Page 8 of Who We Think We Are
T he next evening, Kate and Suze greet Grandma’s Table board members as they file into the board room at Canamine.
They use Kate’s boardroom because there’s a kitchen and an enormous table made from a live edge cedar slab that easily seats over twenty people, and the view of Vancouver Harbor, Stanley Park, and the mountains is spectacular.
“Welcome, everyone! Can we all have a seat?” Kate says.
Once they’re seated, she continues, “Tonight, we have a singular agenda. Suze and I plan to get you all excited about our seventieth-anniversary celebration and fundraiser and the PR campaign leading up to it. But we’ll start, as always, with dinner.
Who volunteered to feed us, and what did you bring? It smells so delicious!”
Three women tell the group what they’ve brought: samosas from India, perogies from Ukraine, and gyoza from China.
“When we talked about what we were going to bring,” says Gurleen Kaur, “we realized we were all bringing a version of dumplings. Rather than change it, we decided to feature it. Every culture has a version of dumplings. We decided to embrace a food that connects all of us. Plus, we all love carbs, right?”
That gets a laugh, and Gurleen continues, “Help yourselves.”
After they’ve eaten, Kaikara Akello tells the group, “I brought dark roast Ugandan coffee so we don’t fall into a carb coma during our meeting. But Kate, we have real chai for you since you are the only Dutch person in the world who hates coffee.”
“Thanks so much, Kaikara,” Kate laughs. I think I actually hate myself.
Suze starts her part of their presentation.
“The subcommittee planning the seventieth-anniversary celebration will make a presentation later. For now, suffice it to say, thank God for Darya. As treasurer, she gave us the brilliant idea to make it a fundraiser as well because—let’s be clear—we need the money.
Very soon, Canada will permit Syrian refugees into the country, and we want to help as many people as possible.
“For now, Kate and I will be talking about the PR campaign leading up to the celebration. We’ll start by giving you some herstory on the org, which is Kate’s and my herstory.
You know Kate and I are cousins, right? You can tell because we look so much alike!
” Everyone laughs. “My Bubbie, Rachel Kantor, and her brother, Szymon, were sent to Canada prior to World War II by their German Jewish parents. They lived on a farm with their aunt and uncle in Manitoba.” Suze pauses as coffee and a bamboo steaming basket with chocolate dumplings are passed around the table.
Suze takes a bite of chocolate dumpling. “Oh my God, Linh, these are amazing!
“Now, where was I? Oh yeah, Rachel and Szymon’s father, Saul, was a history professor and had been watching Hitler’s progression from the beginning.
He knew how things were going to go for the Jews in Nazi Germany.
He stayed in Berlin to help as many people get out as possible, and Sarah, knowing her children would be safe and well-cared for, stayed to help her husband.
In 1938, Rachel and Szymon left the farm and moved to Vancouver, where Rachel took an English as a second language class taught by Florence Hathaway, Kate’s great-grandmother. ”
Kate picks the story up from there. “Florence, Flo, and her husband and sons had lived abroad for ten years for his work. Chas worked for Canamine. Yes, the same company in whose boardroom we sit. They lived in Japan, India, Germany, and Holland in the ten years leading up to World War II, so they had also experienced Hitler and saw how bad things were getting, but they never guessed what was coming.” Kate takes a sip of her chai and smiles at Kaikara, giving her a thumbs up. I don’t deserve this.
“Flo and her family moved back to Vancouver just before she met Rachel in her class. Flo was a teacher, and in every country they lived in, she taught English to other teachers, who, in turn, taught it to their students. To give everyone practice and build understanding and tolerance, Flo started an international pen pal club.” Kate sits down and starts nibbling her chocolate dumpling.
Suze continues, “Thanks for bearing with us; this is important background. Rachel and Flo became very close. Our families have been intertwined since then. Rachel introduced Flo to her parents by letter, and Flo offered to help their mission. She and Rachel activated Flo’s network of friends, family, and international pen pals.
People from all over the world stepped up.
They helped sponsor, provide funds, and lobby governments to admit Jewish refugees, even though most countries were largely anti-Semitic and wouldn’t take them in.
But even so, Saul, Sarah, Rachel, Flo, and their people managed to save hundreds of lives.
We have no way to count how many. When the war started, Jews weren’t allowed to leave Nazi Germany anymore.
Rachel joined the Canadian Women’s Army Corps … ”
Kate stands up and picks up the story. “And Flo worked with the Canadian Jewish Congress, helping them lobby the federal government to admit Jewish refugees from other European countries, with very little success. It’s hard to believe, but the Canadian government was overtly anti-Semitic.
After the war, in 1946, Canada finally started admitting Jewish refugees.
Flo helped the Jewish Congress arrange for their arrival. ”
Suze continues, “That’s when Rachel and Flo started Grandma’s Table. They believed that helping refugees was not just a Jewish concern, and that all Canadians should be welcoming the Jewish refugees. So, Grandma’s Table got churches and other community groups involved.”
Kate finishes the herstory: “Once the Jewish refugee crisis was settled, there was another group of refugees, and then another, and another. The diversity of women around this table tells that story. Here we are, seventy years later, preparing for another group: Syrian refugees. Two women started Grandma’s Table, so we have kept it a women’s organization.
One final thing: sometime in the sixties or seventies, Grandma’s Table transitioned from being interfaith to being multicultural.
We don’t distinguish refugees or where we get our funding by religion. ”
“Now, I’m going to tell you what we have in mind for our PR campaign,” says Suze. “I hope you’ll love it. Partly, it will tell our organization’s herstory, which is why we just went into more detail than you’ve heard before. And here is what’s more exciting, I think.
“Kate knows Mei Leng. Yes, that Mei Leng! The reporter at the CBC. Mei has agreed to do interviews with several of you so that you can tell your refugee stories. You’ll be accompanied by Kate.
The interviews will start in December, after the beginning of Chanukah on December sixth, and end on January twenty-seventh, International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the day of our celebration.
The interviews will be shown on the news once a week for that period of time. ”
The group starts talking over Suze.
“Hang on one more minute. I can see that some of you are excited, and some are nervous. None of you has to do the interviews, but we hope many of you will choose to. It is entirely up to you. We want to show who we are as an organization, and if only Kate and I do interviews, it will be boring, one-dimensional, and not representative of who we are. If you’re nervous, Kate will be with you to lend her support. ”
Kate steps in. “I’m going to leave this discussion in your capable hands, everyone. I need to get to the airport for a flight.”
As Kate leaves the boardroom, she bumps into her supervisor, Bob Brown. “Kate, I need to talk to you. Come into my office. Please.”
“I can’t, Bob; I’ve got to catch a flight.”
“You can take a minute.” Bob walks into his office. Kate follows him. Shit! I almost got away!
“Kate, what the hell is going on? You’re being so mysterious.”
Kate tells him the sanitized story she told Suze. I can’t make up too many stories, or I’ll lose track!
Bob says, “But you are needed here! We’ve got some important things happening. You can’t just disappear.”
“Bob, I’m taking my bereavement leave and tacking a bit of vacation time onto it. But OK, I’ll meet you partway. I’ll have Liling forward critical emails to me, and if you really need me for something, shoot me a text, and I’ll get back to you.”
“I don’t like it, Kate. But I can see there’s no stopping you. Be back in two weeks.”
“Thanks, Bob. I will if I can,” Kate says and leaves before he has time to respond.
Anne, Suze’s wife, drives Kate to the airport.
“Suze is worried about you, Kate.”
“I know, Anne. I kind of am, too. I’ll be alright.
I’ve just got to do something productive, and I can’t focus on work.
Finding out more of Oma’s story is what I need to do.
It’s the last thing I can do for her, and Grandad wants me to, so I’m doing something for him too.
At least I’m not a completely selfish jerk. ” But actually, I am .
When Kate gets on the plane, before she turns off her phone, she sends her dad a text: “I’m going to Holland to gather stories for Oma’s eulogy. I know this is hard for you, too. Please go see Grandad every day. Thx. Love, Kate.”
At precisely midnight, Kate’s plane takes off for Holland.
As the plane climbs, Kate looks out the window and watches as the twinkling lights of Vancouver recede into the distance.
Her heart aches for Grandad. She can’t get the image of him sitting in Oma’s wheelchair holding their wedding picture out of her mind.
She misses Oma with every fiber of her being, so she can’t begin to comprehend what Grandad is feeling.
If she’s being honest, Kate also feels relief that she doesn’t have to face Suze, unable to look her in the eye.
I have to figure out how to fix this. How, I have no idea .
I’ll just have to figure it out as I go.
I wonder what I’m going to face over there?