Meet Charmaine Jansz

What is your earliest childhood memory?

One of my earliest memories was walking home with my brother who is one and a half years younger than me, but we were around the same height. I used to try to embarrass him, as his friends thought I was his girlfriend, so I would try and hold his hand, but he would keep pushing it away. This happened on a regular basis.

What is your favourite travel destination that you have been to, and why?

My favourite travel destinations would have to be the United States of America, I have visited most of the states and loved going with my cousins as well. I also took a train around Canada and loved it. It was amazing. In Australia my favourite state would have to be Perth and place to visit would be Forster. I enjoyed going to both a lot.

How many grandchildren do you have, and what do you enjoy most about spending time with them?

I have five grandchildren and love them all dearly. The eldest is Tristan who is 22. He took after me. He is now doing landscaping as his career path. Then there is Bianca, she is 21. Emma follows Bianca. Emma is 18 years old, and I am very proud of what she has achieved.

She is now at university doing a science degree and she is also an artist. Then there is Poppy who is 15 followed by Hugo who is only six and I love sitting down with him and checking his homework. I love listening to them talk and laughing with them all.

How many siblings do you have?

I have two siblings, Hyacinth and Tyrone. Hyacinth is four years older than me and used to take us in a rickshaw to school when we were back in Sri Lanka.

Earliest childhood memory?

Tyrone was one and a half years younger than me. My grandmother felt she had to look at my face every morning to start her day. One morning Tyrone came up and scared her. Instead of slapping him, she went up to our mother and slapped her instead for allowing him to do that.

Together we used to play doctors and nurses a lot. Hyacinth was the doctor, I was the nurse and Tyrone was the patient.

What is the biggest challenge your family has faced together and how did you overcome it?

The biggest challenge my family had to overcome was moving from Sri Lanka to Australia. I was not married at the time and we all had no jobs. Every day from the day we came to Australia we would all go searching for a job. A few days later I got a job in the Reserve Bank. I made friends there and it became a lot easier.

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