Under the watchful eye of an oppressive government, Georgiana Karam scrutinised her every move.
She was careful not to step out of line. For one wrong move – one wrong word – could mean persecution.
Ms Karam was born in Romania under dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, whose notorious rule ended less than a decade later when he was executed by firing squad on Christmas Day, 1989.
It was a tumultuous time, even for a young child.
She remembers a childhood defined by scarcity and control. Supermarket shelves stripped bare, a relentless pressure to stay silent, and a system where traveling even locally required government approval.
Those were the quet realities of Ms Karam’s first five years.
“It was very difficult, because you could not say anything,” she said.
“If you were outspoken and expressed yourself freely, not only would you as an individual go to jail, but the entire family would basically disappear.”
As a child, Ms Karam imagined she would become a judge, but in her final year of school in 1989, she was unable to sit Romania’s university entrance exam, when the Romanian Revolution, during which Ceaușescu was executed, disrupted schooling and overturned the curriculum.
Instead, Ms Karam became a journalist studying at university during the day and volunteering at a national newspaper in the evenings.
By the time she graduated, Ms Karam became a full-time reporter at the paper. Although communism in Romania had fallen, speaking publicly about government issues or corruption had severe consequences, which Ms Karam experienced firsthand.
Ms Karam published an article about a Romanian senator who was accused of running a sex ring. The senator had confessed to the corruption on tape.
For the next six months, Ms Karam said she was followed and threatened by those seeking retribution. Her brother helped her go into hiding, and her work colleagues secured her a protection visa overseas.
In 1994, at age 24, Ms Karam fled to Australia to make a new life for herself.
“I escaped that system for freedom,” she said.
Ms Karam said she loved Australia from the second the plane touched down, and gained Australian citizenship in 1996.
Thirty years on, Ms Karam has woven herself into the local community – through her work as an early childhood educator and her contributions to arts and sporting organisations.
By 2008, she was a mother to two boys, Noah and Adam, who are now 16 and 18.
Her experience with childcare left her wanting more. So she created her own centre at Heritage Park, called Adam & Noah Early Learning College.
It was of course inspired by her sons.
“I started [Adam & Noah College] because of the love I have for my boys, and I realised that we are lacking the first five years of education at any level,” she said.
“The child care industry is a babysitting industry instead of operating for educational purposes.”
For the past several years, Ms Karam has been writing a curriculum for early childhood education, which she hopes will be established nationally and implemented internationally, too.
Staff at Adam & Noah College are trialling the curriculum, as are three other local pre-schools.
Ms Karam explains that her curriculum is run like a ‘mini school’ with classes in drama, sport, music, literacy, and numeracy.
“The curriculum is not for children to read and follow; it is designed to be instructions for teachers, so that they have everything planned already for lessons.
“It’s a long process to put together teachable material for young ones that is different than schooling, but once we have written lessons for each day for every single age group across five year levels and tested the effects,” then it can be implemented nationally, Ms Karam said.
In the next year, Ms Karam hopes to test the curriculum in 36,000 centres and is currently working with a high-profile developer to roll a digital program out to educators.
She hopes her efforts will bring change to the sector, which needs to take a hard look at priorities like program delivery methods, staffing, and safety, Ms Karam said.
When she’s not looking to change the future of early education in Australia, Ms Karam is busy helping drive the community.
Recently, Ms Karam helped establish the Logan City Symphony Orchestra, of which Adam & Noah College is the major sponsor.
“I raised the funds through our annual gala, and thanks to that, the orchestra has been able to perform twice this year.
“For the first time, Logan has an orchestra – 70 high-class symphonic musicians.”
Today, Ms Karam is a long way from the Romania of her childhood – a place where voices were silenced and futures were assigned, not chosen.
Here, in Logan, she has built a life for herself and others, defined by the very freedoms she once feared she may never know: to speak, to create, to nurture, and to give back.
