Mrs Chedra’s daughter, Kaukab (also known as Kathy), passed away in March 2009. People will be sure to remember Kathy as she handed out her petitions to support people with mental health problems at Friends of Callan Park meetings, at Council and elsewhere around the community.
Mrs Chedra particularly wanted Friends of Callan Park to speak at her daughter’s funeral and Hall Greenland wrote the following message, delivered by Adrienne Shilling.
‘Although Kathy’s death was caused by cancer, her three children and Mrs Chedra would like you to know that donations may be made to the Schizophrenia Research Institute.
On behalf of The Friends of Callan Park I’d like to pay tribute to Kathy who was a frequent supporter of our long campaign to save Callan Park. We have always aimed to save both the hospital and the open space at this iconic site and Kathy was right behind us. She was a frequent attendee at our monthly gatherings and at our public meetings. She was always vitally interested, asking questions and making suggestions. She was never just a follower.
She was also – and this is how many of us will remember her - a tireless petitioner. She always came to a meeting with a petition demanding justice and better treatment for people with a mental illness. No one could leave the meeting without signing that petition. She was often, but not always, with her mother Georgette – or Mrs Chedra as most of us know her.
She was in many ways very much her mother’s daughter – an active and passionate fighter for justice. We will miss her – people with a mental illness need all the champions and campaigners they can get. Yes, those of us left behind will miss her lively presence and strong support, but we will continue to be inspired by her example.
Kathy can rest easy that the Friends of Callan Park will continue to carry forward her deep and compassionate work for a more humane society.’
Hall Greenland
Contact details for the Schizophrenia Research Institute
www.schizophreniaresearch.org.au
contact@schizophreniaresearch.org.au
Ph: 02 9295 8688.
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Below are two poems by the late Kaukab (Kathy) Chedra
Love for you
Here I sit, thinking of you
Hoping you’re thinking of me.
And wishing that you were ever so near …
Yet what does it matter
If you’re not true
The days are so long
My heart is filled with pain.
I call upon you so many a day.
Waiting and wondering
While hours go by.
What is the answer
For whom do I cry … if ever.
Does it matter any more,
For our love is still not strong.
Do we have to wait
For time only tells
Our true fate.
Months may go by,
For we know this is true,
That our love for each other
May not blossom.
But take hold of me & you.
Can Life Survive
Together we stay for
Company and love
Yes love …
We go on with what
Feels good, not really
Caring, just living
Burdens and strife
Coming yet also going.
