649 聖誕新年感恩

今期是2021年最後一期出版的《同路人》,我們同事們會作小休, 明年1月14日繼續與讀者見面。回想這兩年新冠疫情, 我們只是在年初因為同事要隔離檢疫, 停止出版一次, 其餘時間我們都能按照計劃, 出版並在社區派發, 確實感謝那帶領我們經過困難的神。

在接近兩年沒有廣告的情況下, 我們得到長期認同我們要為華人社區帶來不受政治影響及持平信息的同路人, 仍然使用我們的廣告服務, 令我們不覺孤獨。我們更成為唯一兩次得到維州政府撥款支持的中文媒體, 使我們可以營運下去。通過減少每期篇幅, 我們減少了人力及成本開支。再加上我們堅信, 在疫境之下, 華人社區更需要正確的疫情訊息, 正是堅守我們當初創辦《同路人》時, 要服事社區的異象。正是這一切, 讓我們堅持到今天, 我無法不感謝與我們多年同行的支持者, 及差遣我們的神。

我更要感謝每一期為我們編寫、出版、發行、特別是仍努力為我們爭取廣告的同事及所有義工。是你們的付出, 讓我們可以祝福這一個社區。  從今期開始, 我們更會作出新嘗試, 把有一些文章, 會以聲音或視頻形式, 藉社交平台發放, 與社區共享, 你可以在我們的網頁上, 找到這些連結。在未來的日子, 我們的同事仍會盡力, 藉著不同的平台,與社區同行。

今天, 在澳洲人取得極高的疫苗接種率後, 政府展現出信心面對不可知的疫情。在將要來的聖誕節及新年, 澳洲將不會再次被封閉隔離起來, 事實上, 留學生及短期勞工從周三開始, 已能重抵澳洲。可以預計, 澳洲仍走向經濟重新發展之路。

為著這兩年來, 在疫境上我們仍得保護, 仍有盼望及出路, 我只能心存感恩。特別是在聖誕節, 我想到神願意來到世界, 與人同行, 正是在面對Omicron 帶來了不確定, 最好的安慰。

最後, 祝各位讀者, 聖誕快樂, 新年蒙恩! 明年1月14日再見。

周偉文 社長

Thanksgiving in Christmas and New Year

This is our last issue of the year before we take a brief break until the next issue comes out on 14/1/2022. Over the past two years of pandemic, we had only missed one publication due to guarantee arrangement of our staff. Thank God for allowing us the continuous delivery of Sameway to the community.

We have been running out of advertisement for almost two years; but we were not lonely as we have been supported by sponsors who recognise the need of a community media freed from political intervention. We were also the only Chinese media given twice of the Victorian government’s Covid grant for our continued operation. By cutting our expenses though reduced coverage and manpower, by faith we kept going with our very first vision that the Chinese community needs quality information, especially over this period.

I must thank all editing and production staff, the marketing team who has been working extra hard, and all volunteers, who have made every issue out. Your effort has been making our community a better one. From this onwards we would also try something new where you can access and share some of our articles through audio and visual links embed in our websites. Our team will explore further ways to reach the community with various media platforms.

Today with remarkable vaccination rate achieved in Australia, the government is confident that we should be able to tackle the situation even with unknowns. We would not be locked down anymore over Christmas/New Year, overseas students and temporary workers are coming back since Wednesday. Our economy is on its way back.

We have to say grace for having lived under protection and in hope for the past two years. Christmas specially reminds us the coming of Jesus to the world with us could be the best we can get in the midst of the uncertainties Omicron is bringing to the world.

Wish all readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! See you on 14^th January 2022.

Raymond Chow, Publisher