Kairos Retreats Class of 2017

BIDYADANGA: LA GRANGE REMOTE COMMUNITY SCHOOL

Griffin Binning (11.1), Ashley Lloyd (11.4), Alexander Rossi (11.7), Samuel Symons (11.5), Mr Michael

Murphy

We didn’t really know what to expect upon our arrival; however, once we arrived we knew it was going to be a great week. Straight away, Mr Murphy took us for a tour of the very small town and within ten minutes of our walk we were already in a basketball game with about eight of the local children which lasted the whole afternoon.

A moment we will never forget was on our first full day in Bidyadanga. Our group had just come back from an afternoon excursion to Engadine, a creek and beach about 20 minutes off-roading from the Bidgey community. We turned onto the main road which connected the small town from settlements that would be found hours away and suddenly our car was surrounded by excited local children, some of whom we had met during the school day. Their constant activeness frightened us as the large group closed in on us and their dusty hands and faces pressed against the car windows. We opened a window and with smiles and laughter, they had only one question for us, before we went home: “want to play some footy?” Our adventure took us to the local footy oval and soon it seemed the whole town’s kids had joined in the match of Trinity College versus Bidyadanga. The local kids were clearly better than us all, despite being half our height and age.

Whilst in Bidyadanga, our daily schedule would consist of helping in the classroom and the school from around 7.30am–3.00pm and then either we would find the kids and play some basketball or footy or we would go on one of many expeditions with one of the teachers from the school. The key expeditions we went on were with a teacher from the school. He took us to visit the waterfall which was caused by the dramatic tides and to the mud flats where our feet sunk into the mud until we were almost waist deep. Although this extra stuff we did outside the classroom was amazing, when we look back at our time in Bidyadanga, what we will always remember the most were the kids at the school and the bonds we formed with them.

WYNDHAM: ST JOSEPH’S SCHOOL

James Breust (11.5), Ciaran McCarthy-Rymer (11.5), Luca Rossi (11.6), Jean-Paul Starkie (11.8), Mr Ben

Russell

There were plenty of notable experiences but some really stood out for us. One was the landscape of the Kimberley, which was on display particularly as we flew from Broome to Kununurra. As we were about to touch down, looking out the window, flat planes of shrubs would meet huge rock formations that you could almost call mountains. The plains were cut by the Ord River and as we got closer to the ground a few crocs became visible. This standard of scenery was met all throughout the Kimberley in places like the El Questro Wilderness Park, Five Rivers Lookout in Wyndham and Cable Beach in Broome.

Another great experience was when the Trinity boys were taken out by Jean, an ATA (Aboriginal Teaching Assistant) at St Joseph’s School, to see cave paintings that were thousands of years old. This was a privilege as Jean really invited us into her culture and taught us the significance of the land, even giving us a water blessing to protect us from the evil spirits as we entered the caves. While we were in Wyndham, Jean taught us a great deal and we were extremely lucky to have been accepted so readily and educated about her people and their culture.

Working with the children in Wyndham was also a very rewarding experience as we were able to help the kids with Maths or English and then they would return the favour by teaching us about Wyndham, telling us the best places to fish, see crocs and just generally educating us about the place. Being able to work with the kids was great fun and we formed special relationships with them. It was so rewarding to see them smile and that is something we’ll cherish for a long time.

Our role was simply to immerse ourselves in the local primary school of mostly Indigenous students and learn from their culture. At first sight, these kids were clearly not your ordinary primary school kids. They evidently faced daily struggles. Many would come to school without any shoes, with no lunch to eat or not having had a shower the night before, but as the bond grew between us and the students, we quickly realised that yes, they were just ordinary kids with constant joy, excitement and just pure love for life. This energy was something so refreshing and had a priceless message. What we gained from being around these kids for a week was the importance of enjoyment in life without the external impacts of social media or technology; to just enjoy the company of the people around you. As a young person growing up in Perth you can very easily stereotype and make assumptions about things you are not fully aware of and this best describes our progression of understanding for the Aboriginal way of life and history of their country throughout this trip.

BROOME

Back in Broome we helped at the NAIDOC Ball and Awards night, continued our work with the Feed The Little Children program and helped prepare and serve breakfast to needy people at the Michael McMahon Centre. We learnt about the profound connection Aboriginal people have with the land from a walk with Bart Pigram in Minyirr Park where we were treated to a banquet of all kinds of bush food and heard about his deep appreciation of the ancient knowledge and traditions of his people. We made a day trip to Derby to attend the Mowanjum Festival, a traditional corroboree open to visitors and attended by hundreds of people. We slept out under the stars that night before returning to Broome.

CONCLUSION

During the 17 days we spent in the Kimberley we learnt that Aboriginal people are very proud of their culture, have a huge respect for their family, especially their elders and have a strong connection to the land. The people of the Kimberley were very welcoming. Being there we felt so at home, as we developed a strong bond with each other and a spiritual awareness of the land and our experiences.

It was the service aspect of the immersion which was the most life-giving. Being welcomed with open arms into the lives of complete strangers and then giving everything we could to improve their lives just a little bit more was so rewarding. It was amazing to see Aboriginal men and women of all ages, inspiring and leading the next generation into a positive future. It made us realise that even through adversity, there was hope. Aboriginal leaders from all over the Kimberley have acknowledged the past and are ready to move on. They dream of and are creating a future where Indigenous and nonIndigenous people can walk side by side in harmony.

KIMBERLEY IMMERSION

BACK ROW: Mr Michael Murphy, Alessio Cottino, Harrison Roberts, Mr Daniel Bateman, Jean-Paul Starkie, Ashley Lloyd, Ms Marya Stewart FRONT ROW: Adam Ricci, Samuel Symons, Alexander Rossi, Luca Rossi, James Breust, Lachlan Sibosado, Griffin Binning ABSENT: Ciaran McCarthy-Rymer