Skype, texting and Facebook may have made it easier to keep in touch with sons and daughters who have moved abroad in search of work, but that doesn’t stop their families missing them.

Making the best of the heartbreaking situation so many families around the country find themselves in, a group of women from Freemount village, Co Cork, have started a club to help support each other and ensure that their loved ones feel remembered and connected to their home place.

The Kangaroo Club was the brainchild of Mary Healy who watched her son, Garvan, leave for Australia in the ’90s.

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“It was very different then, there were no phones, no Skype. Like single lads would be, he was moving around a lot to find work and you were just waiting and hoping he would be able to ring you soon,” Mary explains.

He met his wife, Brenda, in Australia, and they moved to Ireland to get married eight years ago.

However, work dried up and in August 2011, Garvan decided to move back to Australia. Brenda and their three children went after him the following Easter.

“I got the idea for the Kangaroo Club when Garvan’s family went out. So many of us have family in Australia and I thought of the name and I decided to start it up.

“It is great to have a bit of solidarity and it gives you a focus,” Mary explains.

Member Agnes Green’s son, Leonard, went to Australia six years ago.

“We are all lonely and we miss them, so it is great to meet up with other people and share our experiences and make the most of the contact we have with them.

“It is nice for our children, knowing they are being thought of at home and that we have each other to talk to,” Agnes says.

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The Kangaroo Club started off with meetings and sharing updates about their families’ new lives, but when Christmas 2012 drew near, they decided to mark the occasion with a remembrance tree. The club got to work, going door to door and asking if families wanted to purchase a €3 ribbon on the tree for someone who was abroad or someone who has died.

Mary Coleman, whose son, Michael John is married to his own Australian Kylie, explains that they never expected the huge response from the community.

“We ended up with almost 1,200 names, there were so many people who were away and every house had someone who had died,” Mary says.

After the annual mass for the dead on the 8 December, the community gathered in the garden near the heritage centre to watch as the lights on the tree were switched on to reveal 1,200 red ribbons.

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A laminated sign, painstakingly put together by Emer Healy, displayed each name.

Local carol singers performed and everyone gathered in the centre to warm up with a hot drink, followed by a visit from Santa with bags of sweets for the children. The club also donated €400 to St Vincent de Paul Kanturk.

The response from the community was outstanding, according to Mary Healy, even though several were overcome with emotion as they thought of their loved ones across the world.

“The great turnout showed the cooperation and spirit of the people, they were delighted, and even though there were a few that never stopped crying, everyone wanted to be there, to sit down and talk,” Mary says.

The Kangaroo Club also arranged Christmas cards, depicting the main street of the village, for the 20 or so Freemount natives living in Australia.

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The club didn’t stop there, having sent wedding presents and gifts for new babies.

Last June, they arranged their own Gathering, with a game of rugby and a concert which was attended by 14 Australians, including Leonard and Michael John’s families.

The sons and daughters of Freemount have ensured that their families know all about Irish traditions, and, during their visit, Michael John’s daughter, seven-year-old Timeeka, impressed the crowd with her Irish dancing skills, as she regularly attends her local feis at home in Australia.

The Kangaroo Club has given these women the opportunity to celebrate and learn about their families’ lifestyles in Australia. Mary Healy proudly dons a scarf hand-painted by Aborigines, and Mary Coleman shows off an impressive didgeridoo brought home by her daughter Susan on her return from Oz.

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“It is a beautiful token of Australia, but don’t ask me how to play it,” Mary says.

The Kangaroo Club shows how even the smallest of communities can keep connections alive in a meaningful way, and the benefits of sharing both the heartache and the joys of seeing their families leave the nest. CL