ADVERSITY LEADS TO ONE WOMAN’S IDENTITY By Debra Mar Photos: Yanni
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t doesn’t take much prompting to peel back the layers of emotion to reveal the anger and hurt of this strong, determined woman. Local writer and radio presenter Debra Mar met up with Kim Isaacs to unleash her life journey that found her in a serendipitous situation that will amaze. It’s not often you are given the opportunity to sit opposite a colourful, dynamic and focused individual who is straight to the point, yet she is a kind, sensitive and nurturing woman who loves to tell her life story without prejudice. Kim Isaacs has travelled a long winding, undulated path that features family drama and morass. Born in the 1950’s Kim grew up in a loving family with a Mum and Dad and one sister, a year her junior in a Melbourne Bayside suburb. She had a normal upbringing, like any kid in a white Australian household. She was schooled under the austere regime of Catholicism and feared the disciplinary measures of the catholic order, habited nuns and lay teachers.
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24 | PENINSULA
Spring 2015
Asked what she was like as a child Kim replies, “I hear people’s voices telling me who I was, more than my awareness of who I was. Everybody told me I was always bossy, that I have that school teacher vibe around me in the way I spoke.” She hastened to add, “But I was always the ‘good girl’ at school and very protective of my younger sister.” Once Kim hit teenager years it was a different story. Kim always gravitated towards children. She had a caring and fostering quality claiming that when she had a birthday party she would invite the whole class because she didn’t want any to feel left out. She would often ask her Mum why she looked different to everyone in the family. Her Mum would be “clutching at straws to try and find a likeness, or fob me off with something else,” says Kim. A kindergarten teacher, she married and raised four children under the Steiner education system. Completing Steiner Teacher Training, dabbling in the retail sector and studying counselling and psychotherapy helped set the foundation for what the future would hold for Kim.