefight, taken by Bin Laden’s people as a human shield. I want to know her name. I want the whole world to know her name, so at any point we think we can celebrate a human death, we’re reminded that no matter how much we try to justify it, the inevitable consequence of violence is sadness, pain, misery and loss.”

- Van Badham

“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”

- Mahatma Gandhi

Somewhere in Saudi a young Muslim terrorist is watching footage of people cheering in America and thinking to himself, “Those Christians are not so different from us afterall”

- Chad Holtz