Archive for the Australia Category

Hi everyone,

Sadly my placement at Djarragun College in Cairns, Australia is drawing to a close. This is a reflection on the second half of the year at my placement. I hope you all enjoy and if anyone has any questions about the placement, volunteering etc, feel free to message me on here or on Facebook or by email: [email protected]

The second half of my placement started by saying goodbye to 5 other volunteers from Germany and welcoming 4 new volunteers, Nils from Germany, Sasha from Canada, Phillipa (Pip) from Newcastle (Australia) and Laura from Melbourne. It was sad saying goodbye to the German volunteers, because we all became like a family living together, eating together and sharing our whole experience together. However, it was exciting having a new group of people and building new friendships and having new experiences together.

Me and Sarah-Louise, who have both been at our placement since January, 2013 flew down to Melbourne to help out at the Orientation for the International volunteers coming to Australia. The orientation was great, meeting the Lattitude Australia staff again and making new friends. It was weird though, seeing all these new excited faces, and knowing that’s what we must’ve looked like back in January.

As the orientation drew to a close, it meant departing Melbourne and flying back to Cairns with 3 of the 4 new volunteers, but we was met at Cairns Airport by the final new volunteer. I personally couldn’t wait to show the new guys around the campus and introduce them to the amazing staff and especially the students of Djarragun College. Some of them even got stuck in straight away, playing volleyball with some students who had us all laughing!! We even planned that weekend to play volleyball every weekend or so with each-other, so one day we could get good enough before we go to play the students haha!!!

After 2-3 weeks of the new volunteers being at the placement, me and Sarah-louise was offered the chance to go up Cape York to Bamaga (an Aboriginal community at the very top of Australia - even making it to the ‘Most Northern Point of Australia’)! We went up with a small selection of students, along with Cape York AFL, who promote AFL all over the Cape. We travelled by Troopy’s by convoy all the way up, camping over half way at a place called Bramwell Station. From there it was another long drive to Bamaga, across the red dirt roads, which was just amazing!! The journey is one that I will never forget, as for the kids in Bamaga, they were GREAT!! One memory in particular I’ll always remember from this trip. Thus being, a big group of children were playing touch with each-other on the field and this one young boy was stood next to a little motorbike. So I noticed he was just watching the other kids play and approached him to have a talk, to see what his name was etc (unfortunately I can’t remember his name), he told me about himself and I asked him how come he wasn’t playing with the other kids, to which he replied “I’m watching that boy over there’s bike for him’. To which I told him to go and ask this boy if he’ll let us (me and Sarah) watch his bike so this boy can join in. The look on his face on his way back was priceless! The biggest and most thankful smile ever!! Then off he ran to go and join in and it felt so good seeing him enjoying himself

From here on-wards I spent most of my time working in the Middle School area, because I’d started to develop strong trust with a lot of the middle school male students. This allowed for me to offer many of them advice and some-one to talk to, if and when they needed it, but most importantly it meant if they started to be disrespectful in class, I was in a position where they’d listen to me and start behaving and in most cases apologize to their teacher. This kids really grew on me and I see them all as little brothers now and I know they see me as their big brother, which I feel honored about.

On top of working a lot in the Middle School area, I also started working more around the boarding house, which has been great! It allows me to strengthen my rapport with the kids in Boarding, again allowing me to be able to give them advice and some-one to talk to. The first half of the year I struggled making a good rapport with a handful of kids in Boarding, however over the second half of the year I’ve managed to get talking to them more now and that I’m happy about. These kids really don’t just give you their respect on a plate, you truly have to earn it and work with the kids, not against the kids, a big thing I’ve learned being at this placement. If you want the students to respect and listen to you, then give them respect and listen to them.

During the school holidays a 4 of us volunteers went down to Sydney then across to Alice Springs, to do a 3 day 2 night tour of the OUTBACK!! I would recommend anyone coming to Australia to visit their, the culture, history and stories of the land are so fascinating and inspirational, it really is unbelievable. The sights of the places are just breathtaking, it’s like being in a whole new world, the tranquility and steadiness there, really does just blow you away. When you camp, you sleep in SWAGS, basically mini one-man tents (a mattress, sleeping bag and pillow in one), under the star-filled skies, with hardly any clouds or anything in the sky blocking your view. During our trip to the local supermarket in Alice Springs on our first evening there, we was stopped by an Aboriginal lady called Velma, who was sitting on a bench and called us over. We all looked at each-other and walked over to her. She had definitely been drinking, but that didn’t stop us offering out time to talk to her, and I’m so grateful we did. She introduced her self and was keen to find out our names and where we each came from. After this she started telling us stories about herself, her culture, where she lives and her family. She told us a story of Bush-monsters as hairy as King Kong, who live in the bushed throughout central Australia and along the road that connect it to Darwin, Adelaide etc. She told us whatever we do, sleep during the day and drive through the night (luckily we weren’t driving) and then went on to tell us the unfortunate story of how these Bush-monsters killed her 5 brothers as they were driving up to Adelaide. She went on to ask us if we can drive her to Adelaide, but we had to tell her we couldn’t drive, she looked so sad and we all felt so bad for not being able to help her, but still she continued to tell us stories and to talk to us. We told her about how we was going to visit the Uluru, Kings Canyon etc and she asked us not to climb the rock and to promise her we won’t. I remember her saying “Please don’t climb the rock, because I don’t want any of you to die, because you are my family now”. We was already aware of how sacred the Uluru is and the surrounding land and knew how disrespectful it would be to the Aboriginal people to climb it and so we promised her. Shortly after we went our separate ways, and she told us where we can visit her in the nearby bushes, to shout our her name and she’ll come and show us around etc. It’s experiences like these you really can’t put a value on!

I think the most rewarding part of my placement overall only happened in the last month/ month and a half of my placement. I was approached by our mentor to see if I’d mind working with a Year 12 student all day everyday for their last 4 weeks of school. This student was really far back in their work, and told by all the senior staff and a couple of the senior school staff that they have no chance of catching up. However, this didn’t stop us trying, working all day everyday like asked, we managed to get ALL of his assignments done and completed, with some A’s and B’s on some of them, which meant he GRADUATED YEAR 12!! This student is proof that you never should give up, no matter what anyone says. Yeah a lot of the time he thought he was going to fail and disappoint his family, but we kept going and I remember hearing after his last maths test, he walked into another class where another volunteer was, hand over his mouth, and was asked “how do you feel” and he replied “Proud, proud of myself!”. We then found out that although he graduated he wouldn’t be getting his Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE), and would have to come back for the last couple of weeks after graduation to complete another course. This he was prepared to do, however, on the night of the Year 12 formal, the head of Senior School came up and told me the schools managed to fix some stuff up and he no longer has to come back and he has his QCE!!! I felt so proud and thankful, truly felt like he was my son for that split moment,, but I truly do see him as a younger brother, such a good and respectful and thankful kid. I remember his parents thanking me that evening at the formal for getting him through and my response was “You should be proud of him, he done all the work, I just kept him on track. He’s a good kid and he’ll definitely go far”.

Although in particular helping the above Year 12 student Graduate, it’s been great over the whole year, helping so many of the Year 12′s with their work, checking over assignments for them, pointing them in the right direction etc etc. When they all stood up on graduation day, I was sat looking at the future generation and leaders of the Indigenous people, and I am so proud of each and everyone of them for what they have achieved. I know many of them have the talent and skills to go on to bigger and better things with their life, to escape community and everyone’s expectations of them, to do what they want and to make themselves proud. You’re each an inspiration and a role model to all the younger Indigenous youth.

I just really want to thank Lattitude for allowing me this opportunity to volunteer and to experience everything I have during my time in Australia. If it wasn’t for your organization I wouldn’t be the person I am now leaving my placement. I am more confident, outgoing, full of life, more wise and so much more. This whole experienced has helped give me stronger foundation and a new direction of what I want to do in the future. I now am determined to get a job doing Youth Support work before heading off to University in September next year. I’m still on track to study Psychology with Counseling, but now I know where I want to go after studying. I want to move to Australia, to work with Indigenous Youth, helping counsel them, helping them get into employment and just overall helping better their lives and futures, but most of all to help them realize their potential!

I also want to thank Djarragun College for allowing me to spend my whole year here. The whole placement has just been amazing, from the staff, to the students, to seeing the kids perform cultural dances and songs from their Islands and so much more. I want to thank each member of staff for being so welcoming and for becoming part of my extended family, I will remember each and everyone of you. I want to thank the students for helping me realize what life is all about and how to live and enjoy life. You have taught me that life isn’t about having the most money, or the best materialistic items or the best clothes, but life is about enjoying ourselves, having fun, doing what makes us happy, our friends and our family etc. I now have a new view on life, a much more positive one and that I am so thankful for. You have all touched my heart and I know each and everyone of you have the potential to change your life, the life of your people, the life of the generations still to come. Each one of you is so special. You are all my brothers and sisters, my family and I’ll remember each and everyone of you and our experiences together forever.

Another thank you I want to give is to all the volunteers I’ve been able to share my experiences with; Sarah-Louise, Thomas, Soren, Urte, Malte, Julia, Sasha, Pip, Laura and Nils. You have all bought your own different personalities, beliefs etc into my life and I will remember each and everyone of you and the great times we shared. We have seen so many places together in and around Cairns etc, we have experienced so much around the school and during out time living with one another. We have had our ups and downs - but it’s fair to say, mainly ups and so many laughs along the way. I wish each of you the best for the future, you’re all great people, who are capable of great and amazing things. Remember not to give up on anything, because you can achieve anything you want to and I know you all will go far!

I want to give a big thank you to our former mentor Morag, who was so welcoming to each and everyone of us, always offering us some-one to talk to if we ever needed it and just directing us in the right ways around the school and in our work. Not only were you such a great mentor on a work level, but you have also become our ‘Momma Morag’, our mum away from home. Your whole family and friends have made us feel so at home when we’ve been around your house or out with you and Trevor. On that note I want to also thank Trevor for all the laughs and advice he has given us all, a true true comedian!! I don’t think this experience would have been quite the same without you both here around the school, and around on the weekends etc. You both are such great special people, and I wish you both all the best and I know I’ll see you both one day, perhaps when I come back to Aus!

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 :D), 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!