My Gap Year started from the 26th January, 2013, where I flew from London Heathrow to Melbourne, via Signapore. I met some great people during that time, being the volunteers I flew to Melbourne with. From the moment we all met at the airport we all clicked and got on, which was a great start to this whole experience. Although the flight was long and tiring, the anticipation that was building in each of us was immense, and I feel so glad I flew with the group I did!
Melbourne would be our first arrival in Australia, with us having to participate in an ‘In-country’ orientation through Lattitude Global Volunteering. The three days in Melbourne was some of the most memorable moments I’ve had in Australia, mainly due to the high ‘buzz’ between all the volunteers there. From getting a tram to the beach (without paying 
), to seeing a flash mob in federation square, to partying with the other volunteers and learning some pointers about what to expect at our placements etc, the whole 3 days was just great!
Djarragun College - My placement and home from home
Arriving in Cairns was such a big shock to me, in terms of the weather! I knew it was going to be the ‘wet-season’ and be humid, but I don’t think anything could have quite prepared me for the weather here, especially coming from winter back in the UK! Getting off the plane in Cairns, I was instantly met by this force of moist heat and the notion of trying to fan myself down by flapping my arms like a mad man! (The other volunteers who were already at the placement, along with my mentor Morag found this highly amusing haha). I’ve got to say, getting used to the humidity here during the wet-season took some time, a lot of deodorant and showers everyday haha! Although I knew I was expecting a challenging placement, I don’t think I was quite prepared for what I witnessed during my initial month/ first term.
Before I go on talking about some of the things I encountered during this first term, I want to give people an idea of the background of the students at the school, to make you realize just why many of them act in certain ways. The school is an all Indigenous school, providing education to both Aboriginal Australians and Torres-Strait Islanders. Many of these children come from various backgrounds consisting of; broken-homes (having one or no parents, or living with relatives), communities where they witness alcohol and drug abuse, physical abuse etc. Many of their communities or families have very little money and food resources, with many of the students having no shoes to put on their feet, not enough food to maintain a healthy diet and poor health conditions. I also want people to realize that this is no fault of their parents, elders, communities etc, but for the poor treatment these amazing people underwent for many years. The Aboriginals for example, were forced out of their communities and from THEIR land, when ‘settlers’ decided to move to Australia. Many of the families were separated, with many never seeing each-other ever again. Many Aboriginals lost their lives when all this happened and now many would say they are seen as a ‘second-class’ citizen, in what is really, THEIR country and THEIR land and no-one should ever have gone, or go through what they did. It was the actions of the people that took over this beautiful country what lead to the Indigenous people disliking them. Just picture this; you’re happy at home with your family (son,daughter,mother,father,sister,brother etc) and then all of a sudden, you’re all separated, took away from each-other with the prospect of never meeting one-another again. How would you feel? It saddens me so much learning about the history of the Indigenous people of Australia and what happened to them in the past, but it amazes me how so many ‘White Australian’ teachers input their hard time, effort and patience into helping improve the standard and value of education among the Indigenous people. ’It takes seconds to cause misery to people and a life-time to repair it.’ - This quote I’ve just thought of whilst writing this summary, but reflects so truly on the past and the present of the Indigenous & Australian in a whole’s history. It didn’t take long to cause so much pain to these people, but it is and will take so much time to repair the past and to gain their trust and respect. All of this is a brief summary of the my view of the history of these people, Australia and what I’ve learned since being here in Australia working with Indigenous children.
Within the first term I witnessed or heard about many fights that occurred throughout the school, with the first one I saw being on my second day at my placement. It was quite daunting to see two groups of students fighting one-another on my first real work day, but I wasn’t going to let it stop me from pursuing my voluntary work! Many of the students don’t ever want to particularly fight, but sometimes, because of their family members or people from their communities getting into a fight, they feel they have no choice and sadly many of them don’t. In their cultures they can bring shame on themselves or their immediate family if they don’t stick up for a fellow family member or community member, but hopefully as time progresses and we all develop and grow as individuals this will die down. A lot of the time, once students have fought, they tend to leave it there and not let is escalate. Again, the children aren’t to blame solely for their actions, because these traits and behaviors have been passed down to them throughout generation to generation, through their elders past and present. After the first terms the fights quietened down a substantial amount, as the majority of the students who would fight were expelled. I want to say how good and professional the staff at the school are at preventing fights and handling any that do happen. They jump straight in there and calm the fights down within seconds! My hat definitely goes off to the amazing staff here at Djarragun for all the work they do, especially in regards to their student support and medical center. These staff in particularly are great at getting help for any students who need it and provide them with a great line of people to talk to and help them through any issues.
Besides the fights another challenging aspect of the school that took me some time to get used to, was the behavior of the kids. Due to education throughout the years within the Indigenous culture not being particularly enforced, many of these children, nor their parents actually value education nor see the benefits it can bring to their lives. The kids can have episodes of outbursts in classes, where they’ll either refuse to do their work, put their heads down on the tables or just shout out random words etc. The staff throughout the school handle these behaviors pretty well, either ignoring the student until they get bored, sending them to the ‘time out room’ or asking them to stand outside the class. It was quite an eye-opener to get used to, especially coming from a culture and school where these behaviors would be of the minority and pretty rare to see, especially on a daily basis. However, you soon learn from the actions of the staff how to tackle these behaviors, and as volunteers we were quite lucky that we didn’t have to deal with telling students off etc.
Although initially I found aspects of the school quite challenging and hard to get used to, I’m so glad I’ve been placed at such an amazing school with such amazing, special, gifted students and staff. Through my time at my placement through the last half of the year, I’ve grew in so many ways. I’ve found that I’ve been able to mature quite a substantial amount, I’ve become a lot more confident, I’ve become a lot more healthier and a lot more outgoing. It’s not until you really sit down and reflect on how you’ve grew as a person, or had people tell you how much you’ve grown and developed, that you actually realize how much taking a year out really does benefit you. Not only have I learned so much about myself, but I’ve also learned so much about the Australian and Indigenous culture and I’ve also really realized what career path I want to take. Since working with Indigenous children, I’ve realized that it’s the Indigenous children I want to work with in my future. I’m going to study Psychology with Counseling at University in September 2014 and then hoping some time after University to move out here to Australia. I really want to set up a charity that offers support & counseling to these children, to really help them through the challenges they face throughout life, whilst also helping get them into jobs, whilst broadening their career prospects throughout the future. I want to bring support to their cultures, along with community centers that provide the children with a range of quality equipment. Basically, I want to help improve their lives and the way they see education. Not only this, but I want to help make amends for the actions of British people in the past and the treatment many Indigenous people faced. I want to help them see their potential, but not only see it, believe it and give them the realization that they CAN do anything they want if they put their mind to it. It really doesn’t matter where you come from, what you’ve been through or anything, if you really do want something, you CAN get it!
The children at Djarragun College are definitely the most amazing people I’ve ever come across in my life. They really have grew on me for all the right reasons. I don’t know really how to put into words this whole next part, but I’ve going to try. These students really make you reflect on life and how lucky I’ve had it! So many of us are so dependent on having to have the BEST things and so many of us are really truly materialistic and depend so much on technology. (If you think you don’t, try going back to basics, see how long you can go without using any technology, such as; computers,laptops,phones,televisions). For what so many of these children have witnessed in their lives and been bought up around, they seem like the most happiest kids I’ve ever seen in my life, who really appreciate not only the small things in life, but life itself. They radiate positivity, energy, power and spirit, every single day. They have really shown me what it means to really live, to be free, to be happy. And for that I thank each and every single student I’ve met during my first 6 months here at Djarragun. The characters throughout the school are so dynamic and diverse, but in each of them is this really special person. They literally make my day, every single day.
Through my time here at Djarragun, I’ve not only learned about the Indigenous culture through their view on education and what how the students live and are bought up, but I’ve also learned about the celebrations and performances of these cultures. I’ve been lucky enough to watch so many times both Aboriginal and Torres-Straight Islanders perform dances and songs from their cultures. Each dance and song is really a celebration of life in many ways, whether it be life itself, our families, our communities or a celebration of a ‘feed’ (meaning a celebration of having some food in English). Dempla (pretty much meaning, them people) literally radiate life and soul when dempla perform. Dempla doesn’t just perform the actions of the dances or the words of songs, but the deep meanings behind them. You literally can feel every feeling, emotion and power throughout each of their songs and performances. Upla (pretty much meaning - you people) can see just what I mean through videos I’ve put up of the kids performances. The stories of the ‘dreamtime’ which is, in the Aboriginal culture the time in which the land was created, are some of the most fascinating stories I’ve ever heard and I’d highly recommend everyone to read up on them!
I want to thank everyone at Djarragun, especially the amazing students for making my first half of this year, such an amazing and memorable experience. I really don’t know how I’m going to cope leaving this amazing school behind at all and already thinking about it upsets me, knowing that in December I have to bid farewell to Djarragun College. Although I’ll be saying by, I know it won’t be forever and that Djarragun and it’s staff and students will have a place in my heart for the rest of my life, along with everything I’ve learned about the Indigenous culture and my experiences here. I couldn’t have asked for a better placement, nor such a rewarding placement and I’m so grateful that I’ve been able to experience everything I have. I’m so honored that I was able to extend my placement and not only continue to grow as a person, but also strengthen and expand my knowledge of the Indigenous cultures of Australia.
Here’s to another great few months ahead!
