Hi Everyone!
Here is our latest update of our life in Kalumburu.
We have just enjoyed a one week visit from Gary & Helen (Adam’s parents).
We stayed with them at El Questro Wilderness Park for three nights and then enjoyed showing them around Kalumburu for the remainder of the time.
El Questro was amazing. It was wonderful to have a break from Kalumburu for a few days and enjoy the natural beauty at El Questro. We swam in thermal springs, cruised along Chamberlain Gorge, walked to El Questro Gorge and swam in beautiful waterholes. We feel so lucky to have this opportunity to explore the Kimberley. It really is a special place!
Mucking around in First Lauer - a little creek that only runs in the wet season.
The wet season has come and gone. The rain was so beautiful and refreshing. We loved going for walks around the community in our gumboots (the kids loved splashing in the puddles!), swimming in the nearby creeks and hearing the rain on our roof most afternoons and evenings.
More mucking around in First Lauer.
("Lauer" means creek. "First" is because it's the first one on the road out of town)
Everything looked so green! Unfortunately, the rain ended early this year and our favourite creek is already drying up.
Swimming in our favourite creek.
(Called "First Creek" not to be confused with "First Lauer" - Go figure!)
The upside of this is that the roads are also drying out (!), making other swimming spots more accessible. 
Isabel demonstrates her acrobatic skills at First Creek.
We visited our favourite waterfall for the first time this year, just last week. It was so great to be back!
Adam….
Adam’s big news is that he has been promoted to Deputy Principal. It is such an exciting opportunity for him and a real honour. Adam starts this role in Term 2 and will also continue with his role as Numeracy Co – ordinator. At school the challenges and goals related to them remain the same, but we are slowly making progress encouraging consistent attendance and developing more effective literacy and numeracy programs in the classrooms. It is great to be working among such an enthusiastic and capable staff who are all keen to provide the best education they can for the students.
Adam’s continuing his theological study on the side and also fits in some fishing every two or three weeks – it’s a very rewarding pursuit!
Amy….
Amy is still sharing the position of Women’s Project Co – ordinator with Belinda. A new CEO has started at the Corporation just this week so it will be interesting to see how things evolve in the months ahead.
Playgroup is going well with a core group of mums and kids attending most days. We have just moved back into our proper building / portable after running playgroup in the Corporation conference room for almost a year while the new clinic was being built. It is so lovely to have more space!
We have been liaising with the nurses at the community health clinic to try to start up a Mums and Bubs group. Most of the kids that come to playgroup are 2 and older so it would be great to connect with some of the mums with babies. Our aim would be to support these newer mums by providing them with a safe place to meet together and offering them information about baby health and development.
Girls Group is going strong with about 15 girls attending each week. Belinda and I will be attending 4 days of training in Halls Creek in May that will enable us to use the “Mootidj Program” within our girls group. The “Mooditj program” is a sexual health program specifically designed for indigenous youth aged 10 -14. We are really excited about the program because up until now it has been hard to find resources that seem to fit within our group.
I have also been doing some work for the school this year. I work in the Kindy room two mornings a week (when Hudson attends) and I am also employed as the school’s library officer for a few hours each week! The school has ordered a lot of new books and I am the lucky one who gets to catalogue them and cover them (No, I’m not thinking of a career change!).
We're all involved in the school!
Home School with Isabel is going well. It is quite a privilege to be involved in teaching her how to read and write! We do “Home School” 4 afternoons a week for about 1 ½ hours. Some days she is tired and not overly co operative but on the whole she is an excellent student (even if I do say so myself!). She loves to learn and seems to be picking up things quite well. The challenge is to keep things interesting by adding a lot of variety and practical activities. A big thanks to my teacher friends out there who have given me a lot of help. I’m always open and very keen for ideas!
It is so wonderful to have our friends, the Shields family, here in Kalumburu to share life with. Belinda and I help each other out a lot with child care and work arrangements. I don’t know how we would go without them here!
Isabel….
Isabel now attends the Pre Primary class at school 4 mornings a week. She loves it so much she wants to go 5 mornings a week next term.
Megan and Isabel at Pre-primary making some... stuff.
Pre Primary is for the 5 year old year old kids in the community but it isn’t really at the same level as Kindergarten in Sydney. This is why Amy is home schooling Bel in the afternoons. Isabel and Jacob go happily off to school together each morning and we feel confident that they are both happy and safe in this environment. Isabel is interacting more and more with the local kids and her confidence and assertiveness have grown so much!
Hudson….
He's really very shy, as you can see.
Hudson started Kindy at school this year. This is equivalent to a Preschool in Sydney. Amy goes to Kindy with Hudson two mornings a week and he just loves it! Hudson is very social and active so he thinks Kindy is just great.
Hudson joins in tug-o-war with the big kids at the school 'Fun Day' on the last day of Term 1.
He is learning that he has to sit still sometimes (!) and is learning to fit into the Kindy routine. Hudson interacts beautifully with the local kids and is making some great friends.
A 'mob' of school kids.
Hudson also goes to playgroup with Amy two mornings a week. He seems to enjoy the variety of different activities he gets to experience each week.
Playgroup.
We are looking forward to Term 2 and all the opportunities, challenges and experiences that lie ahead. We appreciate your prayers and support.
We love getting mail (whatever variety!) so please write and tell us your news. We miss you!
Stopping for a rest on a walk at El Questro.
Love Amy, Adam, Isabel & Hudson.
1 comment:
Great to see your fantastic adventures and you all looking relaxed and happy.
Congrats on the promotion Adam.
Love the
Charge Family
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